273 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



SALMON SCALES.* 



Under this title Mr. J. A. Hutton has published a most 

 instructive lecture, which is illustrated by several plates. In 

 this the author demonstrates that it is possible to write a fairly 

 good account of the life history of a salmon from an examination 

 of a single scale. Assuming that the date of the capture of 

 the fish is known, Mr. Hutton shews that it is possible to say 

 when the fish was hatched, when it migrated to the sea ; its 

 subsequent travels in and out of the river ; when it spawned, 

 etc. ; all this and more from a careful examination of the lines 

 of growth on a scale. 



A PRE-HISTORIC MAN HUNT. 



In the ' Transactions of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' 

 Union,' which will be independently noticed elsewhere, is 

 a paper with the tempting title, ' Pre-historic Man in Lincoln- 

 shire,' by the Rev. A. Hunt, whose extraordinary contributions 

 to Lincolnshire ethnology we have previously had occasion to 

 refer to. He dilates upon Eolithic Man, Palaeolithic Man, and 

 Cave Man, and then we find that none of these occur in Lincoln- 

 shire ! The paper then professes to give an ' inventory of all 

 the pre-historic remains found in the county, and we again 

 hear, of course, of the mythical * Pygmy Race.' 



A CASE OF COURTESY. 



In connection with this paper, the Curator of a certain 

 museum (not in Lincolnshire, but close by), was asked some 

 time ago to supply a complete list of all the pre-historic remains 

 in his collections. The list was a lengthy one, and took some 

 trouble to prepare, but v/as duly forwarded. Though appar- 

 ently nearly all the information supplied is used in the 

 lists appearing in the address, no reference whatever is made 

 to the museum, nor to the fact that a list had been supplied. 

 The omission is all the more pointed, seeing that the specimens 

 in two other museums are specially indicated. As the 

 museum in question contains, if not the finest, one of the finest 

 collections of Lincolnshire antiquities extant, the omission can 

 hardly be put down to ignorance. Speaking of the Brigg boat, 

 we find Mr. Hunt writing (p. 293) that it ' is the finest specimen 



* 32 pp. and 14 plates. London : Sherratt & Hughes, i/- net. 

 jgog Aug. i. 



s 



