Dec. 23, iS8o"J 



NATURE 



175 



by really beautiful woodcuts. This work marked an era 

 in the study of zoology and compir.itive anatomy in our 

 country. True it is that the information of the author 

 was mostly borrowed ; true that he hai no great familiarity 

 with the work of the German naturalists of the time ; 

 true that the book will not bear to be appealed to now : 

 but forty years ago it was the best book of its sort in 

 England, and the generation has not as yet quite passed 

 away wliich learnt from its pages. We have altered since 

 then, both in the manner and the matter of our teaching 

 of comparative anatomy, and for the better no doubt ; 

 but after another forty years our systems may too have 

 seen their day. It may be conjectured that this book 

 was in advance of its day, for an eminent writer, in review- 

 ing it in 1839, objected to Rymer Jones' facts about the 

 Infusoria, and declared be still placed confidence in 

 Ehrenberg's observations, while he criticised his descrip- 

 tion of Volvox globator, and believed this " Infusorian " 

 had nutritive organs, mouth, eyes, &c. 



Prof R. Jones was an extensive contributor to Todd's 

 " Cyclopxdia of Anatomy and Physiology," writing no 

 less than twelve of the articles on comparative anatomy. 

 He was the author of at least one work on popular natural 

 history, called the ''Aquarian Naturalist." He was an 

 e.xcellent lecturer, and though never rising to the highest 

 s'ank as a biologist, well deserves this passing notice in 

 our columns. 



FRANK BUCKLAND 



FRANCIS TREVELYAN BUCKLAND was born on 

 Dec. 17, 1S26. He was the eldest son of the Very Rev. 

 Dr. Buckland, Dean of Westminster. As a boy he was a 

 constant companion of his father in the latter's geological 

 excursions ; he was a scholar of Winchester College and 

 a student of Christ Church, graduating M.A. of Oxford 

 in 184S. About this date he entered St. George's 

 Hospital as a student of medicine, taking the diploma of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons, London, in 1S51, becoming 

 house surgeon to St. George's Hospital, and lastly receiv- 

 ing the appointment of assistant-surgeon to the 2nd Life 

 Guards, a position he held until 1S63. He seems to have 

 been always well liked in his regiment, gaining the 

 character of a pleasant, good-natured, sociable fellow. 

 Although fond of all that pertained to natural science, he 

 was in no sense of the word a profound naturalist ; he 

 could seize with alacrity the popular side of a scientific 

 question, but he seldom went deeper. Perhaps the 

 most scientific work he ever accomplished was the 

 editing, in 1858, of his father's work on "Geology 

 and Mineralogy," published as one of the Bridge- 

 water treatises. He was the author of some pleasant 

 volumes entitled " Curiosities of Natural History," was 

 a constant writer in Land and Water, and an occa- 

 sional contributor on subjects of economic zoology to the 

 daily press. On the subjects of fish and fish-culture he was 

 an authority, and it will be remembered that he had an 

 interesting museum in connection with the subject at 

 South Kensington. For his labours in this direction he 

 received several honourable distinctions from France, and 

 in 1869 he was appointed by the British Government one 

 of the Inspectors of Salmon Fishing for England and 

 Wales. He was also one of the Commissioners appointed 

 to inquire into the Crab and Lobster Fisheries of this 

 country, and the results of this Commission culminated in 

 the useful Act regulating the oyster, crab, and lobster 

 fisheries of the kingdom, which received the Royal assent 

 in 1S77. 



One notable event of his life was the discovery he 

 made in 1859 of John Hunter's coffin in the vaults of St. 

 Martin' s-in-the-Fields, which was re-interred at the 

 expense of the Royal College of Surgeons in Westminster 

 Abbey. 



Familiarly known by a large circle of friends as Frank 



Buckland, he has left them while still in middl life, and 

 it will be long ere they look upon the like of poor Frank 

 again. 



NEW GUINEA 1 

 II. 



THE various accounts of the natives given throughout 

 these volumes leave an impression of vagueness that 

 is very unsatisfactory. The mixture of races in various 

 parts of New Guinea is no doubt great, but we cannot 

 help thinking that there is a well-marked Papuan type, 

 and that its head-quarters are in this great island. Signor 

 D'Albertis seems to attach too much importance to minor 

 peculiarities. He continually mentions small differences 

 in the features, the hair, the form of the skull, or the 

 stature, as implying a radical difference of race, forgetting 

 that such differences are found among every people and 

 in every country, and that on this principle we might 

 establish a dozen difterent " races " in Europe. Taking 

 the term Papuan in a broad sense as including all the 

 dark-skinned woolly or crisp-haired tribes of the Western 

 Pacific, it seems clear that New Guinea is very largely 

 peopled by this race, and that its north-western peninsulas 

 contain the most typical examples of it. In the south-east 

 however another race is found which may be described as 

 yellow-skinned and smooth-haired, and these are clearly 

 Polynesians or " Mahori," that is of the same race as the 

 natives of Samoa and New Zealand. In the Fly River 

 and adjacent country both these occur, as well as a mixed 

 race, which D'Albertis seems to think is destined to sup- 

 plant them. He describes these races as follows : — • 



" The two varieties to which I allude may be defined 

 thus : the yellow, and the black. The term yellow does 

 not exactly express the first, nor docs black the second, 

 and those adjectives must be used comparatively only. 

 The characteristics of the yellow variety are as follows : — 

 hair curling or smooth — neither crisp nor woolly, black and 

 shining, often almost of a chestnut hue ; forehead large 

 and fiat ; temples little, if at all depressed ; eye orbits 

 scarcely, if at all, prominent ; cheek-bones rather high ; 

 round chin and round face ; large brown eyes, with eye- 

 balls of a bluish-white ; the nose often aquiline, never 

 flattened, and generally small; lips moderately full ; and 

 brachycephalous and round skull. These people are not 

 prognathous. In colour they vary from brown to very 

 light brownish yellow. In stature they are not generally 

 inferior to the black race, and their forms are fuller and 

 rounder. 



" The black variety is distinguished by a narrow and 

 retreating forehead, coinpressed temples, strongly-marked 

 orbital arches, prominent cheek-bones, acjuiline nose, 

 pointed and narrow chin, long face, decidedly pro- 

 gnathous, an oblong skull. The eyes arc small, either 

 black or brown, the eyeball bloodshot or yellowish, and 

 the men are tall and generally thin. The preponder- 

 ating type exhibits every gradation that can result from 

 these two varieties. 



"We may therefore conclude that the present inhabitants 

 of Hall Bay (opposite Yule Island) are a mixture of two 

 races, one dark-skinned and crisp-haired, the other with 

 lighter skin and smooth hair ; ancl this is all that can be 

 said from our present knowledge." 



The light race— which we may call Papuan Mahoris — 

 are far more civilised than the dark Papuans. D'Albertis 

 says of them : — 



" The most perfect harmony seems to reign in families, 

 and rare indeed are cases of quarrel among members of 

 one household. They live in communities, sometimes of 

 more than a thousand inhabitants, in well-built villages, 



' ' • New Guinea : What I Did and What I Saw." By L. M. D'Albertis, 

 Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy, &c.. &c. In two volumes. 

 (London: Sampson Low, Mar.-iton, Se.arle and Rivington, i88c.) Continued 



