June 23, 1916] 



SCIENCE. 



905 



clature, the author has called it the Sulcus Mon- 

 golis. The author believes that the pliegue mon- 

 golico is motived by the above mentioned sulcus, 

 which is found with more or less marked intensity 

 in the crania of the Mongolian races and in some 

 subraces of the Andine Plateau. In the cranium 

 of the European it is so imperceptible that the 

 anatomists up to the present time have had noth- 

 ing to say about it. 



With reference to the os japonicum the author 

 says that in a series of 20 crania from Tiahuanaou 

 he found a specimen of the os japonicum dextrum. 

 The author has classified this cranium as dolicho- 

 cephalic. A characteristic of this cranium consists 

 in the procesus marginales dextr. et sinistr. being 

 greatly accentuated. It is also marked by the 

 persistence of the frontal suture. On account of 

 the lack of facilities, the author was not able to 

 determine the frequency of the os japonicum in 

 the crania of the Andine Plateau. 



The Mongolian spot {mancha mongolica), which 

 has been considered up to the present time as a 

 characteristic mark of the Mongolian race, is found 

 also, according to the writer, with extraordinary 

 frequency on the bodies of Indian children and 

 adults of the Andine Plateau. In certain regions 

 the spot is found in 92 per cent, of the children of 

 pure Aimara (CoUa) and Queohua races. The 

 color of the spot is generally purple or greenish 

 blue. It covers the large part of the buttock and 

 extends to both sides of the spine. 

 Curves of Physical Growth of the School Children 



of La Fas, Bolivia: Georges Eodma. 



This report is composed of five parts, as follows : 



The methods used in establishing the curves of 

 growth of the school children, and the importance 

 of its application to the school children of the cap- 

 ital of the republic of Bolivia. 



The program which was followed in carrying out 

 the investigations of the physical development of 

 the school children. 



The technique employed in the investigations. 



A series of graphs showing the results of the 

 measurements taken in La Paz. 



General consideration relative to the physical de- 

 velopment of the school children of La Paz. 

 Concepts of Nature among American Natives: 



Alice C. Fletcher. 



A broad view of the concepts held by the tribes 

 of this continent makes it evident that to the 

 American natives the cosmos was a living unit, 

 similar to a family, and permeated by a mysteri- 



ous, unseen, life-giving power which had brought 

 natiire into being and provided for its perpetua- 

 tion through the dual (masculine and feminine) 

 forces. Sky and earth are their simplest repre- 

 sentatives. Each section is made up of parts and 

 each part partakes of the function of its section. 

 Man is not regarded as a distinct creation, but 

 as an integral part of nature, deriving his physical 

 and psychical existence from the same mysterious 

 power that animates all other portions of the 

 cosmos. Many tribes have given this power a 

 specific name which is held in reverence. This 

 power was the object of worship in the tribal 

 rites, in which symbols of animal and psychical 

 forces were widely used, but nowhere did these 

 symbols take on a human form. Tribal rites were 

 primarily religious and were fundamental to the 

 tribal organization which aimed to reflect the con- 

 cept of the cosmos and man's relation to it. Sec- 

 ular government was subordinate to tribal rites. 

 To the mysterious power certain human qualities 

 were ascribed, as order, truthfulness, justice, pity. 

 The right to govern was also attributed; the pun- 

 ishment of falsity and wrong-doing. These anthro- 

 pomorphic ascriptions were never fully carried out 

 and crystallized among the native Americans, as 

 was done on the eastern continent. 



The belief that all things were alive and could 

 affect the physical and psychical life of man was 

 also common to both hemispheres. The expessions 

 of this belief on the two continents afford material 

 for an instructive comparison. 

 Two Notes on Spanish Folklore : G. G. King. 



The author mentions two points of GaUegan use 

 in connection with corn: (1) All through Galicia 

 the granaries are topped with a cross at one end 

 and the ancient emblem of fertility on the other. 

 (2) In August, before the corn is ripe, she found a 

 fresh yellow ear saved from the harvest, hung on a 

 wayside cross. 



A variant from Navarre of the folktales of the 

 bird's song that seemed three minutes and three 

 hundred years passed. 



Comparative Study of Pawnee and Blackfoot Rit- 

 uals: Clakk Wissler. 



Since the Pawnee data used in this study are stiU 

 unpublished, a brief characterization of Pawnee 

 rituals will be given. Then it will be shown that 

 there are very striking parallels between the Black- 

 foot and Pawnee. This holds both for the rituals 

 themselves and for the bundles with which they 

 are associated. So far as the data for the upper 



