Miscellaneous Notes. 253 



scientific attainments. His well-recognized merits as a Zoologist 

 resulted in his election to the chair of Zoology at the Museum of 

 the Academy of Sciences, as the successor of Geoffrey St. Hilaire. 

 His son, A. Milne Edwards, is following the same line of research 

 as his father, with much of the ability and thoroughness which 

 characterised the latter. 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



Anthropological. — The Physical Characteristics of the 

 Natives of the Solomon Islands. — On June 23rd, at the Anthro- 

 pological Institute of London, Mr. H. B. Guppy read a 

 paper on the above subject, giving the results of observations 

 made during the years 1881-1884. The typical Solomon 

 Island native (male) is well-proportioned, with a height of 

 about 5 ft. 3 in., a weight of 125 to 130 lbs., and a chest-girth 

 between 34 and 35 in., whilst the color of his skin is a deep 

 brown, corresponding with color type 35 of M. Broca. Con- 

 siderable variety, however, prevails in the physical characters 

 of these Datives, and it was shown, by comparing the inhabitants 

 of the islands of Bougainville Strait with those of St. Christoval 

 and its adjoining island at the opposite end of the group, that in 

 the former locality there exists a taller, darker, and more bra- 

 chycephalic race, whilst in the latter mesocephaly prevails, and 

 the average native is rather shorter and of a lighter hue. The 

 color of the skin varies considerably throughout the group, from 

 a very deep brown to a light copperish hue, the range being repre- 

 sented by color types 42 and 29, with their intermediate shades. 

 The author arrived at the conclusion that, although mesocephaly 

 and brachycephaly most frequently characterize these people, the 

 form of the skull varies beteween too wide limits to allow of one 

 particular type being referred to this group. The range of the 

 cephalic indices calculated from these measurements is 69 to 86, 

 and the greater number are gathered in two groups, one around 

 the indices 74 and 75, and the other around the indices 79 and 

 80.— Athenamm. (R.W.B.) 



The Report of the Council at the Annual Meeting of the Folk- 

 Lore Society of London, June 27th, contained the following defi- 

 nitions of Folk-lore by different members, with suggested divisions 

 of the subject: — Mr. Nutt, " Anthropology dealing with primitive 

 man"; Mr. Hartland, " Anthropology dealing with the psycho- 

 logical phenomena of uncivilised man " ; Mr. Gomme, " the 

 Science which treats of the survivals of archaic beliefs and cus- 

 toms in modern ages " ; Miss Bume, " the Science with treats of 

 all that the Folk believe or practice on the authority of inherited 

 tradition, and not on the authority of written records " ; Senor 



