IT

WESTERN AND CENTRAL ABYSSINIA. T is with no desire to depreciate the work under review, or any other of the books published on the subject of Abyssinia since the great work of James Bruce (more than a hundred years ago), if the present reviewer ventures to remark that no modern work on the subject of Abyssinia has yet been writter, which is at all commensurate with the importance of that marvellously interesting African State. Possibly such a work might have been finally compiled had Baron Carlo von Erlanger lived to write it. In his posthumous "Forschungsreise dürch Süd-Schoa, Galla und die Somali-Länder," he treats of a fragment of Abyssinia in a way which, if it had been applied to the whole of that region, would have illustrated effectively for the first time to the man of science, as well as to the more general reader, the most interesting part of Africa.

A little reflection will convince those who have not thought on the subject that Abyssinia is from every point of view the most interesting portion of the Dark Continent. Here the fauna and flora of the Mediterranean region meet those of tropical Africa. Here the lofty, snow-capped mountains retain a wild goat (the most southerly occurrence of the Caprine subfamily in the African continent). Here also is a peculiar and aberrant dog-Canis simensis. In the western lowlands of Abyssinia there is a true wild boarSus sennaarensis. Several of the antelopes and two or three species of monkeys are peculiar to Abyssinia in their range, as are numerous birds, a few fish, two or three reptiles, and a great many plants. Some of the fish are closely related to species in North Africa or Syria. The human races are of varied types and widely different origins, speaking a variety of languages, some of which are unclassified. In the extreme south-west of Abyssinia there are Negro types which have been classified as Bantu, and others which resemble either the Congo or the Bushman pygmies. In the southeast and south, and thence almost to the centre of the country, the population is mainly of the handsome GalaHamitic type or of the kindred Somali stock. In the west there are Nilotic Negroes, and in the north, centre, and east races that are compounded of Hamite and Semite, with traces here and there of ancient Greek or Egyptian colonies, while there are dark-skinned Jews whose origin would seem to antedate by many centuries the destruction of Jerusalem.

the first impact of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century down to the present day have been part of the world's history, linked on to the records of civilised Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Whereas nearly all Africa south of the Sahara, with the exception of the Upper Niger and a narrow fringe along the west and east coasts, only came within the domain of written history a hundred years ago, Abyssinia has as much formed part of the record of Caucasian civilisation as Britain or Morocco.

The author of the book under review gives within the compass of 315 pages an excellent general description of western and central Abyssinia, and the

In this country has been developed the strangest and most debased type of Christianity, and there are forms of devil worship or belief in demoniac possession of great interest to the student of religions. Abyssinia has a history, more or less credible, going back to a thousand years before Christ, while its records from

"The Source of the Blue Nile. A Record of a Journey through the Sudan to Lake Tsana in Western Abyssinia, and of the Return to Egypt by the Valley of the Atbara, with a note on the Religion Customs, & cf Abyssinia" By Arthur J. Hayes; and an Entomological Appendix by Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. Pp. xi+315 (London: Smith, Eider and Co., 1905.) Price 10s. 6d. net.

book contains a number of good photographic illustrations. In his preface, and in one or two passages in the body of the book, the author hints with some ominousness at future trouble which is coming on the Sudan from the direction of Abyssinia. It would be out of place in NATURE to discuss international politics, nor do the readers of this Journal tend to take the point of view that what is quite permissible to Great Britain in the way of political pushfulness is almost criminal when forming part of the policy of a sister European or American nation. But apart from the warnings which are given by Mr. Hayes as to the growth of German or American influence in

Abyssinia, he seems to indicate, and with much more probability, political dangers from the effervescence of the Abyssinians themselves. Before long the adjacent regions of the Egyptian Sudan promise to become exceedingly prosperous with their fertile soil and accessibility through British-made railroads or river navigation. Mr. Hayes seems to anticipate that this coming prosperity may be a source of temptation to the reckless mountaineers of western Abyssinia, who can reach the Sudan so much more easily than the Sudan can vanquish Abyssinia.

