February 13, 1913] 



NATURE 



649 



of the rules as they now stand, and so as unnecessary 

 as they are injurious. 



A third proposal has to do with the method of 

 determining generic types, and virtually substitutes 

 elimination for type designation. This seems to me a 

 backward step, and those who have used the 

 "elimination" method know well how uncertain and 

 difficult of application it is. On the other hand, the 

 e.\isting rule is not wholly satisfactory. I have else- 

 where proposed that when, owing to the discovery of 

 some long-forgotten type designation, a well-known 

 generic name is in danger of being applied in an 

 entirely unaccustomed way, the commission, witli the 

 approval of the congress, may arbitrarily designate a 

 type from among the originally included species, in 

 such a way as to retain the current usage of the 

 generic name. It might further be recommended that 

 no one should change the significance of a well-known 

 generic name on account of some old designation of 

 type, without first submitting the case to the com- 

 mission. 



The perplexities of nomenclature are many, doing 

 the best we can, and they should not be needlessly 

 increased. It is even a question whether the writer 

 of these lines really belongs to the species Homo 

 sapiens. The "typical" sapiens, as described by 

 Linnaeus and restricted by D. S. Jordan, is an 

 imaginary being, " tetrapus, mutus, hirsutus," clearly 

 not conspecific with our modern man. Possibly, 

 according to strict nomenclatural rules, the present 

 writer is Homo americanus europaens (L.). 



T. D. A. COCKERELI.. 



University of Colorado, Boulder. 



The Discovery of a Human Tooth in the Cave Earth 

 in Kent's Cavern. 



It will be remembered by those interested in the 

 exploration of Kent's Cavern that during the course 

 of the sixteen years' examination of the cavern- 

 deposits, no vestige of the human skeleton was found 

 under the upper stalagmite, though, as mentioned in 

 your columns a few weeks ago, a portion of a human 

 jaw was found in the upper or granular stalagmite. 



On Saturday evening, February i, I received the 

 following communication from Mr. Charles Cox, 

 who, with Mr. Powe, the owner of the cavern, has 

 been making additional explorations : — 



"Perhaps you will be interested to know tliat while 

 digging inside arched entrance ... on January 23 

 found human tooth, and a few minutes after a 

 passage that proves to be the opposite end to the 

 passage found on June 20 last. The above human 

 tooth was 15 in. deep in undisturbed cave earth. 

 -Mlowing 4 ft. previously excavated, it would be 

 5 ft. 3 in. below granular stalagmite floor. 

 " Faithfully yours, 

 "(Signed) ' Charles Cox." 



■A. R. Hunt, Esq." 



On Monday, February 3, I went to the cavern and 

 saw the spot where the tooth was found, and then 

 went to Mr. Cox's residence, Cavern Villa, to see it. 

 The tooth is an upper incisor, very much worn, and 

 evidently sharpened on the under teeth to a chisel 

 edge. 



The points which struck me, as a non-expert, 

 were the triangular shape and the convex front profile 

 of the tooth. A medical friend points out that the 

 triangular shape would be due to much wear on 

 edible roots, &c. 



It is to be regretted that the tooth is not a molar ; 



NO. 2259, VOL. go] 



but even as an incisor it seems to attest its own 

 antiquity. It is a remarkable fact that the British 

 Association Research Committee, by restricting its 

 excavations to 4 ft., missed the tooth by 15 in., and 

 the two ends of the passage referred to bv Mr. Cox 

 (one end jn the sloping chamber and the other far 

 away, near the arched entrance) by little if anything 

 more ! 



I think it may be useful for me to make this state- 

 ment (of course, with Messrs. Powe and Cox's con- 

 sent) as one well acquainted with Kent's Cavern. 

 Arthur R. Hunt. 



Southwood, Torquay, February 5. 



THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 

 T^HE British nation has been overwhelmed with 



-»- grief by the news that when but a small 

 fraction of their journey remained to accomplish, 

 Captain Robert Falcon Scott and those who 

 accompanied him to the south pole met their 

 death. For the pole had been reached — the 

 position doubly assured by the discovery of the 

 marks left there by Amundsen — and it was only 

 on the return journey, 155 miles from their head- 

 quarters, that nature turned relentless, and heaped 

 such a load of difficulties upon the travellers that 

 they finally perished. 



L'ntil the vessel Terra Nova came into touch 

 with means of communication in New Zealand on 

 Monday last, on her return from the Antarctic, we 

 knew the story of the expedition only down to 

 the early part of last year. The ship had left 

 London on June i, 1910, for her first outward 

 voyag-e. The expedition, as perfect in organisa- 

 tion and equipment as not only Scott's former 

 experience, but that of brother-explorers, willingly 

 afforded, could make it, included a larger scientific 

 staff than had ever before been taken south, for 

 this was no mere polar dash. McMurdo Sound 

 was reached, after a difficult voyage from New 

 Zealand, in December, and the main party was 

 landed, to establish headquarters at Cape Evans. 

 A smaller party was placed on the west side of 

 the Sound, and another, which had been destined 

 for King Edward VH. Land, was prevented from 

 landing there by the ice, and was put ashore at 

 Cape Adare. This last party, by the way, must 

 have had diflficulties to face only less severe than 

 those of the main body : they encountered heavy 

 weather from the outset, and after being taken 

 off by the ship early last year and landed again 

 at Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, they had to be 

 left there instead of being brought off' before the 

 ship returned to New Zealand ; and it is only now 

 that we learn that, under Lieutenant Campbell's 

 leadership, they wintered in a snow-hut, living 

 on seals and little in the way of imported provi- 

 sions, were overtaken with sickness, and only re- 

 gained headquarters in the early part of last 

 November. 



When the ship brought back the news of the 

 party down to January, 1912, and it was learnt 

 that Scott was to remain another year to complete 

 his tasks, there was already ample evidence that 

 the scientific workers had justified themselves 



