198 General Notes. [February, 
minute description of the collections, nearly 2000 specimens gath- 
ered with great care. In examining carefully this list and the 
accompanying drawings he was struck both with the generic sim- 
ilarities of hyperborean art and with the specific differences due 
to isolation. Pottery occurs in the list; labret lancets of slate for 
cutting the holes in the cheek for labrets ; amber-beads made by 
the natives, and cups of fossilivory. Of the implements, whose 
general form is widely diffused, Mr. Murdoch has collected a great 
variety of each class, showing that among these far-off people 
differentiation of structure for functional ends has been carried 
to a high degree of perfection. The Natural History chapters, 
also written by Mr. Murdoch must not be overlooked by the 
ethnologist, inasmuch as the life history of the people is inti- 
mately connected with the restricted fauna of this region. 
Mr. Murdoch will publish in the near future a minute descrip- 
tion of the Point Barrow Eskimo, including their arts and their 
customs, so far as he was able to gather facts concerning them. 
It is certainly refreshing to follow a man , who enters upon 
the work of exploration after a severe training under the elder 
Agassiz.—O. T. Mason. 
Tue Brow TUBE IN THE UNITED States.—In all tropical coun- 
tries where the cane grows the natives have become expert in the 
use of the blowing tube. The Indians of the Muskoki stock liv- 
to our knowledge, been published. The Shetimasha Indians, 
about a hundred in all, living on a small bayou south of New 
Orleans, use the single barreled blow-tube precisely like that of 
the Choctaws, but they also have combinations of tubes, as We 
would say, viz., five barreled, eight barreled, &c., blow-tubes. They 
are made as follows: A number of tubes, in our collection rang- 
ing from five to eleven, of the same length and calibre are fasten- 
ed securely together like a long pan-pipe by means of splints 
of split cane. The arrows are of split cane and vary at the point 
from the slender needle form to a broad arrow form. The butt 
end has a wad of cotton yarn 3 inches long fastened on like the 
bristles of a cylindrical brush. When the hunter wishes to use 
this weapon he loads his five or ten barrels and, stealing upon @ 
flock of birds, lets drive the whole set one after another in quick 
succession. The superiority of such an arm over a single tube 
