90 



SCIENCE. 



IVoL. II., No. 24. 



led to the collation of the ages of persons who have 

 lived to a very great age; Lord Malahide is inclined 

 to give credit to the great number of cases of recorded 

 longevity occurring among the inscriptions recovered 

 from old Roman graves in Algeria and Tunisia. Mr. 

 Kenier has published a collection of these, and a still 

 more complete series is by Mr. Willman, under the 

 auspices of the Eoyal academy of Berlin. Upwards 

 of ten thousand inscriptions are thus calendared. 

 The following is a list from Numidia: — 



101 14 persons. 



1 person. 

 7 persons. 

 1 person. 



5pe 



At Mastar, a small town, the cemetery yields the 



Anna R. 

 Coecilius 

 Gargiliue 



Marcela 120 



Januarius 101 



Martialis 105 



Another 115 



Jussata 105 



Lord Malahide, in order to show the credibility of 

 these figures, speaks at length upon the duties of the 

 Roman censors. — (Journ. anthrop. inst., xii. 441.) 

 J. w. p. [103 



The Pa-wnees. — Mr. John B. Dunbar of Bloom- 

 field, N.Y., has brought together in a quarto pam- 



phlet his researches into the PSni family of North 

 American Indians. The tribes embraced in thi8 

 group are the Pawnees, Arikaras, Caddos, Uuecos 

 or Wacos, Keechies, Tawaconies, and Pawnee Picts 

 or VVichitas. The last five are the southern or Red 

 River branches. A brief account of each of these is 

 given in the first few pages of the pamphlet. Tlie 

 third paragraph is devoted to the Arikaras, and the 

 remainder of the monograph to the Pini, or Pawnees. 

 A very extensive bibliography of the stock has 

 been collected, commencing with the expedition of 

 Lewis and Clarke, and including the publications of 

 Pike, Long, J. T. Irving, Murray, Hayden, and the 

 reports of the several commissioners of Indian af- 

 fairs. Earlier notices are found in la Harpe, du 

 Pratz, and Charlevoix. 



The name ' Pawnee ' is probably derived from Pd- 

 rik-i (a horn), referring to their peculiar scalp-lock. 

 The original hunting-ground extended from the Nio- 

 brara, south to the Arkansas, but no definite bounda- 

 ries can be fixed. 



Mr. Dunbar has collected from various sources the 

 traditions of their origin and migrations (§ S), their 

 conflicts (§ 9), their census (§ 10), and their later his- 

 tory since the beginning of our century. Consider- 

 able space is given to their tribal organization, 

 physical characteristics, social usages, dress, names, 

 lodges, arts, trade, feasts, hunting, war, medicine, 

 mourning, religion, calendar, present condition and 

 prospects. Brief chapters are devoted to the cele- 

 brated chiefs, Pitale-sharu, Lone Chief, and Medi- 

 cine Bull. — J. w. p. [104 



INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 



STATE INSTITUTIONS. 



State naiversity of Kansas, lawrenoe. 



Weather report for June. — The chief meteoro- 

 logical features of this month were the low mean 

 temperature and the abundant rainfall. During the 

 fifteen preceding years, three Junes have been cooler 

 than this, and only one (1876) has had a larger rain- 

 fall. 



Mean temperature, 71.38°, which is 2.87° below the 

 June average. The highest temperature was 94°, on 

 the 22d and 30th. The mercury reached or exceeded 

 90° on only six days. The lowest temperature was 

 48.5°, giving a range of 45.5° for the month. Mean 

 temperature at 7 A.M., 66.22°; at 2 p.m., 80.3°; at 

 9 p.m., 69.5°. 



Rainfall, 7.73 inches, which is 2.80 inches above the 

 June average. There were seven thunder-showers, 

 one of which, on the night of the 11th, continued for 

 six hours, and brought 2.92 inches of rain. The entire 

 rainfall for the six months of 1883 now completed 

 has been 21.80 inches, which is 5.05 inches above the 

 average for the first half-year of the past fifteen years. 



Mean cloudiness, 38.56% of the sky, the month 

 being 3.64% clearer than the average. Number of 



clear days (less than one-third cloudy), 14; half clear 

 (from one to two thirds cloudy), 12; cloudy (more 

 than two-thirds), 4. There were four entirely clear 

 days, and only one entirely cloudy day. Mean at 7 

 A.M., 42.67%; at 2 p.m., 39.33%; at 9 p.m., 33.67%. 



Wind: S.W., 24 times; S.E., 24 times; N.VV., 17 

 times; N.E., 14 times; N., 4 times; S., 4 times; E., 

 3 times. The entire distance travelled by the wind 

 was 10,737 miles, which is just two miles above the 

 June average. This gives a mean daily velocity of 

 357.90 miles, and a mean hourly velocity of 14.91 

 miles. The highest velocity was 45 miles an hour, 

 on the 22d and 23d. The thunder-storm of the 

 11th was ushered in at 11.30 p.m. by a very strong 

 ' straight ' wind, which unroofed a portion of the Cen- 

 tral school building at Lawrence, but was in no sense 

 a tornado. 



Mean height of barometer, 29.028 inches; at 7 a.m., 

 29.050 inches; at 2 p.m., 29.013 inches; at 9 p.m., 

 29.020 inches; maximum, 29.217 inches, on 14th; 

 minimum, 28.671 inches; monthly range, only 0.546 

 inch. 



Relative humidity : mean for month, 74.3 ; at 7 a.m., 

 83.1; at 2 p.m., 57.7; at 9 p.m., 82.1; greatest, 97, on 

 23d and 24th ; least, 37, on 14th. 



