304 Transactions.— Zoology. 
science, that I attribute the wretched state of colonial museums so far as 
indigenous beetles are concerned. Even at Melbourne the entomological 
collection is beneath criticism. To preserve Coleoptera for an indefinite 
period it is only necessary to put them into a phial containing any kind of 
spirits. Orthoptera and Hemiptera may be kept in the same manner, and 
even Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, and Diptera will suffer but little from such 
treatment. A still better method for beetles, and one which, undoubtedly, 
preserves their colours more perfectly, is to put them into sawdust moistened 
with spirits, care being taken not to make the mixture too wet. It now only 
remains for me to express a hope, that, if not anticipated by an abler hand, I 
may be in a position, on some future occasion, to lay before you fuller and 
more exact information respecting this interesting order of insects. 
Art, XXXV.—On the Skeleton of an Aboriginal Inhabitant of the Chatham 
slands. By F. J. Knox, L.R.C.S.E. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 30th October, 1872.] 
THE skeleton forming the subject of the following observations was that of a 
female, in all probability of about middle age, and was obtained in a cave on 
the Chatham Islands by Mr. H. Travers. The state of the bones indicates a 
very lengthened exposure to the action of solvents leading to the dis- 
appearance of the gelatine and chondrine, which form the original elementary 
basis of the skeleton. A few of the bones were wanting, but these are of 
slight comparative importance, so that the skeleton as now deposited in the 
Museum will form an object of scientific inquiry inasmuch as it may be 
depended upon, not only in its history but in its composition, 
In contemplating the trunk and its appendages the almost universal 
lateral curvature of the spine towards the right shoulder, common amongst the 
most highly civilized European classes, is observable in this instance. This 
curvature is not considered pathological but perfectly natural, and arising from 
a congenital increase in the development of the entire right side of the body. 
An excurvation of the spine observed in some instances amongst the Maoris, 
and attributed by some writers on the Maori ¥ace to the awkward form of 
the entrance to their dwellings, is in fact the result of disease, inherited or 
produced, and is much more common in the large cities of England than in 
New Zealand. It is in fact a disease attacking in general the sixth or seventh 
dorsal vertebra, leading to suppuration in the bodies of these vertebrze, loss of 
substance, and a consequent angular curvature of the column, terminating in 
