July 29, 1909 J 



NA TURE 



i^i 



tuberous and bulbous plants, shrubs, &c. Epiphytes 

 (as is to be expected in a climate of such general 

 dryness) are few, but parasitic phanerogams are 

 abundant. A good deal of attention is paid to the 

 various contrivances for storing water and reducing 

 transpiratior). Other matters discussed are insects 

 and birds as agents of pollination, the influence of 

 wind, light, &c. Several curious instances are 

 adduced, especially in the genus iMesenibrianthemum, 

 of so-called protective resemblance. Though supposed 

 cases of mimicry in the plant kingdom should be 

 received with caution, it must be admitted that the 

 resemblance, both in colour and form, between some 

 of these curious plants and the stones and rocks 

 amongst which they grow is exceedingly striking. 



The closing chapters of the volume are occupied by 

 a useful discussion on the affinities and origin of the 

 South .African flora in general, and that of the Cape 

 Province in particular. The older theories of Hooker 

 and Wallace, as well as those of later authors, to 

 account for the resemblances between the floras of 

 South Africa, Australia, and temperate South America, 

 are given at some length, and discussed in the light 

 of what is known of geological and climatic changes 

 since the Cretaceous period. 



Not the least interesting feature of the volume is a 

 series of short, posthumous sketches of the vegetation 

 of various districts, by the late Prof. A. F. \V. 

 Schlmper, who was botanist to the Valdivia expedi- 

 tion. These sketches, which are marked by Prof. 

 Schimper's usual lucidity, supplement Dr. Marloth's 

 descriptions in many respects. 



On p. 188 is a photograph, taken in the Knysna 

 forest district, in which both Prof. Schimper and Dr. 

 Marloth appear. The latter, however, with character- 

 istic modesty, has omitted his own name from the 

 description of the figure. The volume is copiously 

 illustrated by line drawings and photographs. Some 

 of the latter take the form of particularly beautiful 

 heliogravures. There are also a number of useful 

 maps, illustrating the rainfall, geology, and phyto- 

 geographical regions of South Africa. Karte 6 

 would be improved by a clearer method of indicating 

 the regional boundaries. 



To sum up, the work presents a most useful account 

 of the p] esent position of geographical botany in 

 South Africa. Its very limitations, particularly in the 

 ecological sections, afford a graphic indication of the 

 enormous (and in many directions practically un- 

 touched) field which awaits future investigators. 



R. H. Y. 



PALAEOLITHIC MAN.' 

 ■p ECENT discoveries have filled up to a great 

 -'-^ extent the gaps in our knowledge of Palaeo- 

 lithic man. The skeleton find in the lower grotto of 

 Le Moustier (Dordogne) in the main confirms 

 Klaatsch's conclusions, based on a comparison of the 

 face-skeleton of the Neanderthal race with that of 

 the present Australians. Homo moustcricnsis belongs 

 to the older Diluvial race, that is, to the Neanderthal 

 type, not to Homo sapiens found in more recent 

 Diluvium. The subject was about sixteen years old 

 probably a male. That Homo nioustericusis belongs 

 to the Neanderthal type is further shown by the char- 

 acter of the femur and radius (of which the length 

 is estimated at 195 mm., while the upper arm 

 measures 210 mm.'). The Neanderthal race had short 

 extremities, in which fact Klaatsch sees an approxi- 

 mation to the present Arctic races of Mongoloid 

 relationship. 



1 " Recently discovered Fo=sil Human Remains and their Bearing upon 

 the History of the Human Race," by Moritz Alsberg {dolus, vol. xcv., 

 No. 17, May 6, 1909). 



NO. 2074, ■VOL. 81] 



Mention must also be made of the extraordinarily 

 massive proportions of the absolutely chinless lower 

 jaw. The knobs on the backs of the incisors recall 

 the Krapina find. All the upper front teeth have 

 much curved roots adapted to the round arching of 

 the upper jaw-bone. 



The position of the skeleton at Le Moustier, like 

 that of the find at Grimaldi, proved that Diluvial man 

 buried his dead with care. The posture is that of 

 sleep, with the face turned to the right, and the right 

 arm under the head, which was surrounded by flint 

 flakes. Beside the skeleton were found, in addition to 

 flint implements of the Mousterian type, some of the 

 ."Vcheulean type, among them a splendidly worked 

 " hand-wedge." A mark on the right femur is trace- 

 able to burning, but there is no sign of the cannibalism 

 ascribed by Kramberger to Krapina man. 



Another important find in France is that of a male 

 skeleton, brought to light by the Abbf^s A. and J. 

 Bouyssonie and Bardon near La Chapelle-aux-Saints 

 (Correze), in an absolutely undisturbed archseological 

 stratum. The subject is an old man of about i'6o m. 

 in height. The skull is actually 208 mm. long by 

 156 mm. broad, that is to say, dolichocephalic, with 

 an index of 75. The height from basion to bregma 

 is only 116 mm. The breadth-height index is 62, far 

 outside the variation in living man. The huge, almost 

 round orbits and very wide nasal aperture agree with 

 what has been noted as very remarkable in skulls of 

 the Neanderthal type. Though the face is defective, 

 its prognathous nature is clear. The mandible is of 

 great dimensions, and in so far as senile atrophy has 

 not produced changes, e.xhibits a formation which 

 agrees in the main with those of lower jaws from 

 Spy, I^rapina, La Naulette, &c. Here, too, we have 

 absence of chin, " negative chin-formation " (Klaatsch). 

 The occipital and temporal regions have Neanderthal 

 characteristics. The old man's grave contained no 

 tools of the Acheulean stage. This fact, and the pre- 

 dominance of reindeer-bones in the grave, would lend 

 some degree of probability to the supposition that La 

 Chapelle man belongs to a rather later cultural phase 

 than Le Moustier man. Both are to be taken as 

 representatives of the Neanderthal type, and as be- 

 longing to. the Middle Diluvium. 



P. Adloff has in several publications dealt with the 

 question as to whether the above physical character- 

 istics comprised under the term " Neanderthal race " 

 represent an absolutely fixed human type, or whether 

 they were subject to variations. As regards differ- 

 ences of dentition in different specimens of the Nean- 

 derthal type, he comes to the conclusion that by no 

 means insignificant differences do exist; Krapina man 

 especially exhibits a form sharply distinguished from 

 other representatives of the genus Homo. Obviously, 

 in a type like the Neanderthal, scattered over a vast 

 area, and doubtless existing for many thousands of 

 years, certain variations must arise by way of adjust- 

 ment to different climatic conditions, food, mode of 

 life, &c. 



Dr. O. Schoetensack has recently made a notable 

 find at Mauer, near Heidelberg, of a fossil human 

 lower jaw, which he has called Homo hcidelbergensis. 

 It unites two at first seemingly contradictory quali- 

 ties : (i) massiveness of the body of the jaw, combined 

 with entire absence of chin-projection, breadth and 

 thickness, and special form of the ascending rami — ■ 

 phenomena usually taken as indicating a development 

 little advanced, so-called pithecoid qualities; (2) a set 

 of teeth agreeing with that of present man in all 

 essentials, the size of the teeth not surpassing the 

 scale of variation in some still extant primitive peoples 

 (e.g. Australians). No doubt, as Adloff says, the teeth 

 of man are in many respects more primitive than 



