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I883.] Antktopo/ogy. 897

neighbor by the head, as the water snake lately referredto was

caught,he goes down head first;if caught by the middle,as I
once knew to be done, he is swallowed double, and in this case
the swallower was but six inches longer than the swallowed.
The seven red squirrelsI took fromthe body of my black snake
followed each otherhead first.a most positiveevidence of fasci-
nation,since it is hardlypossible that such unbrokensuccession
could be the resultof any other process. But the snake is not
the only creaturethatswallows "big things." I once cut from
the throatof a hawk the foot,leg, shoulders,and shoulderblade
entireof a muskrat. I once took fromthe neck of a merganser
a sucker thirteeninches long whose head girthwas double that
of the duck. I cut fromthe throatof a heron a chickenas large
as a woodcock,and sat almost an hour as " crowner's quest" be-
foreit got throughmythickskull what those softyellowfeetand
bill belonged to. This capacityforextensionis commonamong
birds and reptiles,owing to the flexibilityof the posteriorcon-
nectionofjaws or mandibles,theybeing held togetherby muscu-
lar contraction,and not by articularjoints as in mammals; dis-
tentiondoes not produce dislocation.-B. /orsfordin Forestavid
Stream.
BATTLE OF RAVENS.-The Frankfurt(Germany)Journalwrites:
The gardener,Mr. Georgius,fromGinnheirn, called at our officeto-
day witha chest fullof dead ravens,victimsof a battlewhichwas
foughthigh in the air among a flockof overfourhundredof these
birds near the above-mentionedvillage. The ravens formedto-
getherinto three detachments,and as if at a given signal flewat
each other,and with savage cries seemed as if they would tear
each other's eyes out or their heads offwith their beaks. The
groundwas soon coveredwiththe bodies of over fifty birds,which
were picked up by observers. Wounds on otherpartsof thebody
except the head could not be found. The blows on the head ap-
peared on close observationto have been given withsuch force
that one was sufficientto destroylife. The cause of the battle
was doubtlessthe factthat the pairing season of the birds was
near at hand. Not only the males but also the females partici-
pated in the fight,as bodies of the latterwere foundamong the
slain.
ANTHROPOLOGY. I

THE SOCIETY OF AMERICANISTS.-The Congres International

des Americanisteswill be held in Copenhagen,2I-24 August,
underthe patronageof ChristianIX. Lettersshould be addressed
to M. W. A. Carstensen,general secretary. All persons interes-
ted in early Americanhistory,by paying twelve francs,may be-
come members,and will receivethe publishedvolume. The sum
should be remittedto M. Tietgen,directeurde la Banque privee
'Edited by ProfessorOTIS T. MASON, I305 Q street,N. W., IyWashington,
D. C.
.$98 GeneralNotes. [August,

de Copenhague. The programmeincludes the following sub-

Jects:
HISTORY AND GEOLOGY.
The discoveryof N. Americaby Europeannavigators.
The colonizationof Greenlandby the Northmen.
Mexican Calpullis,theiradministration and communism
CentralAmericannationalitiespreviousto the Aztec invasion.
Militarysystemsof Mexico and Peru beforethe conquest.
Criticalexaminationof the Popol Vuh.
Comparisonofthe kingdomsof Cezco, Trujillo and Quito,as to theirreligion,legis-
lation,language,architecture,manners,&c.
Catalogue of ancientPeruviandivinities.
Migrationsof the Carib race and theirlimitsin S. America.
ARCHIEOLOGY.
Kjokkenmoddingiin Greenlandand otherpartsof America.
Sacred symbolsfoundin America.
Religious and emblematicvalue of different
typesof idols, &c., in Peru.
of the monumentsof Peru.
Classification
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY.
Nomenclatureof the peoplesof Americabeforethe conquest.
The kingdomsof Cibola, Quiviraand Tegnayo.
The tribesof New Granada and the Isthmusof Panama.
The aboriginesof N. Americaand of WesternAsia compared.
LINGUISrICS AND PALEOGRAPHY.
Eskimo language comparedwithIndian languages.
Mexican comparedwithlanguagesoutsidethatregion.
Deciphermentof Maya inscriptions.
Quippusin relationto ancientformsof writing.
Peruvianlanguageson the coast and in the mountainscompared.

