AUGUST 15, 1912] 
The temporary 
“which 
wet spell, otherwise they perish. 
pools swarm with small crustaceans, some 
are closely allied to one another have red blood 
and others have not. 
For example, the various 
NATURE 
€09 
Those who are interested in the doings of 
natives will find first-hand accounts of the tribes 
met in the south-to-north traverse, the matrilineal 
Urabunna, the patrilineal Arunta,  Kaitish, 
Unmatjera, Warramunga, Tjingilli, 
. t—Ceremony of Alkira-Kiuma, Arunta tribe. 
From “‘ Across Australia.” 
species of Limnadopsis and Limnetis are quite 
colourless, whilst their close allies, Estheria 
lutravia and E. packardi, have red blood. Whether 
it be connected with this fact or not, it is 
interesting to notice that the Estherias 
‘Lhrowing the novice up into the air. 
Umbaia, and Binbinga, and the Anula 
and Mara coastal tribes of the Gulf 
of Carpentaria, whose social organisa- 
tion is somewhat different from that 
| of the preceding tribes. The accounts 
| of the sociology, customs, ceremonies, 
and beliefs of these tribes are sufficient 
to give the reader a very good idea 
of the effect of geographical control 
over a people, the stage of culture 
arrived at by an isolated savage com- 
munity, and the local variations that 
eccur. From these points of view it 
forms an admirable introduction to 
the study of the Australian natives, 
but of these the authors’ previous 
books have already treated with 
greater detail. Every serious student 
of ethnology is acquainted with these 
books, and hence will find nothing 
new to him with regard to his special 
studies, but at the same time -he 
should read the book so as to gain 
a more coherent conception of the 
conditions of existence in the central 
| band of Australia, and to pick up scattered in- 
formation concerning the utilisation of the plants 
and animals by the aborigines. The volumes are 
extremely well illustrated; all the figures and 
seem to be able to live longer than 
the colourless forms. . Speaking 
generally, the smaller the animal is, 
the more abundantly you find it.” 
Among other Australian anomalies 
is the finding of a true crab in the 
dry steppe lands of Central Australia. 
“It is apparently the same form, 
Thelphusa transversa, which has been 
recorded from Cape York in the 
north-east of Australia, and _ its 
presence in the centre of the continent 
points back to a time when there was 
a great inland sea. The crab has 
evidently been left behind, and has 
adapted itself, not only to fresh-water 
life, but to conditions which would, 
at first sight, appear almost fatal to 
crab life.” In arid parts of Mexico 
and Colorado the honey ant stores up 
honey in its body so that the abdomen 
becomes spherical; so does the Melo- 
phorus inflatus of Central Australia ; 
our authors discovered two species 
(M. cowlei and M. midas) in which 
the abdomen is not so_ swollen: 
“evidently these two are not so fully specialised 
in this respect.” There are many other notes on 
the habits of animals which should not be over- 
looked by zoologists. 
NO, 
Fic 
2.—Performance of a sacred ceremony of the sun totem, Arunta tribe. 
From ‘ Across Australia.” 
plates, except a few chiefly giving views of 
scenery, have, however, been previously published. 
| The book is written in an interesting manner, 
and deserves a large sale. A. C. Happon. 
