290 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No 433 



that contain extensive alluvial deposits, composed chiefly of blue 

 clay impregnated with marine salt, and rich in decomposed vege- 

 table matter. On large plantations the trees are usually planted 

 from twelve to fifteen feet apart, in the form of squares, and 

 where irrigation is required, trenches are dug between them to 

 admit the water passing through as often as it is necessary. In 

 places where the rain is abundant, or where the soil is damp, the 

 bananas grow best. It is generally at the end of nine months that 

 the plants mature, and after that time the fruit can be gathered 

 every week in the year, provided the plantation has been well 

 kept, and has had a good start. At that time the trunk of the 

 tree attains a height of eight or ten feet, and a girth of about 

 thirty-six inches. From the trunk, which is porous and yields an 

 excellent fibre, palm-like branches are thrown out to the number 

 of six or seven. The bunch of fruit appears at the juncture of the 

 trunk and branches, and consists of from four to twelve of what 

 are termed " hands," each hand having eight to twelve bananas 

 on it. A bunch of eight hands or clusters is counted as a full 

 l)unch ; while those that have from five to seven are taken as a half 

 bunch ; bunches not less than five hands are styled third class, the 

 others respectively first and second class. From the root of this 

 tree several shoots or suckers sprout, each of which in turn be- 

 comes a tree, and bears a bunch of bananas, or they may be trans- 

 planted. After a bunch has been cut, the tree is usually felled ; 

 in fact, the tree is more frequently cut to gather the fruit. The 

 manner in which the banana is cultivated is most easy, as very 

 little skill or labor is demanded, nature doing almost all the work. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*+* Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The ivriter^s name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



On request^ twenty copies of the number containing his communication will 

 be furnished free to any correspondent. 



Origin of the Galapagos Rookeries. 



It is generally supposed that animals now living in latitudes 

 bordering the polar circles are naturally confined to the cool re- 

 gions of the earth, and such is usually the case; but there are 

 some remarkable exceptions to this rule. Such, for instance, are 

 the rookeries of albatross, fur seal, and penguin at the Galapagos 

 Islands. 



That this equatorial group of islands is inhabited by a fauna 

 usually confined to the high latitudes has long been known to 

 Pacific navigators, and also to such celebrated naturalists as Dar- 

 win and Agassiz, who visited them years ago. Still, there seems 

 to be no satisfactory explanation ofl^ered to show why the fauna 

 of the cold latitudes should now exist at the equator. 



It may be that neither of the above naturalists, while having 

 knowledge of the rookeries of hair seal, knew that a small rookery 

 of fur seal made its home under the almost inaccessible cliffs of 

 Abingdon, or that albatrosses had their hatching place on the 

 shores of Hood's Island, or that a small species of penguin fre- 

 quented the shores of Albemarle. 



Under the present climatic conditions of our globe, it is not 

 likely that the fauna of the cold regions would have selected 

 breeding places under the equator, especially when such rookeries 

 are so far removed from their normal home in the high latitudes. 

 As their inhabitants are never seen far from the land of birth, I 

 for many years after my first visit to these islands was unable to 

 supply myself with a satisfactory solution of the problem. I at 

 first thought tha{ the albatrosses may have made the passage from 

 their tropical rookery to the high latitudes through the upper at- 

 mosphere, which their great power of fiight would enable them 

 to accomplish. But I have since come to the conclusion that the 

 Galapagos rookeries are the relics of a frigid period, and that their 

 progenitors sought out these seemingly unnatural breeding places 

 at a time when the climate of the Galapagos was much colder 

 than now. 



When we consider the low temperature which the eastern Pa- 

 cific waters must have possessed during the ice-age, when the 

 lands of southern Chili, and the shores of North America as far 

 south as Oregon, were launching icebergs into the sea to be floated 



directly towards the Galapagos by the prevailing ocean currents, 

 we can conceive how during such a frigid age the fauna of the 

 high latitudes found a fitting home within this portion of the 

 tropics. And it is owing to the ocean currents which still move 

 from the high latitudes along the North and South American 

 coasts, and cool the Galapagos seas, and also to the strong attach- 

 ment of such species of life for their breeding places, that they 

 have been able to continue, a feeble remnant, until the present 

 century. Moreover, the isolated situation of the Galapagos may 

 have aided, at the close of the ice period, to prevent the abandon- 

 ment of the rookeries for a more congenial latitude. The nearest 

 lands now suitable and occupied by such species of animals, as 

 before stated, are situated in the high latitudes, thousands of miles 

 distant from the Galapagos, while the wide intervening seas afford 

 no signs of the albatross, seal, or penguin ; and it is the opinion of 

 seamen who are acquainted with the Galapagos rookeries that 

 their occupants are confined to the seas of that region. 



The rookeries of sea-lions found on these islands, and so well 

 described by Mrs. Agassiz, are also far removed from the usual 

 breeding places of such animals, the sea lions of California being 

 their nearest neighbors. 



The large tortoises which inhabit the Galapagos, and from 

 which the islands derive their name, probably emigrated at an 

 early date from the American coast, which is some four hundred 

 miles distant; for I have noticed that they appear quite at home 

 in the water. 



The progenitors of the terrestrial iguanas found on Albemarle, 

 probably lived in the ocean in the remote past, according to Dar- 

 win's opinion, and are consequently related to the sea iguanas 

 which abound in those waters. C. A. M. Tabee. 



Wakefield, Mass., May 16. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



A Journal of American Ethnology and Archceology. Edited by 

 J. Walter Fewkes. Vol. I. Boston and New York, Hough- 

 ton, Mifflin, & Co., 1891. 



Report of the Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian 

 Society of Philadelphia for the Years 1887-1889. Philadel- 

 phia, printed for the society, 1891. 



The Journal of American Ethnology is scarcely such in the 

 usual acceptance of the term. Its whole contents consist of three 

 papers by the editor, all of them from his notes when connected 

 with the Hemenway South-western Archseological Expedition. 

 The first is entitled " A Fe w Summer Ceremonials at Zuni Pueblo," 

 principally descriptive of various dances. The second is on 

 "Zuni Melodies," the notes of which were obtained by Dr. 

 Fewkes on phonographic cylinders exposed to the singing of vari- 

 ous members of the Zuni tribe, and subsequently taken down from 

 the hearing with the aid vof a harmonium. The instrumental 

 study of the melodies is the work of Mr. Benjamin Ives Gilman, 

 and is admirably presented. The third paper, accompanied with 

 a map, describes a " Reconnoissance of Ruins in or Near the Zuiii 

 Reservation." These ruins are those of the former residences of 

 the Zuiii tribe, and are eighteen in number, though the reconnois- 

 sance is not asserted to embrace all that remain. 



The Journal is admirably printed, well-illustrated, and full of 

 excellent original material, although its title seems a misnomer. 



The volume of proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian 

 Society of Philadelphia, edited by its efficient secretary, Mr. 

 Stewart Culin, contains the usual lists, etc., and seven original 

 papers, of all of which we can speak in terms of praise. One is 

 by Mr. Culin himself, on a curious secret society among the Chi- 

 nese in America, and two are by the Rev. Dr. W. M. Beau- 

 champ, on the Onondagas and the early medals, crosses, 

 rings, etc., found among them. Mr. B. S. Lyman, a high 

 authority on all Japanese matters, describes an old Japanese 

 standard foot measure ; Mr. Frances Jordan, jun. , speaks of abo- 

 riginal American wood-working; and the president of the society. 

 Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, contributes a study of the character of 

 American aboriginal poetry, and also an interpretation of a cele- 

 brated rock-inscription near Orizaba, Mexico, called "The Stone 



