July 29, 1922] 



NA TURE 



161 



Research Items. 



Folklore among the Algerian Tribes. — In the 

 June issue of Folk-lore (vol. xxxiii. No. 2) Mr. M. W. 

 Hilton-Simpson publishes the result of a series of 

 excursions among the hill and desert tribes of Algeria. 

 In this hitherto practically unknown field he has found 

 many curious usages. Among others, at a marriage 

 firearms are discharged to scare the Jinn who are on 

 the watch to possess the bride. On her arrival at her 

 husband's house she is lifted into the house by a man, 

 and as she reaches the door a female member of her 

 family presents her with an egg, which she breaks 

 on the lintel as she passes under it. Tins last usage 

 is sometimes modified by the bride smearing the door- 

 lintel with butter, the series of charms being probably 

 fertility magic. 



Religious Ceremonial of the Parsis. — An 

 interesting collection of articles used in religious 

 ceremonies by the Parsis of Bombay arid preserved 

 in the United States Museum is described by Mr. 

 I. M. Casanowicz, the assistant curator, in Proceedings 

 of the United States National Museum (vol. lxi. 

 Art. 2), with a useful account of the origin and 

 ritual of these people. The finest object is a brass 

 nickel-plated fire-iron, with a ladle and tongs, used 

 in making the sacred fire, and a similar tray on 

 which offerings of fruit, flowers, milk, water, wine, 

 or sherbet are made in remembrance of the souls 

 of the departed, or with the object of invoking the 

 help of protecting spirits. 



Far Eastern Arch/eology. — The July issue of 

 the Antiquaries' Journal (vol. ii. No. 3) is devoted to 

 the presidential address by Sir Hercules Read, who 

 took as his subject the work of Sir Aurel Stein carried 

 on for twenty years in exploring Eastern Turkestan. 

 " The masterpieces of the earlier dynasties of China 

 stand unchallenged in our museums and in private 

 possession. Their value and interest are enhanced 

 beyond words when we have in addition such a 

 collection as that brought home by Sir Aurel Stein. 

 By singular good fortune he has retrieved just the 

 very objects that the earth can never yield to us. 

 Pictures, embroideries, manuscripts, such as con- 

 stitute his hoard, even if they had been buried in the 

 graves, would have been destroyed by damp in much 

 less than a thousand years. His finds in the bone- 

 dry caves of the Thousand Buddhas form the neces- 

 sary complement of what excavation has yielded 

 from China itself, with the result that we have in 

 England what is probably a unique mass of material 

 for the study of Chinese archaeology, religion, and art 

 during the three centuries preceding the Norman 

 Conquest." 



The Piltdown Skull. — Since the discovery of 

 fragments of a human cranium and jawbone at 

 Piltdown in Sussex in 1912 a fierce controversy has 

 raged over these interesting remains. The recent 

 contributions to the discussion are reviewed by Mr. 

 E. N. Fallaize in the July issue of Discovery. As 

 regards the question of dating, he remarks that the 

 claim of its identification as a specimen of Pliocene 

 man must be held not to be proven. As to the 

 character of the skull, a fresh reconstruction of it 

 has recently been made by Profs. Elliot Smith and 

 Hunter, generally confirmatory of earlier reconstruc- 

 tions of Dr. Smith Woodward and Mr. Pycraft. 

 It is low and broad and of a capacity less than 1300 

 c.c. It differs, however, in one important respect. 

 The occipital fragment, which determines the shape 



tfO. 2752, VOL. I io] 



of the back of the skull, assumes a more vertical 

 position, and produces a form more nearly resem- 

 bling the anthropoid skull than that of modern man. 

 The result is a skull like no other skull, but its 

 similarity to the Simian skull brings it into complete 

 harmony with the chimpanzee-like jaw. The diffi- 

 culty of the discrepancy between cranium and jaw 

 has thus been cleared up, while the endocranial 

 cast, as might be expected, takes its place between 

 that of Pithecanthropus erectus, the fossil skull from 

 Java, and that of the recently discovered Rhodesian 

 Man. 



Paleozoic Brachiopoda from Eastern Asia. — 

 Two parts of a paper, which constitute a portion of 

 the attempt of the Geological Institute in Sendai 

 (Japan) to contribute to the knowledge of the geology 

 of Eastern Asia, are contained in the Science Reports 

 of the Tohoku Imperial University, Sendai (Second 

 Series: Geology, vol. vi. No. 1). In these, Ichiro 

 Hayasaka discusses the palaeozoic Brachiopoda from 

 Japan, Korea, and China. The majority of forms 

 are referred, although occasionally doubtfully, to 

 species well known from the same strata in other 

 parts of the world, but in one case the author has 

 felt justified in establishing a new genus, Athyrisina, 

 for two Middle Devonian species, also new. The 

 seven photo-lithographic plates are good, but some- 

 times wanting in clarity ; more exact illustration 

 would have been especially acceptable in the case of 

 the new genus and its species. 



Mimicry among Birds. — Mr.G.T. Harris, Buckerell, 

 East Devon, has sent us a description of a robin 

 attacking a cuckoo. The latter species is frequently 

 harassed by single small birds in this way, or is 

 " mobbed " by a band of them. At first sight this 

 might seem to indicate resentment of the cuckoo's 

 parasitic habits, but it is probably going too far to 

 credit the victimised species with so intelligent an 

 awareness of the position : for although the chosen 

 foster-parents will try to drive off a cuckoo about to 

 lay in their nest, they will subsequently hatch the 

 egg and rear the young parasite in a way which shows 

 that they have indeed no understanding of the trick 

 which is played upon them. A more credible explana- 

 tion is to be found in the cuckoo's similaritv to a hawk, 

 for small birds will " mob " hawks and owls in much 

 the same way when they can get these birds-of-prey 

 at a disadvantage. The cuckoo is a comparath ely 

 weak bird, and its mimicry of a hawk is doubtless 

 useful both in regard to its peculiar breeding habits 

 and otherwise, although at times it entails the 

 unwelcome attentions referred to above. This 

 interesting mimicry is probably to be regarded as a 

 definitely evolved adaptation : the alternative ex- 

 planation of mere coincidence might perhaps be 

 urged if there were not numerous other examples to 

 show that such mimicry is quite possible. There is 

 an Indian cuckoo, for example, which habitually 

 victimises a drongo as a foster-parent and closely 

 resembles that species in outward appearance. 

 Again, there is the striking case of the friar-birds 

 and orioles of the Malay Archipelago : here the weak 

 orioles appear to gain an advantage in the struggle 

 for existence by their close mimicry of the pugnacious 

 friar-birds. Moreover, there are several species of 

 friar-birds on different islands, and for each there is 

 an appropriate oriole. Among insects, too, there are 

 many good examples of the mimicry of one species 

 1 her and unrelated form. 