The

In his desire to give an accurate picture of Abyssinia, both at the present day and at previous periods, the author quotes extensively from earlier writers, with acknowledgment, and, where the works are recent, by direct permission. These extracts, coupled with his own shrewd and accurate observations, make up a most readable and, perhaps it may be said, valuable description of Abyssinia. There is a good deal of new information about Abyssinian Christianity, coupled with some admirable photographs of frescoes in the interior of churches. author's remarks on pp. 56 and 59 on the soil created by the work of the white ant, and the washing of this soil down from the highlands of Abyssinia to the lowlands of Egypt and the Sudan, are distinctly interesting. There are one or two trifling mistakes which should be corrected; for instance, in the text and illustration on p. 184, a fine specimen of a reedbuck antelope is described as a "hartebeest.' It is interesting to note that, so far north as the valley of the Atbara, such a typical specimen of the reedbuck should be found.

The author and the authorities whom he quotes somewhat extensively give an interesting description of the Falashas, the so-called black Jews of central Abyssinia, the region round Lake Tsana. The Falashas are undoubtedly Jews in religion, and have been for many centuries; but great caution should be exercised by people who desire to write with scientific accuracy in identifying these people of Semitic origin with the ancient Israelites of Palestine. It is alleged that the traditions of these Falashas would make them the descendants of a branch of the Jewish people which had never known Palestine, but had migrated to Abyssinia direct from Egypt. Such theories as this are hardly worth discussing by the scientific ethnologist. The Children of Israel were undoubtedly an Arab tribe that originated in the region between Syria and Egypt. Their monotheistic religion spread far and wide through the centuries into Arabia, Abyssinia, and North Africa; and, elsewhere, in the form of Christianity. The Jewish people that were expelled from Palestine by the Romans were a very composite race, containing a good deal of Armenian blood. It is possible that the Falashas, like other tribes of "black Jews" elsewhere, adopted the Jewish religion at some period before the spread of Christianity or of Islam, but are not directly descended from any section of the original Jews. H. H. JOHNSTON.

OPSONINS AND TUBERCULOSIS.1

WHEN the scientific researches of Durham, work

ing in Gruber's laboratory, revealed in 1895 the presence of agglutinins in the blood, the discovery was soon put to practical use in clinical medicine by Widal

"

1 "On the Diagnosis of Tubercle by the Examination of the Blood, and on Spontaneous Pharorytosis By Dr. A. E. Wright and Staff-Surgeon Reid. R.N. (Proc. Roy. Soc., B., vol. lxxvii., 1906.)

"On Spontaneous Phagocytosis, and on the Phagocytosis which is obtained with the Heated Serum of Patients who have responded to Tubercular Infection, cr, as the case may be, to the Inoculation of a Tubercle Vaccine.' (Ibid.)

so

and Grünbaum, who showed what valuable aids these substances were in the diagnosis of typhoid fever; further, and this does not seem to have been generally recognised, they have been shown to be of service in the prognosis of that disease. A similar and no less important practical use in the diagnosis of tubercular infections was made by Wright and Douglas (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lxxiv.), and is here further developed by the former in conjunction with Staff-surgeon Reid. The method employed is the estimation of the opsonic power of the serum; and the technique is that described by Drs. Wright and Douglas in a previous paper (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lxxii.). This briefly consists in incubating for fifteen minutes at body temperature a mixture of equal volumes of washed blood corpuscles, bacterial suspension, and the serum under investigation. Blood films of this mixture are prepared and appropriately stained. and the phagocytic count is estimated and compared with the result attained by conducting the same experiment with normal serum, such serum being obtained by pooling the blood of a number of healthy individuals. The phagocytic count of the experiment conducted with normal serum is taken as unity, and the result of the other count as compared with this gives the opsonic index of the serum under investigation.

In the recent paper the authors first give the result of a large number of blood examinations in generalised and localised tubercular infections. Two very important facts are the outcome of this work:

(a) That in localised tubercular infections the opsonic index is uniformly low.

(b) That in cases of tuberculosis associated with constitutional disturbances the index is continually varying, the patient living a "life of alternating negative and positive phases," that is to say, the resistance of the blood is reduced as an immediate

effect of the bacterial poison and then increased above the normal in response to the infection.

Further, ample evidence has accumulated substantiating the fact already enunciated that normal sera do not vary more than ten per cent. on either side of unity.

Applying these principles to the practical diagnosis of tubercular infections, it will be obvious that much value will accrue from a series of examinations of the blood, and to a less extent from a single examination. Where a series of measurements of the opsonic power of the blood reveals a persistently low opsonic power with respect to the tubercle bacillus, it may be inferred, in the case when there is evidence of a localised bacterial infection which suggests tuberculosis, that the infection in question is tubercular in character. A continually fluctuating index would point to a tuberculous infection associated with constitutional disturbances, whilst an index which never varied on either side of the normal to a greater extent than ten per cent, would be taken as evidence against a tubercular infection.

