May 30, 1912] 
NATURF 
527 
In the May issue of Man Mr. J.P. Johnson 
describes a series of native kraals with” elaborate 
stone-wall enclosures in the Masibi Bantu Reservation 
on the Magalakwin River, in the north Transvaal, 
which. are interesting in connection with the problems 
of the origin of the Zimbabwe and similar ruins. 
These kraals contain an inner and an outer enclosure, 
the former being used to stable the cattle at night, 
as a place of assembly, and to protect the grain-pits 
excavated beneath its floor. A curious feature of 
the enclosure is a_ tapering pole decorated with 
alternate coloured bands, and carved at the top in 
the shape of the head of a hornless ox. Mr. John- 
son, owing to his ignorance of the language, could 
only ascertain that they were in some way connected 
with initiation rites. On the analogy of similar 
village poles in India and elsewhere, they seem to 
represent the embodied “luck” of the community. 
Thus they become easily anthropomorphised, and 
pass into some form of idol worship. 
WE are indebted to the author, Mr. G. Weber, for 
a copy of an article from the Sitzber. k. Akad. Wiss. 
Wien, vol. cxxi., on the movements of the circum- 
oral cilia in the heterotrichous infusorians, such as 
Stentor and its relatives. After reviewing previous 
theories, the author describes, with diagrams, his 
own views on the nature of these highly complex 
movements. j 
By the Smithsonian Institution we have been 
favoured with a communication relating to a recent 
zoological exploring and collecting expedition in the 
neighbourhood of the Panama Canal. Large collec- 
‘tions of fishes have been secured, which it is believed 
will be of great interest and importance in the future 
as indicating the present condition of the fish-fauna 
of the district. At present there appear to be more 
or less well-defined faunas severally restricted to the 
Atlantic and Pacific slopes and the two coasts of the 
Panama area, but when the canal is completed these 
faunas must become mixed. Many salt-water fishes, 
for example, will readily ascend fresh-water streams, 
and some will in this manner probably make their 
way to the Gatun Lake. 
AccorpDInG to a richly illustrated article by Dr. W. 
Leche, published in the “Zool. Jahrbiich” for 1912, 
the skull of the tropical American howling monkeys 
(Mycetes) undergoes a kind of retrograde post- 
embryonic development, in consequence of which it 
assumes a form assimilating to that characteristic of 
the lower mammals, such as Carnivora, rather than 
the type distinctive of the Primates in general. The 
embryonic skull, on the other hand, is essentially of 
the Primate type. The degeneration displays itself 
in the lengthening of the facial region, so that the 
skull gradually passes from a brachycephalic to a 
meso-, or even dolicho-, cephalic type, most of the 
cephalic indices thereby becoming much lower than in 
any other anthropoids, while the hemispheres extend 
to a smaller degree over the cerebellum in the adult 
than in the young. Observations are also recorded 
with regard to a correlation between the degree of 
development of a sagittal crest and of the jaws in the 
Primates. 
NO. 2222, VOL. 89] 
It is added that Pithecanthropus cannot, | 
as often supposed, be merely a gigantic gibbon, as a 
gibbon of such stature devoid of a sagittal crest could 
not have existed. 
Tue Ctenophora, or comb-jellies, form one of the 
most remarkable and interesting groups of the 
pelagic ccelenterates, and are well known for their 
wonderful beauty and delicacy. For twenty years 
Mr. A. G. Mayer, now director of the department of 
marine biology of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, has been engaged upon the study of this 
group as it occurs on the Atlantic coast of North 
America. Publication No. 162 of the Carnegie 
Institution contains the results of this investigation, 
and will be welcomed by all students of marine 
zoology. The group is a small one, and only twenty- 
one species have been recorded from the area in 
question. Four of these are new to science, while 
six are Mediterranean species. The work, which is 
very beautifully illustrated, comprises a _ general 
account of the anatomy and detailed descriptions of 
the species, together with notes on the physiology 
and embryology. One would scarcely suppose that 
these transparent gelatinous organisms could be a 
source of danger to the existence of such highly 
organised animals as fishes, but it appears that in the 
cold northern waters they occur in vast swarms and 
constitute a serious menace to the cod fisheries by 
devouring the pelagic eggs and young fish. 
Pror. H. Spemann (Zool. Jahrb., Bd. xxxii., 
Heft 1) describes experimental studies on the develop- 
ment of the eye in embryos of the edible frog. He 
cut out a portion of the medullary plate, and replaced 
it, but with the anterior and posterior ends reversed. 
The wounds healed, and the piece proceeded to 
develop as if it were in its normal position. By 
arranging that the anterior cut passed through the 
anlage of each eye, it was found possible to produce 
tadpoles with four eyes—two in the normal position 
and two further back, either in front of or behind 
the auditory organ. If the lens-forming cells were 
replaced by epidermis transplanted from any other 
part of the head, or from the body, the optic vesicle 
was unable to evoke the formation of a lens from 
these ‘‘foreign” cells. The author transplanted, in 
embryos of the mountain toad, Bombinator pachypus, 
a small fragment of the eye, together with the over- 
lying lens-forming epidermis, to a more posterior 
position, and found that the lens formed was well 
developed, although the retinal fragment was very 
small and deformed. The formation of the lens could 
scarcely be due, in this case, to any mechanical 
stimulation which such a small eye-fragment could 
exert, but was possibly due to some specific chemical 
stimulus proceeding from the fragment. 
Pror. C. Correns, who shares with de Vries and 
Tschermak the honour of having ‘ rediscovered” 
Mendel’s laws in the year 1900, and who has since 
contributed so materially to the science of genetics, 
has just published under the title ‘‘Die neuen 
Vererbungsgesetze”’ (Berlin: Gebriider Borntraeger, 
price 2 marks) a useful and readable account of the 
more recent discoveries in this field. The book is 
