404 



NATURE 



[December 26, 19 12 



The Prickly Pear in Western China. 



.Mr. F. Kingdon W.'\rd, in a very interesting paper 

 in A.nnaU of Botany, October, 1912, describes the 

 occurrence of the prickly pear in the arid regions of 

 western China. He states that it grows on granite 

 rocks, and he has traced it from Kansu through Ssii- 

 chuan to south-eastern Tibet and southern Yunnan. He 

 i> not able to determine precisely how it got there, but 

 •■ two suggestions present themselves — the first that 

 it was brought across the Pacific by the Chinese them- 

 selves, the second that it was introduced from Europe 

 aflir it had been brought into the Mediterranean 

 region from across the .'Atlantic ; a third alternative, 

 that it was quite recently introduced by the Jesuit 

 missionaries who came from .America to China about 

 the time of the fall of the Spanish Empire, is hardly 

 tenable in view of its present wide distribution in 



southern California. Would this or O. ficus-indicit 

 grow in western China and Tibet? Perhaps some 

 more northern plant is represented. In any event, the 

 precise determination of this Chinese cactus would be 

 of much interest. T. D. A. Cockerell. 



Universitv of Colorado, Boulder, December 2. 



ANTHROPOLOGY IN INDIA AND MALTA.^ 



(i)'T'HIS is one of the excellent monographs 

 -L on the wilder tribes of eastern India 

 which were started by the Government of Eastern 

 Bengal. It may be hoped that the recent changes 

 in the provincial jurisdiction will not interfere with 

 the completion of this project. The present 

 volume is written by an officer who possesses the 





thejhun 



western China." He adds: "There can be little 

 doubt that the Chinese visited California long before 

 Columbus or possibly even the Norsemen discovered 

 America." 



Mr. Ward states that the species is Opuutia vul- 

 garis, but it seems doubtful whether he critically 

 examined it. If specimens were preserved, the detei- 

 mination of the species would help to decide the 

 question of its origin. The original Opuutia vulgaris 

 is the common plant of the eastern United States, 

 which is not likely to have reached China by any of 

 the means suggested. Probably Opuntia ficus-indica, 

 sometimes called O. vulgaris, is the plant intended. 

 This is the tropical .American species, naturalised in 

 the countries bordering the Mediterranean. A plant 

 brought from California would be different, perhaps 

 O. littoralis, which is so abundant along the coast of 



NO. 2252, VOL. 90] 



Lusllais and Pois. From ■■ The I,u^^lel Kuki Claus 



indispensable qualification of an intimate know- 

 ledge of the people. He gracefully dedicates it 

 to Lieut. -Col. T. H. Lewin, whose ^•aluable works 

 have been the standard authority on the people of 

 this district. There is some difficulty about the 

 nomenclature of these tribes, because the terms 

 Kuki, Naga, Chin, Shendu, and many others are 

 not recognised by the people to whom we apply 

 them. Kuki, however, has come to possess a 



1 (i)"The Lnshei Kuki Clans." Bv Lieut.-Col. T. Shakespear. Pp. 

 xxiii + i5o. (London : Ma'-millan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price tos. net. 



(j) '• From the P.lack Mount.iin to VVazirivtan." By Col. H. C. VVyllv, 

 CIS. .With an Introduction by Lieut. •Gen.-r.al Sir H. L. Smith DorricnJ 

 K.C.B., D.S.O. Pp. xx+505 + viii maps. (London ; M.icmillan and Co.J 

 Ltd., rgij.) Price 10s. M. net. 



(3) " IVLilta and the Mediterranean Race." By R. N. Bradley. Pp. 33SJ 

 (London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1912.) Price Ss. b,l net. 



