TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. tOl 



classical and later times: for it retains tlirougliout its littoral habits, and has 

 never succeeded in penetrating into the interior either of the Balkan lands or of 

 Asia Minor. ^Egean culture has spread, hut not yEgean man : the Hellenistic 

 peoples of Asia Minor, Macedon, and Epirus are proseljtes. 



V. Under these circumstances it is reasonable to infer that as far back as we 

 can trace the presence of ' Mediterranean ' man in the JEgean, there existed in 

 the Eastern Mediterranean some sort of organised sea-pcwer. The similarity of 

 the earliest yEgean boats with those of early Egypt confirms this view ; and the 

 admitted submergence of the habitable foreshore of the Gyrenaica goes far to 

 explain the subsequent unimportance of this once populous area. Egyptian 

 history also aftbrds more than one instance of an aggressive Libyan sea-power, 

 and even of such a sea-power in alliance with admittedly ^Egean peoples. 



2. Wote on the Ethnology oj Sardinia. 

 By Dr. T. Ashby, jun., and D. Mackenzie. 



Like Crete, and for the same reasons, Sardinia would seem to ofl'er very 

 favourable opportunities for craniological and ethnographical research. While 

 the few coast towns have been centres of continuous foreign influence, the remoter 

 mountain districts of the interior have remained comparatively undisturbed, and 

 a pure type seems to have survived, possibly from prehistoric times. This seems 

 to be the case in many details of costume and domestic architecture : and com- 

 parative craniological research might lead to important conclusions. The results 

 arrived at by Professor Levi in his measurements of recruits will, naturally, have 

 to be taken into account ; and no researcher can, of course, go any distance with- 

 out mastering what has already been done by the Italian archaeologists, and 

 without the indispensable guidance of those on the spot. In this connection we 

 cannot speak too highly of the courtesy and kindness of Professor Taramelli and 

 Sig. Nissardi, the latter our companion for a fortnight, and of the hospitable 

 welcome with which we were everywhere met. The views held by the latter ^ 

 on the question of the purpose of the ' nuraghes ' are most certainly correct, as we 

 convinced ourselves by a careful examination of many of them in his company. 

 That they are tombs, as Pinza maintiiined in vol. xi. of the 'Monument! dei 

 Lincei,' seemed to us to be impossible. 



3. Report of the Committee to Organise Anthropological Teaching and 

 Research in the British Empire. 



4. Report on Anthropometric Investigations among the Native IWoops 

 of the Egyptian Army. — See Reports, p. 347. 



5. Nasal and Cephalic Indices in Different Parts of Egypt. 

 By Dr. C. S. Myers. 



6. The Astronomy of the Torres Straits Islanders, 

 By W. H. R. Rivers, M.A., M.D. 



The islanders of the Torres Straits group together many stars in constellations, 

 which often represent mythical persons. The constellations may in some cases 

 be very large, including many of our own constellations : thus, the constellation 



' See his paper in Atti del Coiigresso Internaaionale di Scienze Storiche, Rome, 

 1903, vol. v., Archeologia, pp. 650-671. 



