432 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXIIL 
The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi.' — In his address before 
Section H at the Detroit Meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, Dr. Washington Matthews said: “I 
believe, as a result of an extensive experience, that ceremony offers 
material for the study of human development equal to that offered 
by art, government, legend, or any other subject of ethnologic inves- 
tigation” (Journ. Am. Folk-Lore, vol. x, p. 258). This material is 
being utilized by an increasing number of ethnologists, among whom 
Dr. Fewkes is one of the most active workers. 
“ The two solstices are marked epochs in the ritualistic life of the 
Tusayan Indians,” but the ceremonies observed at the Winter 
Solstice are the more important. The account of these ceremonies, 
witnessed at two of the five villages practicing them, is given in 
detail. The author states that the ritual is the result of growth by 
composition and mutual reaction, and that it will prove to be “ par- 
ticularly instructive to the student of the migrations of the ancient 
peoples of Arizona, especially those of the Sun and Rain Cloud 
clans, which, it is claimed, came to Tusayan from the far south.” 
The value of the paper is enhanced by the addition of a bibliog- 
raphy of the extensive literature by the author upon the elaborate 
“ ceremoniology ” of the Tusayan pueblos. E R. 
GENERAL BIOLOGY. 
Regressive Evolution in Biology and Sociology.2— The well- 
known authors associated in this work contribute special knowledge 
in their respective departments, with the aim of elucidating espe- 
cially the phenomena of vestiges in sociology from the facts of biol- 
ogy. Between the sciences of facts, indeed, a marked parallelism 
can be traced. 
The work considers first regressive evolution generally, and the 
conclusion is drawn that all transformations of organs and institu- 
tions are accompanied by regression, and that, since all the higher 
organisms contain reduced organs, and all social institutions contain 
survivals, regressive evolution is universal. 
Regression does not proceed backward along the same path as 
1 J. Walter Fewkes, ras oe a ion cd P 38. 
2 J. Demoor, J. Mas et É. V gressive en biologie et 
en BAe Paris, rey 1897, 324 pp. 
