584 
NATURE. 
[AucusT 8, 1912 
There is good reason for believing that such an 
international conference will be arranged, and 
its action should be of great benefit to the mer- 
cantile marines of the world, which are and will 
remain necessarily in competition with one 
another, but should not carry on that competition 
in a manner likely to be prejudicial to the safety 
of life and property at sea. If the loss of the 
Titanic should bring about a better understanding 
and the universal acceptance of principles which 
will add to the security of ocean navigation, the 
lessons learnt from that terrible disaster will be 
of permanent value. 
THE DISCOVERY OF HUMAN REMAINS 
AT, CUZEO," PERU. 
ope Yale expedition to Peru has made an 
important discovery of human remains in 
the vicinity of Cuzco, which are described in the 
April number of the American Journal of Science. 
We have, first, a full report of the circumstances 
of the “find” by the director of the expedition, 
Mr. Hiram Bingham. Following this, Mr. I. 
Bowman contributes a very cautious and well- 
considered report on the geological position. He 
comes to the conclusion that the beds in which 
the remains were found belong to a glacial series; 
that the bones were deposited during a period 
of pronounced alluviation; that since their de- 
position they were overlaid by from 75 to roo ft. 
of gravel, and were at a later period partially 
eroded. Though at first sight the immediate sur- 
roundings suggest the occurrence of a landslip, 
this view does not commend itself to him, and he 
provisionally estimates the age of the remains at 
from 20,000 to 40,000 years. 
The anatomical material consists of fragments 
of a cranium, portions of ribs, the right os inno- 
minatum, one complete and one imperfect femur. 
Mr. G. F. Eaton’s report indicates that this femur 
falls within the range of femoral variation in 
normal male adult Peruvians of the later Inca 
period. The remains were accompanied by a 
portion of the tibia of a wolf or wolf-like dog, 
closely resembling a small gray wolf, Canis occi- 
dentalis. It may be remarked that three varieties 
of breeds of domestic dogs are known to have 
existed in Peru during the later Inca period—a 
small-sized breed of the bulldog or pug type, with 
a short snout and undershot jaw; a small house- 
dog like the dachshund, with slender snout; and 
a larger, slender-limbed variety, with wolf-like 
skull, originally classed by Tschudi under the 
name Canis ingae pecuarius. The two latter 
types are supposed to be descended from a larger 
wolf-like variety, itself derived from the American 
wolf. Thus the presence in this site of a large 
wolf-like dog, while it offers in itself no proof of 
great antiquity, does not render that supposition 
untenable. 
But, besides the canine remains, those of what 
seems to be a bison have also been found; the 
study, however, of these rib fragments cannot 
differentiate the bison from domestic cattle. 
NO. 2232, vol. 89] 
According to Mr. Eaton, if the Cuzco remains date 
from a period preceding the Spanish Conquest, 
it would appear that the bovine remains belong 
to some species of bison, for no other feral group 
of the bovide need be considered. The difficulty 
remains that though the Spaniards found captive 
bison at Montezuma’s capital, the American bison 
in the free state is not known to have ranged 
further south than north-eastern Mexico. 
The existence, therefore, of the associated 
canine and bovine remains raises considerations 
not easily reconciled with the geological environ- 
ment, and for the present the exact age of the 
Cuzco remains must continue to some extent to be 
uncertain. It is much to be desired that further 
examination of this promising site may lead to 
the discovery of further evidence on which a final 
decision may be safely based. 
THE LATE MR. A. O. HUME,.C.B. 
M® ALLAN OCTAVIAN HUME, whose 
death took place at his residence in Upper 
Norwood on July 31, at the age of eighty-three, 
ranks as one of the chief benefactors to the 
natural history departments of the British 
Museum. During the latter portion of his career 
(1849 to 1882) as a Bengal civilian, the deceased 
gentleman devoted his leisure and much of his 
fortune to collecting skins and eggs of Indian 
birds and heads of Indian big game. The result 
was the bringing together of a collection such 
as had never been made before, including, as it 
did, not only specimens obtained by himself and 
his assistant, Mr. W. R. Davison, but many pur- 
chased from other collections. Except for a selec- 
tion of specimens—chiefly big game—retained for 
his own lifetime, but ultimately to come, we believe, 
to the nation, this collection was presented to the 
British Museum between 1885 and 1891. Previous 
to this the Museum collection of Indian birds was 
poor, whereas now it is surpassingly rich. 
The total number of skins and eggs of birds 
added to the Museum collection was 75,577, of 
which 258 were types. The big-game collection 
comprised 223 specimens, in addition to which 
were 371 mammal skins, including several types. 
Mr. Hume started and for fifteen years main- 
tained Stray Feathers, and was also author or co- 
author of several other works on Indian ornitho- 
logy. To kind attention received in the ‘seventies 
at Mr. Hume’s Simla residence, the present writer 
owes his recovery from severe illness. R. L. 
NOTES. 
Tue second International Congress of Entomology 
was opened at Oxford on Monday last, under the 
presidency of Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., and is 
still in progress. 
A commitTEE has been appointed by the President 
of the Board of Trade to advise him, in the interests 
of safety of life at sea, with regard to methods of 
stowing, launching, and propelling ships’ boats, and 
other kindred matters. Prof. J. H. Biles is the chair- 
_—te 
