138 



NATURE 



[October 3, 1912 



Prof. C. Fawsitt, Sydney ; C, Geology and Mineralogy, 

 Mr. VV. Hovvchin, Adelaide; D, Biology, Prof. H. B. 

 Kirk, Wellington, N.Z. ; E, Geography and History, 

 Hon. Thos. M'Kcnzie, Wellington, N.Z. ; F, 

 Ethnology and Anthropology, Dr. W. Ramsay-Smith, 

 .Adelaide; Gi, Social and Statistical Science, Mr. R. M. 

 Johnston, Hobart ; G2, Agriculture, Mr. F. B. Guthrie, 

 Department of Agriculture, N.S.W. ; Subsection, 

 ^'eterinary Science, Prof. Douglas Stewart, Sydney ; 

 H, Engineering and Architecture, Colonel W. L. Ver- 

 non, Sydney; I, Sanitary Science and Hveiene, Dr. 

 T. H. A. Valintino, Wellington, N.Z. ; J, Mental 

 Science and Education, Sir J. Winthrop Hackett, 

 K.C.M.G., Perth, W.-'V. In addition to the meetings 

 oi the sections, arrangements are in progress for 

 evening lectures and entertainments, and for excur- 

 sions to places of interest. Full particulars can be 

 obtained from the permanent hon. secretary, Mr. J. H. 

 Maiden, Botanic Gardens, Sydney. The hon. treasurer 

 for the Melbourne meeting is Mr. G. H. Knibbs, 

 C.M.G., Melbourne, and the general secretary Dr. 

 T. S. Hall, University, Melbourne. 



Dr. W. E. Garforth has recently presented to the 

 University of Leeds and placed in the geological de- 

 partment a large case containing specimens which 

 show the structures of numerous seams of coal from 

 Yorkshire, Lancashire, .Staffordshire, and Australia. 

 The lower part of the case contains coal-balls, or 

 bullions, which are found in the Halifax Hard Bed of 

 Yorkshire and its equivalent, the Bullion Mine, in 

 Lancashire. The coal-balls are simply masses of 

 vegetable material which were impregnated with 

 calcium carbonate while the tissues were still in a 

 fresh condition, and so preserved during the subse- 

 quent changes which the surrounding vegetable matter 

 underwent in the process of its conversion into coal. 

 Many of the microscopic sections of these coal-balls 

 are of an extraordinary size, measuring 8 in. by 6 in., 

 and show the structure of the plants most beautifully. 

 The centre of the case is occupied by a series of 

 models illustrating the structure of Lepidostrolius, the 

 " fruit " of Lepidodendron and its allies, showing the 

 position of the megasporangia and microsporangia. 

 Perhaps the most interesting sections are those from 

 coal seams in which explosions have occurred, such 

 as those from No. 3 Bank Pit, Atherton, near Bolton. 

 These were prepared with the view of ascertaining 

 whether any connection could be traced between the 

 microscopic structure of the coal and the character 

 of the coal dust, and were the first sections to be 

 prepared for that purpose. The whole of the sections 

 were made by the Lomax Palaeobotanical Co., Bolton, 

 and the case w'as exhibited at the Franco-British 

 Exhibition. 



In L' Anthropologic for Junc--July-.\ugust, MM. C. 

 Maska, H. Oberniaicr, and H. Breuil describe a 

 remarkable discovery of an ivory statuette of a 

 mammoth found near the village of Prerau, not far 

 from the battlefield of Austerlitz. This site has already 

 supplied a vast number of remains of extinct animals 

 and flint implements of the palaeolithic period. The 

 present figure measures 116 mm. in length and 96 mm. 

 in breadth. It represents the animal with full details 



NO. 2240, VOL. go] 



of head and trunk. It is referred to the Salutrian 

 Age, and is thus much older than the carvings of the 

 animal in the flat from La Madelaine, Combarelles, 

 Font-le-Gaume, and Pindal in Spain, of which draw- 

 ings for the purpose of comparison are supplied in the 

 article. This is the finest representation hitherto 

 found of this great beast which flourished for ages 

 in the steppes and prairies of ancient Europe, and was 

 hunted for food by its early races. 



The National Geographic Magazine for July devotes 

 one of its usual well-illustrated articles to an explora- 

 tion of the little-known parts of Panama by Mr. H. 

 Pitter. The Guaymies, one of the aboriginal tribes, 

 who were formerly under the influence of Roman 

 Catholic missionaries, have now reverted to their 

 ancient customs and manner of life. Among the Suna- 

 Cunis, while some of the men have visited the United 

 States and Nova Scotia, and have thus acquired some 

 degree of culture, primitive habits are perpetuated 

 among the women, who have not as yet been allowed 

 a glimpse of the outer world. The article, as a whole, 

 gives an instructive picture of the gradual acquire- 

 ment of a new phase of culture in its varied forms. 



In the report of the Warrington Museum for the 

 year ending June 30, the director and librarian re- 

 cords some progress in all departments, but no 

 change in the programme, of that institution. 



In an article on type-specimens, published in the 

 August number of The Victorian Naturalist (vol. 

 xxix., p. 59), Mr. F. Chapman proposes the new term 

 " tectotype " for specimens, fragmentary or otherwise, 

 selected to illustrate the external or internal micro- 

 scopic characters of a species or genus. Such a speci- 

 men may be the section of a tooth, a flake of a shell, 

 a slice of a foraminifer, or a preparation from a 

 fossilised leaf. 



Prof. W. L. Mc.'Vtee commences a long article 

 in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia .\cademy for 

 June on the experimental method of testing the 

 efficiency of warning and cryptic coloration in pro- 

 tecting animals from their enemies by the statement 

 that the theories on this subject long preceded any 

 knowledge of the food-preferences of insectivorous 

 species sufficient to justify such speculations. At the 

 conclusion he states that the behaviour of anima's in 

 captivity, as regards food, does not afford trustworthy 

 indications of what they would do in the wild state 

 when offered similar food, thereby showing that the 

 results of such experiments do not indicate the parts 

 the animals might play in natural selection. He 

 therefore urges that the time expended in making 

 such experiments might be better employed in collect- 

 ing trustworthy data in regard to the food-habits of 

 animals in the wild condition, as "the result would 

 be truth, not imaginative inferences from abnormal 

 behaviour." 



It is a well-known fact that in certain aquatic 

 hemipterous insects belonging to the genera Zaitha 

 and Serphus, the females — in Europe, Japan, the West 

 Indies, and America-^are in the habit of attaching 

 their eggs to the backs of their apparently unwilling 



