586 
NOTES FROM THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY 
MUSEUM 
V. On an “ Index-Collection” for small Zoological Museums 
in the Form of a Genealogical Tree of the Animal Kingdom 
EK, VEN in the smallest museums it is for many reasons difficult, 
and often impossible, to arrange the representatives of the 
various groups of animals in such a way as to bring out clearly 
their mutual relations. Hence arises the need of an ‘‘index- 
collection” in which each group is represented by one or more 
specimens so arranged as to indicate as accurately and clearly as 
possible the affinities of the groups they typify. The form which 
naturally suggests itself as the most suitable for a small type- 
collection of the kind indicated is that of a solid phylogenetic 
diagram or ‘‘ genealogical tree.” 
An excellent form of ‘‘diagram in three dimensions” for 
lecture purposes has been devised by Haddon ; the model I have 
recently had constructed appears to me to be more suitable for 
permanent use in a museum.,! 
It consists of a vertical wooden rod about 3 feet 6 inches in 
height, representing the main line of descent from Protozoa to 
Vertebrata ; from this spring, at various levels, branches repre- 
senting types which lie off the direct line ; these have in most 
cases an upward direction, but are directed downwards from 
their point of origin in the case of degenerate groups. At 
appropriate points on this framework are placed either actual 
specimens or models of one or more examples of each group. 
As the Vertebrata inevitably take up the largest share of space 
in a museum as well as of public attention, each of the classes 
of that group is represented on the model, while in the case of 
Invertebrata one or two examples only are given to each type 
or sub-kingdom. 
For each group—type or class, as the case may be—a label is 
provided, giving (2) the name of the group, (4) the name of the 
specimen or model serving as an example of it, and (c) the 
place in the Museum where representatives of the group are to 
be found. 
A more correct mode of construction for a model of this kind 
would be to make the branches of such a length as to bring the 
ends of all of them, and consequently the specimens they sup- 
port, to one level ; advance of organisation would thus be indi- 
cated, not by height above the ground, but by distance from a 
centre. But such a model would be far less convenient than 
the form I have adopted. 
VI. On the Size and the External Sexual Characters of the New 
Zealand Octopus (O. maorum, Hutton) 
In his work on the octopus,* as well as in his more recent 
pamphlet, ‘* Sea-Monsters Unmasked,” * Mr. Henry Lee states 
that the largest British specimen he had examined had arms 24 feet 
long ; that examples with arms of about 4% feet had been found 
in the Mediterranean ; but that the largest specimens known were 
those found on the coast of North America (Vancouver's Island), 
one of which had been measured by Mr. J. K. Lord, who found 
the length of one arm to be 5 feet. 
From this it would seem not to be generally known, even by 
naturalists, that a species of octopus is very common on some 
parts of the coast of New Zealand, and notably in Dunedin 
Harbour, the average size of which is fully equal to, while it 
occasionally exceeds, that of the specimen from Vancouver's 
Island just referred to. 
I have recently had mounted for this Museum a female Océo- 
pus maorum, the longest arm of which is 4 feet 34 inches, but 
larger specimens have been frequently seen by my assistants and 
myself. The following are the dimensions of the largest indi- 
vidual—a male-~which we have actually measured :— 
Feet Inches 
Wengthtofbody and=head!’..) =.. a. ccs se 
Diameterofibody is irr ee ane ae CS 
Length of arms— 
aaa Left By Ry 
TSE RAL, ~ | Right on PEON 22D 1S 
filett. 2 A Ry ero 
BRD | Right ; ste eh paee 
* ‘The model referred to was exhibited and described in detail at a meeting 
of the Otago Institute on June 9. 
