NOTES AND LITERATURE. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
The Seri Indians.|— It is especially fortunate that Seriland 
should have been explored by an ethnologist eminently fitted to 
describe the physiographic features of that little-known region. 
Professor McGee's memoir upon * The Seri Indians" is furnished 
with a new topographic map, a detailed description of the country 
and of its fauna and flora, as well as a succinct account of the arts 
and social institutions of the natives. 
After presenting a comprehensive summary of Seri history, the 
author deals with the somatic characters of the people. The Seri 
differ from other Amerinds in their physiological and physical char- 
acters as strikingly as in their demotic. They are remarkable espe- 
cially for their fleetness of foot to an extent that we should regard as. 
quite incredible were it made known to us merely by travelers' tales. 
The description of Seri demotic characters more nearly approaches 
completeness in the chapters devoted to Symbolism and Decoration, 
Industries and Industrial Products, and Social Organization. Per- 
sonal decoration is confined almost entirely to facial painting, and 
Pen 1S * feminine prerogative. In discussing the “ significance of 
M " Professor McGee outlines a scheme of progressive 
ibn et from What he terms automacy to autonomy that is 
"i ut interesting. Industrial development is surprisingly 
among the Seri. The “industrial use of stone is fortuitous 
Cnr mii The author offers a new classification of primitive 
tolithic ased upon his observations among the Seri. The pro- 
Pu EA that in which the stones are not shaped to conform 
fractured eis vem pauer; the technolithic, wherein the stones are 
"c o ke be obigen shaped. Seri marriage customs are instruc- 
BRA ui e of social organization ; they exhibit an almost 
Dance of the tr; E and show a deep-seated interest in the mainte- 
because ofthe a autonomy. The Seri are polygenous, apparently 
reduction in the number of warriors in recent years. 
1 Sevente 
enth Annual Report of th ican Ethnology, 1 : 
Washington, Dc ‘port of the Bureau of American E Y, 895-96. 
» 1898 (distributed 1901). 344 pp. map and plates. 
853. 
