382 NATURE 
[JUNE 13, 1912 
in collaboration with the general register office, on 
the incidence of different forms of tuberculosis in 
different parts of the country, according to age, sex, 
occupation, and other conditions. (2) A continuation 
of a research into the causes of premature arterial 
degeneration in man by Dr. F. W. Andrewes, of St. 
Bartholomew’s Hospital. (3) A joint investigation 
into the virus of Poliomyelitis, by Drs. F. W. 
Andrewes and H. M. Gordon, of St. Bartholomew’s 
Hospital. (4) A continuation of an investigation into 
the micro-organisms known as non-lactose fermenters 
occurring in the alimentary canal of infants, by Dr. 
C. J. Lewis, of Birmingham University, Dr. D. M. 
Alexander, of Liverpool University, and Dr. Graham- 
Smith, of Cambridge University. (5) A continuation 
of the investigation by Prof. Nuttall, of Cambridge 
University, on fleas and on the range of flight of 
the domestic and allied flies. 
In the twelfth Bulletin of the Bankfield Museum, 
Halifax, Messrs. H. P. Kendall and H. Ling Roth, 
the honorary curator, publish a catalogue of an 
interesting exhibition, now open, of prehistoric imple- 
ments collected in the neighbourhood of the city. 
They are found under a layer of peat, associated with 
remains of the Bronze age. But the implements of 
that metal hitherto brought to light are small and 
fragmentary, and it is thus obvious that the age of 
stone overlapped that of bronze. The period assigned 
to these specimens is about 500 B.c. 
arrow-heads are fine examples of secondary chipping. 
Of special interest are the so-called ‘‘ pygmy" flints, 
found in considerable numbers. Mr. Ling Roth dis- 
misses the theory that these were fixed together in | 
a handle and used like the implement found by Dr. 
Livingstone among the Makalolo for the destruction 
of the inner tissue of hides. While admitting that 
some of them may have been used for the purpose 
of tattooing, he urges that their great numbers show 
that this cannot have been their only object. Many 
uses may be conjectured for these curious imple- | 
ments, but no single explanation suggested 
accounts for their special forms. 
yet 
Tue proprietors of The Bioscope have promoted 
some educational kinematograph demonstrations 
which are given at Cinema House, 225 Oxford Street. 
That on medical subjects (June 5) included ameceboid 
movements of leucocytes, trypanosomes and_spiro- 
chztes in the blood, examination of the stomach 
under X-rays, and the life-history of the mosquito. 
The movements of the spirochaetes and trypanosomes 
were vividly portrayed, and the study of the mosquito 
outlined in a few minutes the life of the insect. The 
movements of the larvz and the effects of petroleum 
as a culicide were shown, and the final scene, the 
emergence of the perfect insect’ from the 
demonstrated the capabilities of the kinematograph 
for reproducing biological phenomena. 
A copy has been received of the report to the 
trusteeS of the Indian Museum on zoological and | 
anthropological work undertaken during the Abor 
expedition of 1911-12, written by Mr. S. W. Kemp, 
the senior assistant superintendent of the museum. 
NO. 2224, VOL. 89] 
Some of the | 
pupa, | 
| 
| tion 
Reference has already been made in these columns 
(June 6, p. 365), in our report of the meeting of May 1 
| last of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, to two papers 
upon specimens collected during the expedition, and 
other papers will no doubt be presented to the same 
society shortly. The report just received gives a brief 
account of what was accomplished by Mr. Kemp as 
zoologist and anthropologist to the expedition, and 
by his assistant, Mr. R. Hodgart, the zoological col- 
lector in the Indian Museum. 
A SATISFACTORY year’s work and progress are re- 
corded in the report of the Zoological Society of 
Philadelphia for ror1, the receipts from admissions 
having shown a considerable increase over those of 
Igto, despite an unfavourable winter and an un- 
usually large number of wet Sundays in the summer. 
Attention is directed to the increasing cost and diffi- 
culty of obtaining living specimens of representative 
wild animals, due, it is surmised, in great part to 
diminished supply, protection of faunas, and restric- 
tions on importations of livestock of all kinds. 
Further experiments in outdoor life for monkeys and 
carnivores were successfully instituted. 
In the concluding portion of the report of Prof. 
H. F. Osborn’s Harvey lecture, published in the May 
number of The American Naturalist, it is argued 
that the occurrence of discontinuity in heredity in 
three widely sundered families of mammals is not to 
be regarded as evidence of discontinuity of origin. 
If discontinuities in origin do exist, they must be so 
minute as to be indistinguishable from those fluctua- 
tions round a mean which appear to accompany 
every stage in the evolution and ontogeny of unit 
characters. The principle of predetermination, of 
which the author finds evidence, is in direct opposi- 
to the views of Bateson, de Vries, and 
Johannsen, and there seems to be ‘‘an unknown law 
operating in the genesis of many new characters 
and entirely distinct from any form of indirect law 
which would spring out of the selection of the 
lawful from the lawless.” 
In the course of the above-quoted Harvey lecture, 
Prof. Osborn records some very interesting compari- 
sons between the skulls and cheek-teeth of horses, 
mules, and asses. The tendency of these is to con- 
firm the view that the mule is generally only a partial 
blend of the characteristics of its parents, most of its 
features inclining to one or the other type. In skull- 
characters mules assimilate in the main to horses 
(which are a polyphyletic type), whereas in the 
pattern of their cheek-teeth, as well as in external 
features and disposition, they are more like the 
monophyletic ass, thus showing that the ass-like 
characters are displayed by epiblastic structures. 
Several of the horse-like features recorded by the 
author as occurring in the mule are, it may be 
observed, much less apparent in the wild Mongolian 
tarpan than in domesticated horses, thus suggesting 
that they are derived from an Arab source. 
In the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg Botanical 
Garden (xii., 1), Dr. V. Arcichovskij describes 
various objects—some well known, others new— 