If only one examination of the blood is possible and the index is found to be low, then according to the evidence in the case under investigation of a local bacterial infection or of constitutional disturbances, it may be inferred with probability that the infection is of a tuberculous nature. A high index would be taken as evidence of a systemic tuberculous infection which is active or has recently been active. But no inference at all, either positive or negative, is warranted if on a single occasion the tuberculo-opsonic index be found to be within normal limits. In this case, however, it is possible by employing a further test to arrive at a diagnosis. This consists in repeating the experiment after having heated the serum for

ten minutes at 60° C. This method of testing is based upon the fact that if normal serum is heated it no longer incites phagocytosis, whilst in cases suffering from tuberculous infection "incitor elements" have been elaborated in the organism in response to the infection, and the serum is found, after heating, to retain a considerable measure of its power of inciting phagocytosis. In a series of experiments with normal heated sera the index varied between 0.00 and 0.125; whilst in experiments conducted with the heated sera of patients with tubercular infections the index ranged from 0-09 to 1.7. These figures are obtained by comparison of their phagocytic count with that obtained with unheated pooled blood of healthy men.

In a previous paper (Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. lxxiv., p. 157), Dr. Wright suggested that the fact that the actual focus of infection had a lowered "bacteriotropic pressure" as regards the offending microorganism might be employed in the diagnosis of abscesses or effusions of a doubtful nature, the inference being that the fluid has washed over these bacteria at the site of infection, and has thus been deprived of its antibacterial substances. In this paper an interesting and convincing series of cases is given showing the practical value of this method of diagnosis of tubercle. Further justification for this would seem to be furnished in the proof of the "specificity" of opsonins for given bacteria demonstrated by Dr. Bulloch in a recent number of the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

as

The same number of the Proceedings of the Royal Society contains a further paper by the same authors on "Spontaneous Phagocytosis," and on the phagocytosis which is obtained with the heated serum of patients who have responded to tubercular infection. Under the first heading the authors investigate the question of the phagocytosis which occurs in the absence of serum; under the second, the question as to the nature of the "incitor element" referred to above as being present in the heated blood derived from patients who have responded to the tubercular infection, or, as the case may be, to the inoculation of a tubercle vaccine.

As the result of searching experiments, the authors conclude that the "incitor element" is not a “stimulin" which affects the white blood corpuscles, but an opsonin which enters into combination with bacteria. They further conclude in this matter, in agreement with the previous work of Dr. Dean (Proc. Roy. Soc., B., vol. Ixxvi.), that the substance in question does not differ with respect to its resistance to heat and sunlight from that which is found in the unheated normal serum.

That the opsonins are eminently heliolabile is also of great practical import, for a blood allowed to lie in the sunlight preparatory to its examination for opsonins is entirely spoilt, as is shown by experiment in the present paper.

As regards spontaneous phagocytosis an important fact was arrived at, namely, that it is in the lowest salt concentrations (0.6 per cent. NaCl) that phagocytic activity is greatest, whilst it is practically abolished by a concentration of more than 1.2 per

cent.

THE arrangements for the international celebration of the jubilee of the coal-tar industry to which attention has been directed in these columns are now well advanced, and a very representative gathering of foreign chemists will assemble in London on July 26-27 in honour of Dr. Perkin and his work. As might have been expected in view of the great development of the industry in Germany, that country will send a very strong body of delegates. Among those who have already accepted invitations are Prof. Emil Fischer, representing the German Chemical Society; Drs. Duisberg and Delbrück, representing the "Verein Deutscher Chemiker "; Drs. Böttinger (Elberfeld), H. Caro (Mannheim), Ehrhardt (Badische Co.), Kallé (Biebrich), Klingemann (Cassella and Co.), H. Erdmann (Charlottenburg Technical High School), Kremers, Lepsius (Griesheim), Raschig (Ludwigshafen), Möhlau (Dresden), Gustav Schultz (Münich); and Drs. Bablich, Liebert, de Ridder, Albrecht Schmidt, and Ullrich, representing the Höchst colour works. It is probable that Prof. Liebermann and Drs. v. Martius and Bernthsen will also be present. From France, M. Gautier, president of the Chemical Society of Paris, and Prof. Haller will represent their society. Profs. Étard, Moureu, and Guyot will also attend as representatives of France. Holland will be represented by Profs. Holleman and van Romburgh, Austria by Prof. Friedländer, and Switzerland by Prof. Hans Rupe. America, as already announced, proposes to have an independent celebration in the autumn, but will also participate in the general international movement. The American delegates have not yet been nominated. At the banquet on July 26 all the foreign delegates will be present as guests, and it is hoped that the chemists of this country will attend in large numbers. At the meeting at the Royal Institution on July 26 Dr. Perkin will receive the Hofmann medal of the German

