September i, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



124 



they could be mistaken, while clinging to the limbs of 

 trees, for short stubs of Ibroken branches, and thus cheat 

 their enemies out of a meal. 



Taking this as the same species as described and figured 

 in the article,it may be noticed that the distribution is wide, 

 Ohio to Kansas, though it may be expected wherever ap- 

 ples are grown. From the adults, several lots of eggs 

 were found on underside of leaves, and their development 

 will be watched. E. S. Tuckee. 



Lawrence, Kansas, Aug. 16. 



Explosive Gas in Locomotive En gines. 



In the article on p. 79 of Science, Aug. 11, 1893, con- 

 cerning "Explosive Gas in Hot Water Apparatus," are 

 some very pertinent questions to which I would like to 

 add several in regard to high-pressure engines. 



Assuming the facts stated as true, as they probably are, 

 in the case of heating furnaces in houses, may they not be 

 true also in, for instance, a locomotive engine under cer- 

 tain circumstances ? 



May not the hydrogen in a locomotive become mixed 

 with common air ? 



May not this mixture be exploded under certain cir- 

 cumstances likely to occur in locomotives ? 



May not this be the real explanation of those sudden 

 and terrific explosions that occasionally occur, where no 

 apparent cause can be assigned ? M. W. V. 



Ft. Edward, N. Y., Aug. i6. 



Coyote or BEARf 



Coyote or bear?, "that is the question" which has ap- 

 parently agitated Dr. Franz Heger, Curator of the Ethno- 

 graphical Museum atVienna, ever since Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, 

 Special Assistant in Mexican Archseology of the Peabody 

 Museum, Cambridge,Mass., described and figured an ancient 

 Mexican shield inlaid with feather-work and gold and bear- 

 ing an animal device of a bbie "monster" on a red field. 

 (Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnograp hie. Vol. V., Part 1, 

 1892).' 



This shield Mrs. Zelia Nuttall found preserved at Castle 

 Ambras, in Tyrol, and, recognizing its unique character, 

 obtained permission from the Imperial Oberhofmeis- 



teramt at Vienna to have it sketched and photographed. 

 ItiDroved to be an ancient Mexican feather-work shield, 

 with an authentic history, like the head-dress of the time 

 of Montezuma, still exhibited at Vienna, "unfortunately 

 always upside down." This was restored by Dr. Ferdi- 

 nand von Hochstetter and described by him as a standard 

 or banner.^ Both head-dress- and shield were sent by 

 Cortez to Charles V., and subsec^uently formed part of 

 the historical collection of armor formed by his 

 nephew, the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, and were 

 duly recorded in the Inventories of that famoiis collec- 

 tion. Strangely enough, the shield was supposed to be 

 lost, and Professor Hochstetter lamented "its total disap- 

 pearance." All the while it was Ij'ing perdu, in a case 

 labelled "Transatlantic and Oriental Curiosities," at Castle 

 Ambras in Tyrol, until its importance was recognized by 

 Mrs. jSTuttall on a chance visit to the Museum Ambras. 

 Soon after Mrs. Nuttall announced the continued preser- 

 vation and whereabouts of this valuable Ancient Mexican 

 relic to the Anthropological Society of Berlin, and the 

 shield was consequently removed to Vienna. Some other 

 Ancient Mexican objects were also transferred there at the 

 same time, and these Dr. Franz Heger has described in a 

 memoir published in the Annals of the Imperial Natural 

 History Museum of Vienna, 1892.3 



It is not altogether surprising that the Austrian cura- 

 tors should have felt a little sore that the real history of 

 so valuable a relic should have been forgotten, although 

 the specimen was duly taken care of, and that its where- 

 abouts and unique value should have been made known 

 by a foreign visitor and Mexicaniste scholar. But that is 

 no reason why Mrs. Zelia Nuttall's critical and searching 

 investigations on "ancient Mexican shields" in general, 

 and the Ambras shield in particular, should be misrepre- 

 sented and misquoted. Any one reading Mi-s. Nuttall's 

 original memoir, and Dr. Heger's more recent article, can- 

 not help seeing such to be the case. For instance. Dr. 

 Heger curtly states, "According to Z. Nuttall the mon- 



T. See "Ancient Mexican Heraldry," by Agnes Crane. Science, Vol. XX,, 

 No. 503, Sept., 1892. 



2. "Standard or Head-dress," by Zelia Nuttall, Peabody Museum 

 Vol. I., No. 1, 1888. 



3. Altmexikanisclie Reliqufen aus dem Schlosse Ambras in Tii ol. 



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