3/- 



NA rURE 



[August 9, 1906 



of Si. Andrews. Mr. de Barri Crawshay, Mr. Rolfe, and 

 Prof. Pfitzer spoke on orchids ; Mr. Chittenden and Dr. 

 'fschermak dilated on questions of heredity. Prof. Rosen- 

 berg, of Stockholm, had a most important paper showing 

 the l>ehaviour of the chromosomes in hybrid plants. M. 

 Noel Bernard spoke of the symbiosis existing between the 

 roots of orchids and the hypha; of certain fungi. 



Miss Saunders, in a very lucid manner, explained the 

 complex results she had obtained in crossing stocks, a 

 paper the comprehension of which was much facilitated by 

 the numerous specimens exhibited in the hall. Mr. Biffen 

 contributed a remarkable paper on the application of 

 Mendel's laws to the improvement of cultivated wheats, 

 and various communications from raisers of carnations, 

 potatoes, bulbs, roses, amaryllids, and other plants were 

 read. The entire programme, with very few exceptions, 

 was worked ^through under trying conditions of heat and 

 street noises, and those who participated in the hard work 

 honestly earned the recreation that was furnished them by 

 garden-parties at Burford and Gunnersbury, to say nothing 

 of the banquets offered to the foreign guests and other 

 visitors by the Royal Horticultural Society and the Horti- 

 cultural Club. The success of the conference was marked, 

 and congratulations may be tendered to all who took part 

 in its organisation. 



MAN AND THE GLACIAL PERIOD} 



T^HE correlation of the successive occupation of Europe 

 ■'■ by various races of mankind with the successive 

 events of the Glacial period has been greatly facilitated by 

 the successful investigations of Prof. Albrecht Penck into 

 the Quaternary history of the eastern Alps. Four well- 

 defined terraces can be traced up the valleys of this region, 

 each of them taking its origin in a terminal moraine. 

 They represent the deposits of rivers issuing from the 

 front of the ice during a glacial episode. Between the 

 terraces the valleys show evidence of deepening by erosion 

 during periods which correspond to genial intervals, the 

 last of which, in order of time, is represented by the 

 breccia of Hotting, when the temperature at Innsbruck, 

 as shown by the included leaves and bracts of Rhodo- 

 dendron poiiticum, was 3° C. higher than the average at 

 the present day. 



The earliest remains of the human family are afforded 

 by Pithecanthropus erectus of Upper Pliocene age; the 

 skull of this creature, while singularly simian in form, 

 is shown to be human by its capacity (850 c.c). Evidence 

 supposed to indicate an even earlier existence of man-like 

 species is afforded by the so-called " eoliths," but these 

 it is now scarcely necessary to consider seriously, especially 

 after the observations recently made on the eolithic forms 

 which occur as a by-product in the manufacture of cement 

 at Mantes. Probably 99 per cent, of the supposed imple- 

 ments obtained from the plateau gravels of southern 

 England are of a doubtful character, but there is a small 

 remainder, comprising forms distinguished by a notch, 

 almost semi-circular in outline, which so closely resemble 

 the scrapers once used among the Tasmanians for making 

 their wooden spears that it seems most natural to regard 

 them as of human origin. 



The Tasmanians were the most unprogressive race in 

 the world, and probably the oldest within the Australian 

 region; their cranial capacity was 1160 c.c, and they 

 Avere ulotrichous. It would hence appear that the cleavage 

 between the Ulotrichi and the rest of the human species 

 must have occurred at a very remote period. 



The Chell^an stage of culture is represented by stone 

 implements, which occur in the third fluvio-glacial terrace 

 of southern France at the foot of the Pyrenees, and in 

 possibly corresponding gravels in the valley of the Thames. 

 The numerous skulls of Chell^an age which have been 

 met with in cave deposits (Neanderthal. Spy, Krapina) 

 agree in all essential features, and evidently belonged to 

 a single race (Homo pfimigeniits of Schwalbe), now most 



' An abstr.-ict of three lectures deliverec 

 May 24, 3'. June 7, by Prof. Sollas, F.R.S. 



NO. I919, VOL. 74] 



the Royal Instituti 



nearly represented by the Australians. In cranial capacity 

 there is a close agreement between the recent and extinct 

 races (1250 c.c). 



The Solutrian stage follows upon the Chell^an, and 

 implements representing it are found in the loss of the 

 Danube, which occurs between the third and fourth fluvio- 

 glacial terraces, and thus occupies an horizon correspond- 

 ing to that of the Hottinger breccia. The Solutrian, or 

 loss man, as the Germans sometimes call him, lived in 

 a warm or genial climate. To the artists of this race are 

 to be ascribed the drawings and paintings left upon the 

 walls of numerous caves in France and Spain, which 

 recall by their spirit and technique the work of the Bush- 



'•iTnrUfc'ilffiiW II ■ Ml M""' I V«iMMMilM**ti 



and 2. Arrow straighteners used by Eskii 

 3. Arrow straighlener of Magdalenian 

 'Ihayngen, after Merk, from He 

 straighte 



Lartet. 



nos of Baffin Bay, after B 



ige, from the Kesslerloch, 



4. Head of a Magdale 



Head of an Eskimo ai 



ghte 



, after Da 



men in South Africa. The associated figurines carved in 

 various material present two remarkable anatomical 

 features (steatopygy and elongated labia minora) which 

 are peculiar to South African races, so that, even without 

 the evidence afforded by the Grimaldi skeletons in the 

 Grotte des Enfants, Mentone, we might safely regard the 

 Solutrian race as ancestral to the Bushmen or some allied 