Chemical Society and the Lavoisier medal of the Chemical Society of Paris, besides numerous addresses from the

names of

learned and technical societies. Among the officials and public men who have so far responded to the invitation to attend the banquet are Lords Kelvin, Rayleigh, and Alverstone, the German Ambassador, the Right Hon. R. B. Haldane, Mr. Justice Buckley, Sir Wm. Broadbent and Sir Arthur Rücker. All applications for tickets for the dinner and other functions should be addressed to Dr. J. C. Cain, 28 Pembury Road, Clapton, N.E. As the gathering is expected to be a very large one, it is desirable that those proposing to be present should communicate at once with Dr. Cain so that the necessary arrangements for their accommodation may be made.

THERE are now on exhibition at the London Hippodrome three microcephalic girls stated to have come from Mexico, like the famous Maximo and Bartola, who toured the world some fifty years ago and were described to the Ethnological Society by Sir Richard Owen. The present specimens are said to be members of an almost extinct race closely allied to simians; but microcephaly is not associated with any

by the statements made as to the origin of the earlier pair. Although they are often monkey-like, the microcephalics are not technically simian in their characteristics; in some cases they have a small vocabulary, in others they

are mute so far as real language is concerned. The skull capacity has been known to fall as low as 270 cm., but the present immature specimens are said to have brains only one-seventh the normal size.

was

IN connection with the third International Colliery Exhibition recently held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, a representative gathering of delegates from mining and allied institutions in different parts of the world entertained at luncheon by Mr. H. Greville Montgomery, M.P. It was unanimously resolved by the assembly to hold an International Mining Conference in connection with the fourth International Colliery Exhibition in 1908. An organising committee was elected, and among its members are:-Mr. J. C. Cadman, Prof. S. Herbert Cox, Mr. W. Cullen, Prof. Dunstan, F.R.S., Mr. W. B. Esson, Prof. W. Gowland, Mr. E. M. Hann, Mr. T. H. Holland, F.R.S., Mr. J. H. Marr, Mr. T. W. Mitchell, Mr. W. H. Patchell, Mr. H. M. Ridge, Mr. W. Rowley, and Mr. W. Russell, C.B., with Mr. H. Greville Montgomery, M.P., as chairman, and Mr. Allan Greenwell as secretary. All communications should be addressed to the secretary at the offices (provisional) of the conference, 30-31 Furnival Street, Holborn, London, E.C.

THE Committee of bibliography and of astronomical sciences of the Royal Observatory of Belgium has undertaken to publish a list of the observatories and astronomers of the whole world. A request for information, in the form of a list of questions, with a model reply relating to the astronomical service at the Uccle Observatory, Belgium, has been addressed to directors of observatories. In addition, the list will include such astronomers (university professors, amateurs, &c.) who are not attached to any observatory, but are nevertheless actively engaged in astronomical research. The information already sent will enable the committee to draw up, not only a list of observatories, with their geographical coordinates and the members of the staff, but also a table showing the astronomical activity of the whole world, based upon the information given as to the instruments at the disposal of each institution, the researches undertaken, and the papers published. Directors of observatories who have not received the question-form, or have not yet forwarded a reply, as well as unattached astronomers, are requested to send the information desired, or to repair any omissions, as soon as possible to the chairman of the committee, Prof. P. Stroobant, astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Uccle, Belgium.

THROUGH the death of Prof. H. A. Ward, who was struck down by a motor car on July 5 in Buffalo, U.S.A., a figure well known to every museum and mineral dealer in Europe and America has passed away. Prof. Ward was born at Rochester, N.Y., in 1834. For a short period he assisted Prof. Agassiz at Harvard Scientific School; in 1855 he went to Paris for a course of study, and travelled thence widely over Europe; from 1860 to 1865 he was professor of natural science in Rochester University. From that period until his death, most of his time was spent in travelling for the purpose of forming collections of mineralogical and geological specimens, which are well known as "Ward's Cabinets." To geological literature Prof. Ward contributed little of importance, but as a collector he did valuable service. He had built up the most complete private collection of meteorites in existence; in extending it he spared neither time nor money; though more than seventy years of age, he passed through London last year on his way to cross Europe, searching for new specimens with the ardour of a boy.