THE SOCIETE D'ETHNOGRAPHIE.-In the excitementof present

prosperitywe must not forgetthe pioneers of our science. The
Society d'Ethnographieof Paris has just celebrated its twenty-
fourthanniversary. Its historymay be brieflyindicated:
Societyd'EthnographieAmericaine et Orientale,foundedI4th
March, i859, incorporated26thApril.
Societyd'Ethnographie,this title assumed and recognizedby
the government28th September,I864.
The societytook part in the Exposition Universellede Paris,
I867; Congres international des sciencesEthnographiques,under
the patronageof the government, 878.
The societyfoundedthe InstitutionEthnographique,i879.
The societyrecognizedas an institution of public utility,I88o.
The generalsecretary .is M. Leon de Rosny.
FOLK LORE.-The folktales of a people are to sociology what
mythsare to religionand stone implementsto the historyof tech-
nology. Societies for the collectionof these tales and rhymes
exist in various places, but the most active among them is the
Folk Lore Society of London. The publicationsare as follows:
1878. The Folk Lore Record,Vol. i. (For membersonly.)
1879. Notes on the Folk Lore of the northerncountiesof England and the
borders.
The Folk Lore Record,Vol. Ii. (For membersonly.)
1883.] Antropology. 899
i88o. Aubrey'sRemainsof Gentilismeand judaisme,withthe additions.
The FolkLoreRecord,Vol.iiI, Pts.i andII.
i88i. Noteson theFolk Lore of the northeastof Scotland.
The Folk Lore Record,Vol. IV.
1882. The Folk Lore Record,Vol. v.
Researchesrespectingthe book of Sindibad.
PortugueseFolk Lore.
1883. Folk Medicine.
Folk Lore Journal. Issued Monthly. Vol. i, partv, issued in May. Price
iS pence per number.
Address G. Laurence Gomme,F.S.A, 2 Park Villas, Lonsdale
road, Barnes,S. W. London, England.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LYONS.-The Anthropological
Society of Paris occupies such a prominentposition among the
studentsof humanity,thatotherbrilliantworkersin the republic
are overlooked. All the world have heard of Chantre,Faure,
Guimet,Julien,Lacassagne, Lortet and Secard, foundersof the
Societe d'Anthropologiede Lyon, in i88i. The firstvolume of
the Bulletincovers the years i88i and i882.
THE TRENTON GRAVELS.-Dr. C. C. Abbott has contributedto
the Boston Society of Natural Historythe resultof a new findin
the Trentongravels (xxii, Oct. i8, i882). In consequence of the
removalof many thousandsof yards of the gravel by the P. R.
R. Co., there has been an extensive exposure of this deposit,
showingthattherehave been breaks in the process of accumula-
tion,strataof sand alternatingwithaccumulationsof coarser ma-
terial. One sand stratum,one footdeep and threehundredyards
along the exposure, furnishedfive argillite implements. The
authorsupposes them to have been left by the ancientman on
this little sandy island and subsequently covered by a gravel-
bearingfloodto the depthof seven feet. In the followingpages
mentionis made of furtherdiscoveriesof flintimplements; and
also, most wonderfulof all, of a human wisdomtooth taken from
the undisturbedgravel nearlyfourteenfeetunderthe surface.
LECTURES ON ANTHROPOLOGY.-Dr. E. B. Tylor deliveredtwo
lectureson anthropologyat Oxford,February 15th and 2ISt, the
firstof which is reported in Nature of May 3d. There is no
European anthropologistmorepopular in our countrythan Dr.
Tylor, and for this reason a few of his salient utterancesare
quoted withoutcomment:
" The processes of development,or evolution,or transformism,
were long ago recognized to no small extent by ethnologists.
Prichard,the leader of the monoc-enistschool fortyyears ago,
broughtforwardevidence of the derivationof the races of man-
kind fromone originalancestralpair,whom he consideredto have
been negroes,whose descendants,more or less varying by the
operationof naturalcauses, became modifiedor transformed into
the several races adapted for life in the various climates of the
earth.
goo GeneralNotes. [August,
" The discoverythat men were already making rude flintim-
plementsin the Quaternaryperiod has made a new scientificde-
parture,placing primevalman in the hands of the geologists."
To cross the border into the animal kingdom,and to see how
one species is transformed into another,we have only to look at
Huxley's series of horses: " Zo6logists,thus enabled to recon-
structideally the ancestryof the horse,are hopefulsome day to
discoverlikewisethe fossilpedigreeof the rider.
" Anthropologistsdo not feel,therefore, that their science has
been plucked up by the rootsand planted somewhere else; it is
growingwhereit is only cultivatedhigherthan in old times."
Dr. Tylor next discusses craniology,and shows what is its true
place in anthropology. The vexed question of philology,and its
credibilityas a witness of blood relationshipis verycautiously
handled. Regardingthe hair,Dr. Tylor says: "The cross sec-
tion of a single hair examined microscopically by Pruner's
methodshows it circular,oval, or reniform;its follicle-curvature
may be estimatedby the average diameterof the curls as pro-
posed by Moseley; its coloring mattermayPe estimated by
Sorby's method. The wonder i, that a singlcebodilycharacter
should forma basis for rationallymapping out the divisions of
mankind. It is now well understoodthat the causes of race
color are not so simple as Hippocrates thought when he de-
scribed the nomad Scythians as burned tawny by cold." The
effectof inheritablealbinism,Addison's disease, town life and
othersocial changes,acclimating,Draper's law, and otherknown
forcesin bringingabout permanentchange of type is well worked
out by the lecturer.
The closingpartof the discourseis devoted to the development
of civilization,survivals, etc. On the latter point attemptwas
made to offerexamples of a mental state yet survivingamong
savages and peasants, which may have its origin in the very
childhood of mankind. The notion is also advanced that the
originof races is to be sought,like the originof domesticplants,
in those regions where they are wild. Thus the negro race
originatednot in Africabut in Andaman and New Guinea,where
the people have no firedrill,but carryabout brandsfromplace to
place, and kindle new firesfromtheirvolcanoes. In like man-
ner the originof the civilizationof the Aryan throughthose rep-
resentedby the Egyptianand the Chinese is traced.
MICROSCOPY.'
ROSE BENGALEIN COMBINATIONWITH IODINE GREEN AND BLEU
DE LYON.-Rose bengale, according to Griesbach,2is the bluest
of the cosine dyes. An aqueous solutionis veryusefulin stain-
ing chromicacid preparationsof the spinal cord,as it colors the
gray substancemuch more stronglythan the whitesubstance.
1Edited byDr. C. 0. WHITMAN,NewtonHighlands,Mass.
2 Zoo/, No. 135, P. 172.
vi,
Anzzeikger,