SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 76. 



is probably about one hundred days. At the 

 present writing I have alcoholic specimens of 

 the young of this species that were given birth 

 to in my presence by a specimen of P. doug- 

 lassii, kept by me in captivity in New Mexico 

 in 1886. R. W. Shufeldt. 



May 27, 1896. 



bows and arrows of central brazil. 



Editor of Science: I have just finished read- 

 ing Dr. Hermann Meyer's ' Bogen und Pfeil in 

 Central Brasilien ' (liCipzig, 53 pp., 4 pi. 'of 67 

 figs., map), and find it good for sore eyes. His 

 purpose to prepare a much larger work is de- 

 clared at the outset, and his confession that the 

 shortcomings and sins of collectors and labelers 

 are at the bottom of the ethnographer's disap- 

 pointments and errors will find an echo in many 

 hearts. Indeed, Dr. Meyer has actually gone 

 to the Mato Grosso to ascertain whether these 

 things that were on his labels are really so. 



All bows in South America are self bows. 

 There is not now, and does not seem ever to 

 have been, a made-up bow south of the Carib- 

 bean Sea. For the most part, these southern 

 bows are very large, only in Guiana and the 

 northwestern lands, as well as in the far south, 

 in the Gran Chaco, on the Pampas and in Tierra 

 del Fuego, are smaller forms in use. Quite con- 

 trary to Ratzel's observations on Africa, the 

 powerful bows are to be found in forest regions, 

 while the smaller ones are in the open. 



In the central region studied by Meyer there 

 .are five types of bow, to wit : 



1. The Peruvian, with rectangular long ellip- 

 tical cross-section. The material is the heavy, 

 black Chonta palm wood. 



2. The North Brazilian, with semi-circular 

 cross-section and made of a reddish brown 

 leguminous wood. 



3. The small Guiana bow, with parabolic 

 cross-section, and often with a channel down 

 the back. They are made of a dark brown 

 wood. There are intermediate forms between 

 2 and 3. 



4. The small Chaco bow, with circular cross- 

 section and beautifully smoothed. Made from 

 the red wood of the Curepay acacia. 



5. East Brazilian bows of a variet5' of woods. 

 There are two varieties, the eastern and the 



western; the northern, or Shingu, and the 

 southern, or Kameh, form connecting links be- 

 tween them. The western variety has circular 

 cross-section, is made of strong wood and 

 wrapped with ' Cipo ' a Liana bast, used by the 

 Bororo (Tupi). The eastern variety is of black 

 Airi palm wood, in use among the Puri (Tapu- 

 ya, or Gez) and Botocudo (Tapuya, or Gez). 



Of arrows, Meyer characterizes six types, all 

 having two feathers instead of three. In North 

 America the Eskimo and several west coast 

 tribes employed two feathers laid on flat, one 

 above, one below. All the interior and eastern 

 tribes seem to have had the rounded or cylin- 

 drical nock and three radiating arrows. The 

 South American types are : 



1. The East Brazilian or Gez, Tupi feather- 

 ing, occupying all east Brazil to the Paraguay 

 and the Shingu. Two, whole, or seldom halved, 

 feathers are laid on to the shaft flat, one above, 

 one below, and seized with thread, filament or 

 Cipo bast. These wrappings are frequently done 

 in beautiful patterns and pretty tufts of feathers 

 are inserted. 



2. Guiana feathering, delicate and carefully 

 laid on. Two short, half feathers are laid on 

 and held fast by wrappings of threads here and 

 there. Once in a while a North American 

 arrow has the feathers thus made fast. 



A bit of wood is inserted at the butt end for 

 a nock piece. 



3. The Shingu sewed feathering. Two half 

 feathers are sewed on to the shaftment through 

 little holes bored through on either side. 



4. Arara feathering, two long half feathers 

 held on by narrow bands of thread wrapping. 

 At the butt end the wrapping is in beautiful 

 patterns. 



5. Mauhe feathering, like the East Brazilian, 

 two whole feathers are bound on above and 

 below. A neck piece is inserted at the butt 

 end. 



6. The Peruvian cemented feathering. The 

 half feathers are first laid on and held in place 

 by a coil of thread or bast from end to end and 

 then covered with some sort of dark cement. 

 This is subdivided into minor groups. 



The shaft, the fore shaft, the barbs, the 

 points of bamboo blades, of monkey bones or of 

 wood, all receive minute attention. The most 



