192 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 85. 



1896. He did not find the '■ pygmies ' of 

 wliich there was some talk at the American 

 Association last summer ; but the presence 

 of cretins in the barrancas near Guadalajara 

 was established. In Chiapas, many cases 

 of pinto was observed and also of goitre. 

 No reference is made to the remarkable 

 antiquities of this state, but doubtless they 

 were not overlooked. The pottery, lacquer 

 work and native costumes are mentioned. 

 A number of notes were made for future 

 studies. 



Prof. Starr has also translated and pub- 

 lished a pamphlet on Aztec place-names 

 from the works of Father de la Rosa and 

 Dr. Penafiel. It is to be regretted that this 

 list was not revised before publication by 

 some competent student of the tongue. 

 Several of the explanations are certainly 

 erroneous, and others doubtful. The 

 Nahuatl is not a difficult language either in 

 its phonetics or its composition, and it now 

 has excellent dictionaries and grammars, 

 of easy access. 



A NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL JOURNAL. 



The science of anthropology is developing 

 so rapidly, the contributions to it are so 

 numerous and in so many languages and 

 publications, that Dr. G. Buschan of Stettin, 

 very justlj^ thought the time has come when 

 a journal should be started intended to 

 take in the whole field, and give a quarterly 

 summary of the progress of the science the 

 world over. This he has carried out in the 

 Gentralblatt fur Anthropologie, Ethnologie und 

 Urgeschichte, issued at Breslau (J. U. Kern's 

 Verlag. Price 12 marks, 80 Pf., for this 

 country). 



It contains one or more original articles, 

 one, for instance, by Dr. Orsi on the an- 

 cient necropolis of ISTovilara in Sicily, and 

 one by Dr. Sergi on the distribution of the 

 Mediterranean race. Most of the pages are, 

 however, occupied with brief notices of the 

 leading articles on the science in various 



journals, transactions and proceedings, or 

 separately published, including books. 

 They are intended to be descriptive rather 

 than critical, and to serve as a running in- 

 dex of the literature of the science. 



There is need of just such a publication, 

 and every student of the science of man 

 will be sure to find references to works and 

 articles for which he will be grateful. It 

 should acquire a good subscription list in 

 the United States. D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 ADAPTATIONS IN CAVE-DWELLING ANIMALS. 



The influence of environment upon organ- 

 isms is nowhere more striking than in the case 

 of animals which find themselves accidentally 

 lost in caves and which succeed in accustoming 

 themselves to the situation in spite of its diffi- 

 culties. M. Armand Vire gives some notes 

 on his observations, in the Comj)tes Eendus. The 

 principle difference in the situation consists in 

 the absence of light and in the rarity of animal 

 prey. The eye always becomes atrophied to a 

 degree which varies with the species and also 

 with the individual ; there is sometimes a dif- 

 ference between the two eyes of a single indi- 

 vidual. The eyes are to a certain extent 

 replaced by other organs of sense ; the antennae 

 of the Campodes become, in some individuals, 

 twice as long as usual, and sometimes longer 

 than the entire body. The tactile hairs with 

 which the body is covered obtain an exaggerated 

 development, and in the crustaceans sometimes 

 even invade the ocular globe. Hearing does 

 not seem to be accentuated, but the sense of 

 smell is very acute, and a bit of tainted flesh 

 becomes invaded in a very few minutes with a 

 large colony of animals. The organs of diges- 

 tion become very considerably modified in those 

 species which are naturally carnivorous, and in 

 two Staphylins the mandibles were found to be 

 completely atrophied. Every animal is more or 

 less completely depigmented ; but those which 

 had no trace of color remaining began to have 

 numerous little black spots disseminated over 

 the whole body after they had been kept for a 



