April i, 1909] 



NA TURE 



139 



the past, but a trial of samples, recorded by Mr. A. 

 Howard in Bulletin No. 41 of the Agricultural Research 

 Institute, Pusa, reverses the verdict. Of ten samples, 

 three hard wheats from the Punjab furnished good results, 

 but they were excelled by a new hard wheat selected for 

 cultivation at Pusa. All four varieties yield good straw, 

 and are considerably rust resistant. It is noteworthy that 

 the order of all ten samples, based on baking tests, corre- 

 sponded exactly with their nitrogen content. 



The economic value of certain Australian pasture grasses 

 forms the subject of an article by Mr. F. Turner, published 

 in the A'cu' Bnllelin (No. i). Trigonella suavissima, a 

 clover-like plant, makes good forage, or may be served 

 as a vegetable ; similarly, Tctragonia expansa, receiving 

 Ihe name of Warrigal cabbage, may be used in both ways. 

 Boerhaavia diffusa, known as hog weed, and Geranium 

 ilisscctum are forage plants bearing fleshy roots that 

 formerly provided food for the aborigines. Erodium 

 cygnonini is another herb that in the young succulent 

 stage is much relished by stock. Calandrinia halonensis 

 contains moisture as well as nutrition in its succulent 

 leaves, and Portulaca oleracea is similar. A plantain, 

 Plantago varia, affords good pasture, and PsoraJea tcnax 

 receives the name of native lucerne, while the plant known 

 as nardoo is the hydrophytic fern Marsilea qitadrifolia. 



The section GamopetaI,-e is completed in the twenty-first 

 part of " Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula," 

 that is reprinted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal (vol. Ixxiv., extra number, igo8). This part 

 contains the family GesneraccEe, for which Mr. H. N. 

 Ridley is responsible, and the family Verbenaceae, collated 

 by Mr. J. S. Gamble. A large number of new species 

 were described by Mr. Ridley in 1905, to which are now 

 added two new species of ^-Eschynanthus, and Lcpadanlhiis 

 flcxurus, the type of a new genus. Didymocarpus is the 

 most important genus as regards the number of species. 

 Several of the genera are confined to the Malayan or Indo- 

 Malayan regions. The diagnoses of several new species 

 In the VerbenacCEe were published in the Kcw Bulletin for 

 iQoS. Premna, Vitex, and Clerodcndron are large genera ; 

 ^'ilex pcralata is noted as an ornamental tree worthy of 

 cultivation. 



It may be hoped that the appointment of Mr. N. W. 

 Tliomas on the anthropological survey of the Niger delta 

 will not lead to the discontinuance of his " Bibliography 

 of .Anthropology and Folk-lore," of which the second 

 annual issue for 1007 has recently appeared, at the modest 

 price of two shillings, under the auspices of the Royal 

 .Anthropological Institute and the Folk-lore Society. It 

 deals only with books and periodicals published within the 

 British Empire, with a few references to English publica- 

 tions on countries like China ; there is no attempt to in- 

 clude more than prehistoric archaDology, and only unwritten 

 languages are noticed. The range of the compilation is 

 thus limited, but it is useful so far as it goes, and its 

 publication emphasises the urgent need of concerted action. 

 The work is of a kind which should not depend upon the 

 labours of any single worker, however energetic. Surely 

 the societies which deal with the phases of man's life, 

 past and present, might combine to do what the Royal 

 Geographical Society so admirably accomplishes in the 

 bibliography contained in its monthly journal. 



Mr. a. L.ing, in a paper published in vol. iii. of the 

 Proceedings of the British .Academy, discusses the origin 

 of the terms of human relationship. He suggests that 

 " own " relations, maternal or paternal at least, were 



NO. 2057, ^'Oh. 80] 



recognised before the evolution of the family groups into 

 the tribe introduced " tribal " mothers, brothers, and 

 sisters. Then, as tribal law developed, regulating all 

 things by grade of age, the old names for the nearest 

 relationships were simply extended (sometimes with qualifi- 

 cations, such as "elder," " younger," " little ") to all 

 persons of the same age-grade, in the same phratry, with 

 the same duties, privileges, and restrictions. He sums up 

 the discussion in the provisional conclusion that the classifi- 

 catory, widely inclusive terms of relationship prove nothing, 

 neither for nor against a theory of primal promiscuity. The 

 material for these inductions is largely drawn from the 

 Arunta and other Australian tribes, about whom our 

 information is still very incomplete. It is difficult, for 

 instance, to reconcile the accounts of the .Arunta given by 

 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen with those of later observers, 

 and Mr. Lang, in his analysis of Australian terms of re- 

 lationship, lepends largely on analogies drawn from Aryan 

 languages. The value of such material interpreted by such 

 methods is obviously small, and our anthropologists would 

 be well adwised to defer speculation on the sociology of 

 primitive man in general until the customs and languages 

 of the native Australians, which supply evidence essential 

 to such an inquiry, have been ascertained with much 

 greater certainty. 



Ti!E stone implements of the French older Palaeolithic 

 age have been recently critically studied by Dr. Hugo 

 Obermaier, with special reference to their stratigraphy and 

 evolution (Mitteihingen der priihistorischcn Kommission 

 der Kais. Acad, der Wiss. Wien, Band il.. No. i, 1908. 

 pp. 41-125, 134 figures in text). The relative chronology 

 of forms of implements suggested by G. de MortiUet is 

 confirmed and amplified. Dr. Obermaicr's results may be 

 very briefly summarised as follows. An Early Chellian 

 period, devoid of hand-wedge (Faustkeil) implements, was 

 followed bv the High Chellian, characterised by its primi- 

 tive hand-wedge (Urfaustkeil) implement. The Acheulean 

 evolving therefrom must be divided into an older and 

 newer period, as exemplified in the forms of the hand- 

 wedge. The groups of " La Micoque " and " Levallois " 

 are subdivisions of the latter. The hand-wedge is either 

 absent or completely decadent in the Mousterian age. In 

 Le Prfhiftorique (1900) G. and A. de MortiUet state re- 

 peatedlv that the hand-wedge (.coup de poing) was the sole 

 implement of the Chellian age, and that the chips of this 

 age are of no significance; but in this they are mistaken, 

 since numerous smaller implements have been recognised ; 

 for example, the scraper and blade appear in the Early 

 Chellian, borers and punchers also occur in Chellian de- 

 posits, as do a cutting implement with a dressed arched 

 back, and some other tools. The numerous illustrations 

 render this paper indispensable to those who desire to trace 

 the evolution of the various types of flint implements 

 during the earlier phases of the Pala:olithic age. 



From the ofllces of the Egyptian Survey Department, 

 Ministry of Finance, we have received a copy of a very 

 useful almanac for 1909, which contains much information 

 concerning the various Government and public oflices and 

 institutions of Egypt. Under the title of " General In- 

 formation " we find numerous tables concerning meteor- 

 ological data, the height of the Nile, the planting and 

 reaping of various crops, and the conversion of weights, 

 measures, and money. The almanac has been compiled 

 by the Survey Department, and is sold for 25 milliemcs 

 (Hd.). 



MM. Flammarion and Loisel give their usual summary 

 of the climatology of the past year (190S) in the February 