WITH the Earl of Grey, G.C.M.G., Governor-General of Canada, as pation, and Sir L. A. Jetté, LieutenantGovernor of Quebec, as honorary president, the fifteenth International Congress of Americanists will meet at Quebec from Monday, September 10, to Saturday, September 15. The work of the congress will have reference to: (1) The native races of America, their origin, geographical distribution, history, physical characters, languages, civilisation, mythology, religions, morals and habits. (2) The indigerous monuments and the archæology of America. (3) The history of the discovery and European occupancy of the New World. The committee of organisation is as follows:-President: Dr. Robert Bell, F.R.S.. director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa. Vice-Presidents: Mgr. J. C. K. Laflamme, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Laval University, Quebec; Hon. R. A Pyne, Minister of Education of the Province of Ontario, Toronto; Dr. D. Boyle, Department of Education, Toronto. General Secretary: Dr. N. E. Dionne, librarian, Legislative Assembly. Treasurer: Mr. Alp. Gagnon, Department of Public Works, Quebec.

an

IN a long and interesting article in the Times of July o on the commercial application of wireless telegraphy, the writer deals very fully with the history of wireless telegraphy and with the various systems now being worked on a commercial basis. The claims of the various systems are clearly put forward, and should prove of interest to the non-technical readers who are mostly inclined to the opinion that the words "wireless telegraphy " and " Marconi" are synonymous. Among the many systems which have been developed since Mr. Marconi achieved success, may there not be one or more which is entitled to equal consideration by the authorities? This is one of the chief points raised by the Times correspondent, and it is one which in the interests of the nation should be fully recognised. So long as one company is granted a monopoly, the cost for commercial use is likely to remain high, and any improvements which might be made through fair competition are unlikely to be developed in the same proportion. In Germany a combination of the various systems has been made, and any new improvement brought out is thus welcomed and given the fullest consideration. In this manner the highest efficiency is obtained, and if some similar arrangement could be arrived at in this country it would surely be to the benefit of the country at large. As to whether it would be more to the interests of the nation for the Government to own and work the wireless telegraph stations, when, by a fair trial, the best system or combinations of systems has been established, is a matter which wants the fullest consideration, and before any further licences are granted to any company or companies, this aspect of the situation should be one of the first points to be decided by the authorities in whose charge the welfare of the country is placed.

PROF. HÖNNANN, professor of mining in the Berlin Technical High School, died on June 30 in his seventy-first year.

THE twenty-third annual congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute was opened at Bristol on Monday under the presidency of Sir Edward Fry, F.R.S.

PROF. WALTHER VON LINGELSHEIM, director of the hygiene station in Beuthen, Upper Silesia, has been appointed director of the newly founded hygiene institute

in the same town.

DR. WILHELM BODE, departmental director of the Emperor Frederick Museum in Berlin, has been appointed

Director-General of the Berlin Royal Museums, with the rank of Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrath.

THE Berufsgenossenschaft der chemischen Industrie held its twenty-second ordinary meeting in Detmold on June 28, and sanctioned the spending of half a million marks for the erection of the society's business premises.

DR. THEODOR MEYER, whose work on the commercial preparation of sulphuric acid has given him a high place among technical chemists, has been appointed director of the installations bureau for the German chemical industry, in Berlin, Kurfürstendamm 139, in succession to the late Dr. H. H. Niedenführ.

PROF. HUGO VON GILM died in Vienna on June 21, in his seventy-sixth year. Born in Innsbruck, he studied at the university under Prof. Hlasiwetz, whose assistant and co-worker in several pieces of research in organic chemistry he subsequently became. From 1863 to 1895 he was first lecturer, and ultimately professor of chemistry and chemical technology in the Vienna Landesoberreal- und höheren Gewerbeschule.

