2 54 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pauper whom the investigator has never 

 known, nothing can be learned. It is other- 

 wise with dogs, where the brain and the 

 mind of the same individual are at our dis- 

 posal. It is worthy of remark that Dr. 

 Wilder is no believer in the localization of 

 faculties in different portions of the brain, 

 and is inclined rather to think that a cere- 

 bral hemisphere acts as a unit either singly 

 or with its fellow. 



Relics of Man in the Miocene. — In our 



June number appeared a note by Sir John 

 Lubbock about the discovery, near the Dar- 

 danelles, of an engraved fossil bone, dating 

 from Miocene times, and supposed to fur- 

 nish evidence of man's existence at a very 

 early geological period. A paper was pre- 

 sented to the American Association, at its 

 late meeting, by Mr. George Washburn, of 

 Constantinople, wherein reasons were given 

 for questioning the value of these remains 

 as evidence of the high antiquity of man. 

 The fragment of mastodon-bone, so called, 

 is described by Mr. Washburn as having 50 

 marks, more than half of which are grouped 

 in the centre. Taken individually, they are 

 peculiar and puzzling ; but, taken together, 

 they can hardly represent the figure of an 

 animal, or show any evidence of design. 

 They may have been produced by worms 

 when the bone was soft. The smooth upper 

 surface of the stratum of limestone on 

 which the bone was found is covered with 

 exactly similar marks, many groups' of 

 which make more striking pictures than 

 those found on the bone. One specimen in 

 particular is so marked that a vivid imagina- 

 tion might distinguish the picture of a wild- 

 boar with a spear in his side, with the Greek 

 letter n most clearly cut by the side of it. As 

 for the split bones found in the same stra- 

 tum, and the flint fragments, the author sat- 

 isfactorily accounts for the shapes assumed 

 by these, without supposing the interven- 

 tion of man. 



The Octopns and its Prey. — Mr. Henry 

 Lee, of the Brighton (England) Zoological 

 Gardens, wishing to view the seizure of a 

 crab by an octopus, recently fastened one 

 to a string and had it lowered into the 

 aquarium close to the glass, while he watched 

 the operation in front. The crab had hardly 



descended to the depth of two feet when an 

 octopus shot out like a rocket from one side 

 of the tank, opened its membranous um- 

 brella, shut up the crab in it, and darted 

 back to its hiding-place. As the animal 

 could not be well observed in this situation, 

 the attempt was made to pull the bait away 

 from him, so as to draw him out of his re- 

 treat. But, as soon as the octopus felt the 

 pull, he took a firm grasp of the rock with 

 all the suckers of seven of his arms, and, 

 stretching the eighth aloft, coiled it round 

 the tautened line. Noticing several jerks 

 on the string, Mr. Lee told his assistant not 

 to use too much force. But the man assured 

 him that the jerking was done by the octo- 

 pus, and that the creature would soon break 

 the line if he did not let it go. " Hold on, 

 then, and let him break it," said Mr. Lee. 

 In three tugs more the line broke, though 

 it was pretty strong twine. 



But Mr. Lee's object was to study par- 

 ticularly the animal's mode of seizing and 

 disposing of its prey. Accordingly, a second 

 crab was so fastened that the string could 

 be withdrawn if desired, and was lowered 

 near to the great male octopus. The crab 

 was seized precisely as the observer desired, 

 viz., caught between the octopus and the 

 glass plate. In an instant the prey was 

 completely pinioned. Not a movement, not 

 a struggle was visible or possible — each leg, 

 each claw, was grasped all over by suckers, 

 enfolded in them, stretched out to its full 

 extent by them. The back of the carapace 

 was covered all over with the tenacious 

 vacuum-disks, brought together by the adapt- 

 able contraction of the limb, and ranged in 

 close order, shoulder to shoulder, touching 

 each other ; while, between others which 

 dragged the abdominal plates toward the 

 mouth, the black tip of the hard, horny 

 beak was seen for a single instant protrud- 

 ing from the circular orifice of the radiation 

 of the arms, and the next had crunched 

 through the shell, and was buried deep in 

 the flesh of the victim. The action of an 

 octopus when seizing its prey for its neces- 

 sary food is very like that of a cat pouncing 

 on a mouse, and holding it down beneath its 

 paws. The movement is as sudden, the 

 scuffle as brief, and the escape of the vic- 

 tim even less probable. " The fate of the 

 crab," adds Mr. Lee, " is not really more 