? “The Octopus ; or, the ‘ Devil-Fish’ of Fiction and of Fact.” 
man and Hall, 1875 ) 
3 One of the ‘*‘ Handbooks” of the Fisheries Exhibition, 1883. 
(Chap- 
NATURE 
[Oct. 15, 1885 
Feet Inches 
P WS ee Boo ee SA ce HT 
Seapets ~ | Kight (hectocotylised) deg) RUT 
{ Left cae. goss stay eco MATEES 
gs Dee Sh eclain 4 8 
Diameter of largest suckers (on Ist or ‘* dorsal” 
arms) end Pasi Sy. peaelaa eres i Aweaasy 9) OT 
Besides the hectocotylisation of the third right arm, there is a 
striking difference between the two series which I have not seen 
mentioned. In the male the suckers simply undergo a gradual 
diminution in size in passing from the prominal to the distal end 
of the arm ; they retain their characteristic form, and are easily 
counted up to about half an inch of the tip. In the female, on 
the other hand, the suckers become quite indistinct for several 
inches, and in some cases for fully a foot, from the extremity of 
the arm, taking on the form of small tubercle-like elevations. As 
an instance of this difference I may mention that in a male 
specimen with the first left arm 4 feet 24 inches in length, from 
292 to 319 suckers could be readily counted on each arm ; while 
in a female with the corresponding arm of the same length, only 
go to 1r§ could be counted on each arm, the distal portions 
bearing tubercles so crowded as to make it practically impossible 
to count them. T. JEFFERY PARKER 
Dunedin, N.Z., June 19 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
SECTION H—ANTHROPOLOGY 
Prof. W. Turner read a paper on The /ndex of the Pelvic Brim 
asa Basis of Classification.—Vhat the inlet to the human pelvis 
presented variations in outline and in the proportions of its 
conjugate and transverse diameters has been recognised since 
the publication by Vrolik in 1826, and by M. T. Weber in 1830, 
of their important memoirs on the pelvis in certain races of men. 
In 1866 Zaaijer, of Leyden, in his study of the pelvis in women 
of Java, recognised differences in form in women of the same 
race, and he expressed these differences numerically, taking the 
transverse diameter as —100, and then multiplying the con- 
jugate diameter by 100, and dividing by the transverse; the 
numeral so obtained is the index of the pelvic brim, or ‘‘ pelvic 
index.” By applying this method to the pelvis in different 
races of man, a classification of races based on the index of the 
brim may be framed. In carrying out this method the male 
pelvis should especially be studied, as in women the pelvis, for 
sexual reasons, does not present such wide divergences in the 
form of its inlet asin men. To give precision to the classification, 
it will be advisable to employ special terms, and in order as 
far as possible to bring these terms into accordance with those 
employed in the ciassification of crania based on differences in 
the relations of the length to the breadth of the skull, Greek 
terms will be employed. Thus dolichopellic will signify 
a pelvis the conjugate diameter of which is longer than 
the transverse, or closely approaching to it; platypellic, 
a pelvis in which the transverse diameter greatly exceeds 
the conjugate; and mesatipellic, a pelvis in which the trans- 
verse diameter is not so greatly in excess of the conjugate. 
Owing to the comparatively limited number of pelves in the 
different races of men which have been measured, either it may 
not be possible to fix definitely at present the numerical limits 
of each of these groups ; but the following were adopted pro- 
visionally by the author :—dolichopellic, a pelvis with brim index 
above 9°5; platypellic, one with brim index below 9’0; and 
mesatipellic, a pelvis with a brim index between 9'0 and 9°5, 
both inclusive. The number of pelvic measurements from which 
the author drew his conclusions were comparatively few, but 
from these it would seem that the dolichopellic division contains 
Australians, Bushmen, Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Andamanese ; 
whilst Nezroes, Tasmanians, and New Caledonians are mesati- 
pellic, and Europeans, Chinese, and probably American Indians 
belong to the platypellic group. When a pelvis has dolicho- 
pellic characters it approximates in the relations of its transverse 
and conjugate diameters to the form of the pelvic brim met with 
in mammals lower than man; and in the dolichapellic Australians, 
Bushmen, Kaffirs, and Andamanese, the length of the sacrum is 
on the average greater than the breadth, and this also is an 
animal character. 
Mr. W. F. Stanley exhibited a portable scale of pro- 
portions of the human body. The instrument is a small thin 
scale or rule of ivory, about three inches in length, and 