PROF. EMIL JACOBSEN celebrated his seventieth birthday on July 3 in Charlottenburg, where he has lived for many years. He was born in Danzig, and studied as a pharmaceutical student in Breslau and Berlin. In 1862 he opened an analytical laboratory in Berlin, in which he made a number of valuable observations and discoveries. Dr. Jacobson is the originator and editor of several successful periodicals. From 1862 to 1903 he issued an annual publication under the title of the Chemisch-technisches Repertorium, and from 1864 to 1894 the weekly paper Industrie Blätter, while from 1878 to 1895 he was the director of the Chemische Industrie.

AN earthquake shock was felt at Manstrae, Alva, and Blairlogie, in Perthshire, about 3.45 on July 4. The tremor, which passed from west to east, lasted about two seconds, and was accompanied by sounds as of distant explosions.

THE annual exhibition of antiquities connected with the Institute of Archæology, University of Liverpool, will be held in the Lord Derby Museum, Public Museums, Liverpool, from July 11 to July 26 inclusive. The exhibits include prehistoric remains from Hierakonpolis; examples of provincial art from Esna, of Hyksos period and later; scarabs, ornaments, and inscriptions from Abydos, of 2000 to 1200 B.C.; pottery and other remains of primitive man, from Kostamneh in Nubia, recently discovered by Mr. John Garstang and Mr. E. Harold Jones.

FROM the ashes of the monthly magazine of current scientific investigation, Science Progress, which came to an end in 1898 through lack of support, has arisen a quarterly review under the same title, edited, with the assistance of a strong advisory committee, by Dr. N. H. Alcock and Mr. W. G. Freeman, and published by Mr. John Murray. The periodical has much the same appearance as its predecessor, and the contributions to it are of the same character. There are twelve articles in which methods and results of work in several departments of science are described by writers actively engaged in scientific investigation. The contributions are thus trustworthy statements of the position and progress of important subjects of scientific study, the biological sciences being given particular attention. In the first number the endeavour of the new periodical is stated to be" to present summaries, as far as possible of a non-technical character, of important recent work in any branch of science, to show the progress achieved, and if possible to indicate something of the line along which further advance is to be made towards the desired end. The

chemist, to take an example, will describe for the botanist recent advances in chemistry, the botanist will do the same service for the chemist, often, it is hoped, to the advantage and assistance of both." These intentions are, of course, admirable, and the only difficulty to be anticipated is in their application. Scientific work is so minutely specialised that the vocabulary common to all investigators is somewhat limited; and the greatest trouble the editors will have will be to obtain authoritative articles on subjects of prime importance written in a style that can be read with ease and interest by the world of science in general, while at the same time they appeal to the wants of students of special branches of scientific inquiry. We trust that the new review will be successful in its attempt to provide a common meeting-ground for men of science, where workers in biological and physical sciences can lead one another to appreciate the significance of progress made in their respective departments of natural knowledge.

66

WE have received a copy of an illustrated prospectus of the new edition of the 'Systematisches ConchylienCabinet of Martini and Chemnitz, now in course of issue by Messrs. Bauer and Raspe, of Nürnberg, under the editorship of Dr. W. Kobelt.

FROM the University of Wisconsin we have just received a copy of No. 115 of the Bulletin of that institution bearing the date of September, 1905. It is devoted to a review of the rise and progress of the study of anatomy in the United States, drawn up by Prof. C. R. Bardeen, and delivered as an inaugural address on his assumption of the chair of anatomy in the University. The discourse includes a reference to the early history of anatomy. In the University of Wisconsin a special department has been recently established for the study of human and comparative anatomy, neurology, histology, and embryology.

"NOTES On Malayan Pigs" is the title of an illustrated paper by Mr. G. S. Miller forming No. 1466 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum. As the author has had the advantage of studying large series of specimens in the museums of Washington, London, Berlin, Leyden, and Berne, it may be hoped that this communication will do much towards settling the vexed question as to the number of distinguishable representatives of the genus Sus inhabiting the Malay area, although it is possible that what Mr. Miller regards as groups "other naturalists may consider species." Several new forms are named.

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No. 1468 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum is devoted to a collection of fishes from Ecuador and Peru, the new forms described by the author, Mr. E. C. Starks, including several cat-fishes (Silurida).' In No. 1476 of the same serial Messrs. Jordan and Snyder describe two giant bass from Japan, namely, Stereolypis ischinagi and Erilepis zonifer, both of which have been long known to science, although imperfectly represented in collections. Despite the fact of both being commonly known as “bass," the two species are referable to distinct families. One example of the former was about 6 feet in length, while a specimen of the latter measured 57 inches, and other specimens are stated to weigh as much as 200lb.