TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 12i 



came to us in large numbers from Russia with the timber which we got from 

 that country, and which was floated down the rivers to be put on board ship. It 

 was easier for these creatures to establish themselves in and along the rivers of a 

 country than in any other part of it. The rabbit had only very lately established 

 itself in this country ; for the author had several times found flints &c. at the mouths 

 of burrows which had been thrown up by rabbits. Now, had these rabbits been in 

 the country for any very long time, the chances would be that the remains of all 

 these barrows would have been destroj'ed. Consequently it was his opinion that 

 the rabbit was not one of our prehistoric animals, but that it was probably brought 

 over by the Romans, as the chestnut, the sheep, and the fallow-deer had been 

 brought by them. The white-breasted marten, which had once been very pre- 

 valent, was a great enemy to the rabbit, and had, doubtless, kept the latter animal 

 in check. In the Greek islands the rabbit was now very prevalent ; but the Greek 

 name for the rabbit he did not know ; for though the Greeks mentioned the hare 

 again and again, they said nothing of the rabbit. The fallow-deer must have 

 lived in the time of Chaucer, who spoke of " The dreadful roe, the deer, the hart, 

 the hind."' The Norway rat, or grey rat, was not known in prehistoric times, nor 

 was the black rat. The rat came to us from the other side of the Volga ; but in 

 one of the prehistoric tumuli the author had found several handfuls of jawbones 

 of the common water-rat. This at first puzzled him very much ; but he subse- 

 quently found amongst the remains a large carnivorous tooth, a canine of the 

 polecat, one of which animals had evidently made its nest in the tumuli and fed 

 its young upon water-rats. 



Professor Rolleston exhibited and explained the uses of a flint hammer from 

 the Western coast of New Guinea. 



Notes on the Zaparos. By Alfred Simsok. 



TheZaparos are a people in Ecuador, inhabiting chiefly the Curarai and its tri- 

 butaries, the Nushinu, the Nuganu, Supinu, &c, the main river Napo, in the 

 neighbourhood of Sinchichieta, and the Yasuni. They are expert woodsmen and 

 hunters, with very keen eyes and ears. When unprovoked they are shy and 

 retiring, but are quite fearless, and will not suffer any one to force them by 

 physical means. They exhibit marked pleasure in the destruction of human life. 

 The Zaparos are very disunited, and wander about in separate hordes. Their 

 superstitions were described by the author, who had passed some time with 

 these Indians. 



On the Colouring-matters in Human Hair. By H. C. Sorbt, F.B.S. 6,'c. 



This was only a provisional account of the author's experiments. He has been 

 able to separate several well-marked different-coloured substances. The chief 

 of these are the black pigment and a red-brown substance, which, when oxidized, 

 passes into a yellow colouring-matter. Though very red human hair contains a 

 small quantity of a pink-red substance, yet by far the greater number of the 

 different tints of human hair may be explained by supposing that it contains a 

 varying amount of a variable mixture of the above-named three substances. 



On Ethnology of West Cornwall. By the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma. 



The variations of races that go together to make the present population of West 

 Cornwall are to be divided into two classes : — 



1. Those Britons who came here from pressure of the Saxon invasion, and the 

 aboriginal or jMa«'-aboriginal Uamounii. 



2. Those who came as immigrants to settle on the coast districts. 



1. The Cornu-Britons are the backbone of the population. Their language was 

 1877. 10 



