136 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



Migrations.' He follows chiefly the conclusions of the American 

 writer, Mr. Horatio Hall, and adduces evidence that the 

 Polynesians have not been created by nation and on the 

 spot; they are by no means a spontaneous production of the 

 isles on which they are found, nor are they the remnant of a 

 pre-existing population partly destroyed by some cataclysm. 

 Whatever the origin of the islands may be. their inhabitants came 

 there by voluntary migration, or by involuntary dissemination, suc- 

 cessively, and advancing from west to east. They set out from the 

 Oriental Archipelago of Asia, have migrated from island to island, 

 and are yet doing so. The earliest migration was probably not 

 antecedent to the Christian era. The race contains mixtures of the 

 black, white, and yellow races, in which the last is least prominent. 

 The author determines, in some cases, the exact period of the migra- 

 tions and colonizations of various places, extending his researches to 

 the Maories of New Zealand. 



The Anthropoid Apes. — A memoir on the anatomy of a new 

 species of chimpanzee has just been published in the Archives du 

 Museum, by MM. Gratiolet and Edmond Alix. Those who know 

 the scrupulous accuracy and minute descriptive power of the late 

 Professor Gratiolet will appreciate the high value of this work. 

 The specimen was sent over to Paris from the Gaboon, and the 

 authors are inclined to regard it as possibly identical with the 

 tschego mbouve, or the kooloo kamba of M. Du Chaiilu. They, 

 however, complain that the descriptions given by M. Du Chaiilu 

 are not sufficient for identification, and hence name the species pro- 

 visionally, T. Aubrvi; seeing that the skull and skins of both 

 M. Du Chaillu's new species are in the British Museum, it is to be 

 regretted that some attempt at comparison is not made. The 

 figures of the skull given by the authors strongly resemble that 

 of the kooloo kamba in its great prognathism and high development 

 of the temporal region of the skull. Should this species be new, 

 we should have the following species of chimpanzee living at the 

 Gaboon : — T. niger, T. kooloo Jcamba, T. tschego mbouve ? T. 

 vetterosus, and T. Aubrvi. It really seems desirable that careful 

 comparisons should be instituted between these would-be species. 

 One of the chief points of interest in this work is, that it exhibits 

 the method of description which M. Gratiolet considered as the one 

 to be pursued in describing the complete anatomy of any animal. He 

 had intended to illustrate this in a work on the anatomy of the hippo- 

 potamus, when he was unhappily cut off in the midst of his labours. 



M. de Langle describes, in a letter to the French Academy, the 

 manners of a young gorilla, which was taken from its mother. It 

 clings tightly round the neck of anyone who carries it, and can 

 hardly be forced to let go, this being its natural position with its 

 mother. It eats bread greedily, preferring it to fruit. 



