Mabch 23, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



205 



mality or monstrosity. The general principle is laid 

 down, that the number and form of teeth in mammals 

 are no less subject to modifications than the amount 

 or color of pelage, the length of the ear or tail, or the 

 proportions of the skeleton. The article closes with 

 remarks on the proportions of the skeleton, and the 

 geographical distribution and abundance of the spe- 

 cies. Tlie author inclines to doubt the opinion 

 broached to him by Gerstacker; namely, that the 

 gray seal is the most abundant species in the Baltic. 

 — {Sitz.-ber. gesell. naiurf. fr. Berl., 1882, 117.) 

 F. w. T. [465 



Mammals as ■weather-prophets. — Dr. C. C. 

 Abbott showed that the autumnal habits of certain 

 animals that are popularly supposed to be indicative 

 of the cljaracter of the coming winter could not be 

 depended upon; although, by the majority of people 

 living in the country, they were considered as sure 

 indications of what the winter w'ould prove to be. 

 Dr. Abbott had kept a careful record, extending over 

 twenty years, regarding the building of winter houses 

 by muskrats, the storing of nuts by squirrels, and 

 other habits of these and other mammals, and had 

 found that the habits referred to, or their omission, 

 in certain autumns, bore no relation to the character 

 of the coming winter. — (Trenton, nat. hist. soc. ; 

 meeting Feb. 13. ) [466 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Ethnography of Kordofan. — Dr. Peney, physi- 

 cian-in-cbief of eastern Soudan, sends to Dr. Hamy 

 of Paris a description of the inhabitants of Kordo- 

 fan. The country is held principally by Arab tribes ; 

 and even the negroes were converted to Islamism 

 under that great revival which subjected all northern 

 Africa to the faith of the Prophet. Tlie class of fa- 

 kirs, or revivalists, is very graphically described, and 

 their power over tlie natives. A custom of allowing 

 the females of the tribe to do just as they please one 

 day in four, exists among the Hassanichs. — j. w. p. 



[467 



The religions of savages. — M. A. Eeville is the 

 author of a work upon the religions of peoples non- 

 civilized, published in Paris by Fischbacker. Mr. 

 A. Lang, reviewing this work, criticises the author 

 for relying too much upon older authorities and upon 

 mere compendiums, but gives him credit for seeing 

 the true import of many superstitions of lower races 

 that have no reason for us. — {Academy, 3 au. 13.) [468 



Brciins of great men. — Gen. Skobelef, the hero 

 of Plevna, after deatli- was subjected to a rigorous 

 autopsy. The circumference of his head was 57 cen- 

 timetres; of the skull, 54; antero-posterior diameter, 

 18 centimetres; transverse, 14. The brain weighed 

 1,457 grms. The brain of Gambetta is deposited in 

 the laboratory of the school of liigher studies, and 

 will be described by M. Mathias Duval of the Society 

 of mutual autopsy, to which M. Gambetta also be- 

 belonged. — J. w. p. [469 



■Woman among the Kabyles. — The indigenes 

 of Algeria are among the most interesting portions of 

 the human family. As specimens of humanity, as 

 a composite ethnic residuum, as the repository of 

 features in civilization that have long since been 

 wanting among those with whom they originated, the 

 Berbers have attracted a wide attention. The Ka- 

 byles are the modern Berber representatives of the 

 ancient Numidians, familiar to classical scholars in 

 the story of Jugurtha. M. Camille Sabatier has 

 passed some time among these iieople, and gives us 

 the benefit of his experiences. To those coming 

 from an Arab population, the most striking fact in 

 Kabyle life is the liberty of going and coming ac- 



corded to females of all ranks, and on all occasions. 

 Although the poor are very miserable, they are not 

 disheartened ; and every care is solaced by a gaudy 

 wrapping, or some tawdry Jewelry. While the birth 

 of a son is an occasion of rejoicing, tlie daughter is 

 an evil omen. It is only when she arrives at a mar- 

 riageable (ma,rketable) age, that the parents awaken 

 to a consciousness of her existence. All the forces 

 of her education combine to render her vigorous, 

 servile, and revengeful, and to banish love from her 

 heart. The rite of marriage and of bride-sale are 

 described in the graphic style of an eye-witness, and 

 the future of the Kabyles briefly foretold. — {Bev. 

 d'cmWirop., Jan., 1883. ) j. w. p. [470 



Mollusks and civilization. — If all the tribes of 

 men were arranged upon the squares of a modern city, 

 so that by walking eastward and westward we could 

 visit the peoples of the whole earth, they could each 

 be so arranged, that, by going northward and south- 

 ward, the student of special topics might study the 

 phases of his pet pursuit among the various races. 

 Dr. de Rochebrune has chosen this latter method of 

 study, and has taken the word ' mollusk,' or shell, as 

 his talisman. The use of this animal as food, and of 

 its test in art and ornament, has existed among all 

 peoples, ancient and modern. Others have already 

 gone over the ground, — Stearns, Yates, Barber, Wy- 

 man, and Martens, for instance; but the author, 

 having enjoyed especial advantages in the museum of 

 the Trocadero, is able to present something new on 

 the subject of ethnographic conchology. Tlie first 

 memoir is upon the mollusks in the graves of lower 

 Pern. The species used for food as well as for orna- 

 ment are minutely identified. They are twenty-seven 

 in number, and some of them evidently had been 

 brought a great distance. — {Rev. d'etknogr., No. 6, 

 1882. ) J. w. p. [471 



Mound-builders' pipes. — The curator presented 

 for inspection a collection of thirteen of the ' eurved- 

 base' mound-builders' pipes just received from that 

 indefatigable explorer and collector, Rev. J. Gass. 

 These pipes were collected the past year from the 

 mounds in Muscatine, Rock Island, and Mercer 

 counties, by Mr. Gass, his brother, and some neigh- 

 bors; and he has recently acquired full possession of 

 them for the benefit of the academy, ■n'ith a full de- 

 scription of the mounds, their structure, etc. 



One of these ijipes is a finely carved stag's-head, 

 rej^resenting the antlers bent around the bowl, and 

 carved in relief; another is an eagle, perched, and 

 holding some small animal in its claws; and two 

 others are neatly carved birds. These four are of 

 ash-colored pipestone. Another is a finely sculptured 

 black bear, and is very appropriately cut in a smooth, 

 fine-grained blackstone. The sixpi is supposed to 

 represent a fox with the face turned backward, carved 

 in a beautiful bright red catlinite. The seventh, a 

 non-descriptive animal, is also cut in red catlinite, 

 very much spotted. 



Two of plain form are composed of plain red cat- 

 linite. The other four are made of a light-brown 

 stone, rather small, and of the simplest form. 



There is also an 'axe' of tlie exact usual form of 

 the plano-convex copper axes, so-called, which is also 

 made of the catlinite, or red pipestone, and a small 

 charm of the same material. 



This constitutes a very important addition to this 

 already unequalled collection of the relics of the 

 mound-builders, and brings the collection of pipes 

 of this typical form up to the number of fifty-six, 

 including several unfinished specimens, and by far 

 the largest collection of its kind in the world. — 

 {Davenp. acad. sc. ; meeting Feb. 23.) [472 



