182 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 6. 



strongly objected lo the splints which were applied, 

 and cut them loose at once ; but soon after, it submitted 

 to the treatment a second time witli grace, and made 

 no effort to free himself. Nuts were the favorite food ; 

 but animal food was not always rejected. Acorns, 

 when first offered, aroused remarkable emotion, and an 

 effort was made to bury them. After they were added 

 to the menu, all other nuts were rejected, except hazel- 

 nuts. The squirrels, when taken, were too young to 

 have had any experience in storing nuts. The chief 

 pet did not fail to recognize Mr. King after an 

 absence of three months. — {Amer. not., 1883, 36.) 

 F. w. T. [402 



Taxonomy of the hoofed quadrupeds. — E. D. 

 Cope, taking cognizance of both living and extinct 

 forms, emphasizes the taxonomic value of the 

 arrangement of the carpal and tarsal bones. He 

 recognizes the following orders and suborders: 

 Taxeopoda, including subordei-s Hyracoidea and 

 Condylarthra; Proboscidea, including suborders Pro- 

 boscidea and (probably) Toxodontia; Amblypoda, 

 including suborders Pantodontaand Dinocerata; and 

 Diplarthra (equals Ungulata of most writers), in- 

 cluding suborders Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla. 

 The forms in whicli the two rows of carpal and tar- 

 sal bones do not alternate are mostly extinct, while 

 those in which they do alternate have endured. 

 The Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla, as well as 

 the Proboscidea, are regarded as descendants of the 

 Taxeopoda, representing different branches of that 

 order. — (Proc. Amer. philos. soc, xx., 1882, 238.) 

 r. w. T. [403 



A mole pursues an earthworm to the surface 

 of the ground, and drags it below (F. Lang). — 

 (Zo6Zo.72st (3), vii. 76.) F. w. T. [404 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Michlucho Maclay's travels. — Our readers will 

 recall the charming letters we vised to read a year or 

 two ago from this distinguislied traveller, and will 

 be pleased to learn that he has resumed the publica- 

 tion of his researches by a series of lectures before 

 the Russian geographical society. He has brought 

 home from New Guinea and the Malacca peninsula 

 both objects and drawings illustrative of the person, 

 dress, implements, dwellings, activities, social life, 

 and religion of the natives. 



Tlie natives of the north-west coast are at the low- 

 est stage of culture. Before Mr. Maclay's visit, they 

 used only implements of stone, bone, and wood, and 

 knew not how to make fire. They do not bury their 

 dead, but place the corpse in a sitting position, and, 

 having covered it with palm-leaves, dry it by means 

 of iires. There is but one race of Papuans, those of 

 the interior belonging to the same race as those of 

 the coast. Both dolichocephalic and bracliycephalic 

 crania have their representatives among the purest 

 Papuans of the Malay coast; the transversal diame- 

 ter of the Papuan skulls varies from 62 to 86 per 

 cent of the length. The clustered hair often insisted 

 on by many writers does not exist among Papuans; 

 not even among cliildren. Furthermore, the size of 

 the curls is no criterion of distinction Ijetween the 

 Papuans and Negritos. The method of race mixture 

 is very well explained in the traffic in girls carried on 

 between Celebes and New Guinea. At Port Maresby 

 (Anapuata) on the soutliern coast, a mixture of Poly- 

 nesian blood among the Papuans was noticed. These 

 Metis have a lighter skin and uncurled hair, and 

 practise tattooing. The women tattoo themselves 

 fro)n the forehead to the feet, and often shave the 

 head to tattoo it. The men are marked only to 



exhibit some of their exploits. Mr. Maclay made 

 five visits to New Guinea, and the full account of his 

 work will be eagerly looked for. 



In a subsequent communication Mr. Maclay re- 

 ported liis extended travels, full of most valuable 

 information, in the Malay penin.sula, and among the 

 islands of Malaysia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, as 

 well as in Australia. — {Nature, Dec. 7, 21.) [405 



Documentary history of New York. — Those 

 who have had occasion to study the Indians of eastern 

 United States during the colonial period will recall 

 the invaluable help they received from the ten pon- 

 derous volumes of the Documentary history of New 

 York, compiled by Mr. O' Callahan. It is not to these 

 that we wish to recall attention, but to the thirteenth 

 volume of the series, just received, containing docu- 

 ments relating to the history and settlements of the 

 towns along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, from 

 1630 to 1684, and also illustrating the relations of the 

 settlers with the Indians, translated and edited by B. 

 Fernow, keeper of the historical records. The work 

 is prefaced by a letter from Joseph B. Carr, secretary 

 of state, and concludes with an appendix by Dr. J. G. 

 Shea, being an extract from the narrative of the cap- 

 tivity of Father Isaac Jaques, among the Mohawks 

 in 1642 and 1643. A complete table of contents and 

 a good index leave nothing to be desired in the way 

 of perfecting the volume. — j. w. p. [406 



Urgent need in anthropology. — Mr. William L. 

 Distant writes to Nature, that, while zoology and 

 geology have each a yearly ' record,' anthroiJology 

 still remains without tliat aid to its proper advance- 

 ment. The bibliographies of the German publica- 

 tions, and of Prof. O. T. Mason in the Naturalist, are 

 referred to. It would be well for those interested in 

 such matters, while waiting for a more systematic 

 annual test, to keep a close lookout for the Revue 

 cC anthropologie, the more extended bibliography of 

 American anthropology by Mr. Mason, in the Smith- 

 sonian Annual Report, and esjiecially for the Index 

 medicus, published in Washington. In tlie last-named 

 periodical, under the words, 'biology,' 'physiology,' 

 ' craniology,' and ' anthropology,' will be found the 

 titles of almost all the best productions upon anthro- 

 pology. — (A^atere, Nov. 30, 1882.) .7. w. P. [407 



Cannibalism in Neiw England. — Mr. Henry W. 

 Haynes has discovered evidences of this horrid cus- 

 tom on the coast of Maine. The shell-heaps of 

 Mount Desert and vicinity yield the evidence; and 

 the people who practised the eating of their fellow- 

 mortals were the ancient aborigines. The author 

 cites other writers as witnesses to the fact. — {Proc. 

 Boston soc. nat. hist., x:s.n.) [408 



EARLY INSTITUTIONS. 



Universities. — In a rectorial address to the stu- 

 dents at Aberdeen, Alexander Bain describes the 

 history of universities and the university ideal. It 

 is interesting to read this in connection with the 

 address of Dr, Behrend at Greifswald, in the Deutsche 

 rundschau of last December. — {Pop. sc. monthly, 

 Feb., 1883.) D. w. R. [409 



The early Germans. — R. Schroder sums up the 

 conclusions of Louis Erhardt, Aelteste germanische 

 staatenbildung (Leipzig, 1879), as follows: 1°, Ger- 

 manic origin of the Nervii, Treviri, and other Belgic 

 peoples; 2°, many small kingdoms Ipagi) among the 

 Germans ; 3°, each kingdom governed by a king and 

 senate of a hundred members {centeni ex plehe cotni- 

 tes); 4°, the pa^i of Caesar and Tacitus must not be 

 confounded with the later hundreds. — (Hist, zeitsr/ir., 

 6 heft, 1882.) d. w, k. [410 



