1883.J Analyses of Books. 173 
Among the customs of the Bakhwiri tribe particular emphasis 
is laid on the witch-trials. If a person of note has died a natural 
death, or has been killed by a leopard, a death-snake, or a croco- 
dile, someone is accused of having bewitched him, and is tried 
by ordeal with a decodtion of the poisonous sasha-wood. 
Among the vegetation of Bonjonjo he remarks the beautiful 
ferns and orchids, and a large Calla which flourished in every 
swamp. 
Dr. Buchholz was induced by Lieutenant Grandee, of the 
English Congo Expedition, to try Dr. Gunther’s method of pre- 
serving birds without skinning. The entrails are removed, and 
the body filled with dilute carbolic acid, 1 part in 20. The pro- 
cess did not prove successful, as the feathers generally became 
loose before the body was dry. 
On the Gaboon it was found that the sand-flea of South 
America ( Nigua ) had been successfully acclimatised, and was 
becoming a great nuisance. It appears that the natives make 
use of a curious poison. The teeth of venomous serpents are 
boiled up, and the juice is mixed with a powder, as Buchholz 
believes, some form of strychnin. Fine wooden needles are 
dipped in this poison, and a slight scratch or pundture with these 
is fatal. This statement confirms the view that the venom of 
serpents. is a chemical individual, and not a ferment. Dr. Buch- 
holz describes a nest of termites, which contained not fewer than 
three distindt species of termites, and four kinds of ants, which, 
when the nest was broken open, attacked the termites. The 
mutual relations of these different species constitute an inte- 
resting but difficult problem. In the same nest were many 
wood-lice, coleopterous larvae, scolopendras, &c., and to complete 
the whole a swarm of wandering ants appeared, burst into the 
nest, and re-appeared, carrying off numerous termites as booty. 
Shortly before his departure from Africa, Buchholz had the 
rare pleasure of making the acquaintance of a living young 
gorilla. It was of a more phlegmatic melancholy character than 
other specimens which have been taken alive. A remarkable 
point was that the animal, in striking at or grasping at anything, 
always turned the palm of the hand upwards. Whether it was 
disposed to strike outwards, centrifugally, or only inwards, as do 
the Felidae, Dr. Buchholzdoes not say. It showed little inclina- 
tion to climb, and was in fadfc clumsy. When sleeping it 
assumed perfectly human attitudes. 
But our space is exhausted. We have not been able to notice 
even in the most superficial manner, one-tenth part of the im- 
portant observations and discoveries made by Dr. Buchholz. No 
naturalist, we feel sure, can read this book without profound 
regret that the career of so able and accomplished an investigator 
should have been brought to an untimely end, and without, in 
spirit, depositing a spray of laurel upon his tomb. 
