224 



SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



their neighbours. A remarkable law among them 

 is that they marry only once, the supposition be- 

 ing that if a married man or woman dies the 

 deceased's spirit has gone ahead and is waiting for 

 the other half. It seems possible to me that this 

 is a fragment of some primitive race which once 

 inhabited Polynesia, possibly Easter Island, and 

 1 y reason of its gentler disposition was exter- 

 minated by the Negritos and Malay-Polynesians. 

 It may have been of early Asiatic origin, and 

 perhaps allied to the Caroline and Hortlock 

 Islanders, who are known to enlarge the ear-lobe 

 by heavy pendants, or to have anciently done so. 

 They, too, were rather more civilised than the 

 Polynesians and Alelanesians. In any case the 

 discovery is a curious and suggestive fact. Eogge- 

 wein may not have been so great a romancer as he 

 has been thought to be. 



(Eev.) Francis A. Allen. 

 SJi rensbunj. 



NOTICES OF SOCIETIES. 



Ordinary meetings are marled f, excursions 9 ; names of persons 

 following excursions are of Conductors. Lantern Illustra- 

 tions §. 



Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Ci.ui:. 

 Dec. o. — f " Local Life of Fungi." E. H. Philip. 



„ 12. — f Microscope Club. 



„ 19. — f " Major-General Overton, Governor of Hull." E. 

 Lamplough. 



North London Natcral History Society. 

 Dee, 6.-f " Trees." L. B. Hall. 

 ., 20.- f Annual General Meeting. 



Selborne Society. 



Dec. 6.— f " The Whitgif t Foundation and the Hospital." Dr. 

 J. M. Hobson, B.Sc. 



South London Entomological a.\d Natural History 



Society. 

 Dec. 13 — f " Some Wing-structures in Lepidoptera." Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman, F.Z.S., P.E.S. 



Manchester Museum, Owens College. 

 Dec. 2.— t " The Historv of Salt." Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins. 

 „ 26.— f " Variation." W. E. Hoyle. 



Lameeth Field Club and Scientific Society. 

 Dec. 3 — f " Warning Colours in Insects." Stanley Edwards, 

 F.E.S. 

 •, 15.— «" Visit to Museum of Practical Geoloey." F. W. 



Rudler. 

 ., IT.— f " Tolstoi." Hilda Swan. 



Preston Scientific Society. 



Dec. 5.— f § " A Journey to Algiers to see the Total Eclipse." E. 

 Dickson. F.G.S. 



„ 13. — f Conversazione in Gui'd Hall. 



„ 19.— f" An Old Pasture." W. Ciitherce. 



NOTICES TO CORKESPONDENTS. 



. To Correspondents and Exchangers.— Science-Gossip is 

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The Editor is not responsible for unused MSS., neither can he 

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ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



S. G. (Leicester). — The small holes in old fnrniture, beams, 

 and other wooden structures are caused by the larvae of a beetle 

 of the genus Anobium, the perfect insect of one species being 

 known as the " death-watch." 



EXCHANGES. 



Notice. — Exchanges extending to thirty words (including 

 name and address) admitted free, but additional words must 

 be prepaid at the rate of threepence for every seven words or 

 less. 



AT anted to exchange guinea Kodak in leather case or J-plate 

 mahogany bellows camera lor a 4-wick oil lantern. — A. Nichol- 

 son. 67 Greenbank Road, Darlington. 



Plants Offered.— L. C 9th ed. 5, 43. 130, 385, 536, 544, 845, 

 885, 1059, 1083, 1295, 1369, 1499. 1663, 1785, 1788, 1801, 1846, 

 etc. Lists exchanged. - W Falconer, Slaithwaite, Hudders- 

 field. 



Micro-botany, exclusive of marine algae. I shall be glad to 

 know of young, i.e. not advanced, students in Cryptogamic 

 Botany, with a view to mutual assistance.- C. W. Marshall, 

 Tatesbury Rectory, Calne, Wilts. 



Kirby' " European Butterflies and Moths," coloured plates, 

 quite new ; Hooker's " Brit. Flora," 2nd ed., new : " Ento- 

 mologist's Record," vol. 5 : "Naturalist," vol. 5; "Economic 

 Naturalist," v. 1. 1. Last three in parts. What offers in foreign 

 Lepidoptera, stamps, books, etc. ? — Rev. W. W. Flemyng, Coolfin, 

 Portlaw, co. Waterford. 



Wanted, foreign land, marine and freshwater shells, echino- 

 derms, and Crustacea in exchange for others. Send lists. — H. W. 

 Parritt, 8 Whitehall Park, London, N. 



Slides of the eggs of poplar hawk-moth (SmerirUhus puptili), 



to exchange for anatomical sections or other mounted objects of 

 interest. — L. R. J. Horn, Selborne Villa, Clayton, near Bed- 

 ford. 



Biuiir-' Fggs' Duplicates.- Curlew, common snipe, whinchat, 

 gold-crested wren, jay, nightjar, sandpiper, dipper, grey wagtail. 

 pheasaut, red-legged partridge. Desiderata numerous. — W. S. 

 Lane, 9 Teesdale Street, Hackney Road, London, N.E. 



Offered, British mosses or lichens, named, in exchange for 

 really good microscopic slides, preferably botanical. — W. Smith, 

 Dalveen, Arbroath, N.B. 



A number of ''• Amateur Photographers " to dispose of, in ex- 

 change for examples of foreign Helicidae ; also other photo- 

 graphic papers for sh« lis not in collection. — Charles Pannel, Jun., 

 East Street, Haslemere. 



Shells Offered. — Helix horrida (Pils.), Jourdic. mandarina 

 (Gray), langsonensis, ferruginea (Bavay) eleganxissima, lati- 

 axis, Cyclophorus dodranus. courbeti, Hybocystis rochebruni, 

 Cyclotus perezi, Pupina tonkiniana. Desiderata, exotic land 

 shells. — Miss Linter, Saville House, Twickenham. 



CONTEXTS. 



page 

 The Stone Curtain at Roxby. Bv Henry Preston, 



F.G.S Illustrated 193 



The Nobel Bequest 195 



Chapters for Young Naturalists. Rotifers. By 



Walter Wesche. Illustrated 196 



Butter? lies of the Palaearctic Region. By Henry 



Charles Lang, M.D. Illustrated .. ..199 



Geology in Antrim. By Reginald Sawer. Illustrated 201 

 British Freshwater Mites. Bv Charles D. Soar, 



F.R.M.S. Illustrated 203 



Aiirenurus Ornatus n s. Br C F. George. M.R.C.S. 



Illustrated 204 



An Introduction to British Spiders. By Frank 



Percy Smith. Illustrated .. .. " .. .. 206 



The Riddle of the Hnivekse 208 



Origin of Scientific Societies . . . . . . 209 



Books to Read — Science Gossip 210, 212 



Photography— Microscopy' 213,214 



Notes and Queries — Astronomy - . . . . . 218, 220 



Geology— Physics " . . . . 221, 222 



Chemistry— Corp.espondence 223 



Notices — Exchanges 224 



