$ 6 The American Naturalist. [January, 



He who has spent earnest hours upon the problems of Plistocene 

 humanity would gladly have seen a department of a museum specially 

 devoted to these unique discoveries and demonstrations, but in a visit 

 to Caddington in 1894, 1 learned with regret that the series, highly 

 important from its entirety, and not jealously guarded as a whole, had 

 been dissipated for the sake of collectors who wished to illustrate cer- 

 tain phases of Paleolithic blade manufacture with " fine specimens." 



Theory, and with it the desire to propound formula? for the blade- 

 making process in general, yield respectfully to these toilsome investi- 

 gations and to the persistent ransacking of quarries by a faithful ob- 

 server whose work alone answers many of the doubts of the American 

 student, and counteracts the questionable impression left upon the 

 mind of the visitors to European museums by rows of typical speci- 

 mens bought from workmen or gathered upon the surface. 



H. C. Mercer. 



Recent Explorations of Captain Theobert Maler in Yuca- 

 tan. —[Extract from a letter received by the editor, December 9th, 

 1895].— After your departure from Yucatan, I undertook an expedi- 

 tion to the Peten'Itza region (Guatemala), crossing the entire pensinula, 



After examining the country around the great Laguna of Peten'Itza, 

 I embarked on a small canoe on the Rio Dela Pasi6n (" which, farther 

 down, is named Usumutsintla [Land of Apes, Usumatli = with rever- 

 ence, Ummatsin s Ape ; tla = there is, there are, place of]). Arriv- 

 ing, finally, after many difficulties at Tenosique (State of Tabasco), 

 from whence the traveler finds at his disposition small steamers plying 

 to Laguna del Carmen, and thence by sea to Progresso. On this jour- 

 ney I had the luck to discover and photograph several highly interest- 

 ing and unknown cities, with remarkable monuments and splendid 

 sculptures, some in the neighborhood of Laguna del Peten, others on 

 the right and left shores of the Rio Pasion ( Ummatsintla). 



On my return to Ticul, I found your letters and also one from Mr. 

 Ashmead, which latter I answered, referring him on the subject of 

 aboriginal Syphilis and Lupus to some passages in the ancient Spanish 



As to pottery -making, I have observed that it is the work of women 

 solely, who exercise the art, in my opinion, in the ancient man- 

 ner serving themselves nearly exclusively with the hands and feet and 

 without special instruments. Here at Ticul, it is easy to see them at 

 work, as the industry is a common one in the suburbs. 



My collection of ancient earthen vessels is quite interesting, but as 

 you left Ticul in such a hurry I could not show them to you. Several 



