September 9, 1922] 



NA TURE 



365 



Research Items. 



Neolithic Script in India. — The recent discovery 

 of two neoliths, one from Chota Nagpur, the other 

 from Assam, said to be marked with decipherable 

 scripts, has attracted some attention. On one of 

 these Prof. Bhandarkar read the word " Maata," 

 assumed to mean " a headman or chieftain." The 

 script is believed to be that known as the Brahmi, 

 which, according to Biihler, was introduced in India 

 from Semitic sources about 800 B.C. Unfortunately, 

 however, there is no evidence that this character was 

 ever written from right to left. The question of these 

 neoliths has been examined by Mr. Hem Chandra 

 Das Gupta in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal (vol. xvii. No. 2), who points out that the 

 evidence of provenance and of the fact that the 

 inscriptions date from the Neolithic Age is far from 

 satisfactory. Symbols like letters of the alphabet 

 have been found in European soil painted upon 

 pebbles belonging to a stratum between the Palaeo- 

 lithic and Neolithic Ages at Mas d'Azil in France, but 

 scholars are still doubtful whether these so-called 

 inscriptions form a scientific basis for investigation 

 of the origin of the alphabet. The same may be said 

 of these recent Indian discoveries. 



The Swastika, Gammadion, Fylfot. — The 

 familiar symbol known in India as the Swastika, or 

 omen of good luck, and in the West as the Gammadion 

 or Fylfot, has generally been interpreted to represent 

 the sun in its apparent course. Its origin has been 

 investigated by Mr. Harit Krishna Deb in the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. xvii. No. 3). He 

 suggests that it is based on the method of writing the 

 sacred syllable Om, afterwards typical of the Brah- 

 manical triad of deities. This, when written in the 

 Brahmi character, takes the form of two crossed pot- 

 hooks, which he regards as the earliest form of the 

 Swastika. This theory meets with the serious objec- 

 tion that while this symbol comes down from the 

 Bronze Age at least, and is found on pottery from the 

 Third City at Hissarlik, the Brahmi alphabet, accord- 

 ing to Biihler, was derived from a Semitic source 

 about 800 B.C. Mr. H. K. Deb suggests that some of 

 the Brahmi characters may be of indigenous origin 

 in India, while others were adopted from Semitic 

 scripts, but there is no evidence of this. Nor is there 

 any reason to believe that the Swastika was adopted 

 for the first time in India. The interpretation now 

 suggested may be regarded as not proven, unless 

 we are prepared to believe that in this specialised 

 form it is peculiar to India, and the solar explanation 

 may for the present be regarded as holding the 

 ground. 



Insectivora from the Congo. — The "collections 

 made by the American Museum Congo expedition are 

 gradually being worked out and the results published. 

 The latest section dealt with concerns the Insectivora 

 ^md was the work of the well-known American 

 zoologist J. A. Allen, who, alas, died without seeing 

 the final proofs (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 xlvii.). The Soricidas were described in the same 

 Bulletin in 1916 by N. Hollister, but the gist of his 

 work is here repeated to make the whole subject 

 complete. Fifty-two species and subspecies are 

 chronicled, of which only two are, however, new. 



Foraminifera of the Atlantic Ocean. — The 

 third part of an important monograph on the Fora- 

 minifera of the Atlantic Ocean by J. A. Cushman 

 has just made its appearance (Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 

 104). The first part, dealing with the Astrorhizida;, 

 was published in 1918 (see Nature, vol. cii. p. 51), 

 and the second on the Lituolidas in 1920. The present 



NO. 2758, VOL. I TO] 



part includes the family Texulariidae, which is 

 apparently more primitive than most of the other 

 families of the Foraminifera, and follows the Lituolidas 

 in its general characters, a number of the simpler 

 genera being wholly or in part composed of species 

 with arenaceous tests. In the most primitive sub- 

 family, the Spiroplectinae, a coiled development makes 

 np a considerable portion of the test. A number of 

 new species are described, and there are twenty-six 

 excellent plates. 



Hawaiian Natural History. — The Bernice 

 Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology 

 and Natural History continues its useful career, and 

 its " Occasional Papers " have reached the eighth 

 volume. Three of the latest numbers bearing on 

 natural history are now before us. C. Montague 

 Cooke, jr. (vol. vii. No. 12), supplies " Notes on 

 Hawaiian Zonitidas and Succineidas." Among the 

 former the author includes Vitrina, which has long 

 been placed in a family of its own ; he elevates 

 Godwinia into a subfamily on anatomical grounds ; 

 and founds a new genus Nesovitrea for the Vitrea 

 pa 11 .villus of Gould. To the Succineids he adds two 

 new species of Catinella, and creates a new genus, 

 Laxisuccinea, for two new fossil species. Adequate 

 illustrations of anatomical details are given in the 

 text, and there are two plates of the shells from the 

 pencil of Miss Winchester, which is a guarantee of 

 their worth. The Stomatopoda in the Museum are 

 the subject of a paper by C. H. Edmondson (vii. 

 No. 13). The collection comprises 53 specimens, of 

 which one is new. The same writer also treats of 

 the Hawaiian Dromiidae (viii. No. 2), amounting to 

 four species, of which one, Dromidia hirsutissima 

 (Lamk), recorded by Dana, has not been seen by him, 

 and he considers its occurrence doubtful. 



Ecology of South Australia. — An interesting 

 contribution to the study of arid regions, with special 

 reference to the vegetation, has been prepared by 

 Mr. W. A. Cannon (" Plant Habits and Habitats in 

 the Arid Portions of South Australia." Washington : 

 Carnegie Institution, 1921). The importance of 

 bringing under cultivation those portions of the earth's 

 surface which, at present, are of more or less desert 

 nature, is becoming increasingly important in face of 

 the growing demands for food of the world's popula- 

 tion. The studies of the physical, geobotanical and 

 ecological characteristics of such areas are being 

 carried out by our American friends with their typical 

 vigour and freshness of outlook and are already 

 proving of practical value. In the work under notice 

 the varying vegetational features are correlated with 

 the rainfall in the districts which they inhabit, an 

 arbitrary classification of regions being based on the 

 annual amount of rain. It is shown that in South 

 Australia as a whole the flora is distinctly of a xero- 

 phytic type, and that of the dry northern portion 

 differs from the rest only in degree and not in kind. 

 The total absence of deciduous species is noteworthy. 

 The morphological and ecological peculiarities of the 

 species of Acacia and Eremophila are especially con- 

 sidered. The halophytes, mainly species of Cheno- 

 podiaceae and Amarantaceae, constitute the most 

 prominent element of the flora of the very dry 

 districts. Triodia irritans and Spinifex paradoxus 

 are among the most frequent grasses. The work is 

 illustrated by 32 pages of photographs, some showing 

 characteristic landscapes and vegetational 'features, 

 and others peculiarities of root, shoot or leaf mor- 

 phology. There is a bibliography and a summary of 

 contents but no index. 



