474 Scientific Intelligence. 



femur would operate in an entirely different direction than before. 

 This assumption is supported in a convincing manner by the 

 tabulated measurements. The latter tend to prove that the 

 human pelvis, in its essential lines, can be derived from the 

 anthropoid pelvis through the effect of static influences brought 

 into action by a change of posture. They also throw light on 

 the relation which exists between the pelvis of the infant and 

 that of the adult. The difference between these two is known to 

 rest almost exclusively on the operation of the above-mentioned 

 forces, whose influence is manifested as soon as the erect posture 

 is assumed. The measurements employed show in a striking 

 manner that the infant pelvis occupies a position exactly between 

 that of the adult and that of the anthropoid. The conclusion, 

 therefore, is that the human pelvis must have developed from 

 one closely related to that of the modern anthropoid. 



G. G. MAC CURDY. 



14. Catalogue of the Fossil Plants of the Glossopteris Flora 

 in the Department of Geology, British Museum {Natural His- 

 tory). Being a Monograph of the Pernio- Carboniferous Flora 

 of India and the Southern Hemisphere / by E. A. Newell 

 Arber. Pp. Ixxiv, 255, with 51 figures and 8 plates. London, 

 1905. — Twenty years since, the catalogue of the Paleozoic Plants 

 in the British Museum by Mr. Kidston was published. It has 

 now been decided to prepare a series of detailed catalogues, and 

 the first of these is the volume which is before us. It deals 

 with the Glossopteris Flora, which, aside from its very great 

 general scientific interest, is of much practical value to pros- 

 pectors for coal in India and the Southern Hemisphere. This 

 flora has not hitherto been comprehensively treated. The author 

 gives an account of the less abundant and less known species as 

 well as the characteristic types represented in the Museum col- 

 lection, and also gives a revision of the older records from the 

 standpoint of present knowledge. 



15. Catalogue of the Madreporian Corals in the British 

 Museum (Natural History). Volume V. The Family Poritidce. 

 II. The Genus Porites, Part I. Porites of the Indo- Pacific 

 Region • by Henry M. Bernard, M.A. Pp. 303, with 35 

 plates. London, 1905. — This fifth volume of the catalogue of 

 Madrepore corals is devoted to the genus Porites as represented 

 in the Indo-Pacific region. - This genus is more generally dis- 

 tributed in the warm seas than any other of the stony corals, and 

 on account of its closeness of texture has played an important 

 part in reef-building. The peculiar intricacy of the structure of 

 the skeleton has hitherto been a difficult problem to the student 

 of coral morphology ; but the author remarks that, as the result 

 of his labors, "the intricate skeleton of this genus can now be 

 reduced to order and the principles of structure minutely 

 described, although we are still far from having unravelled the 

 exact nature of many of the variations." The difficulty of the 

 problem will be realized from the further statement " that there 



