A piecing together of the folklore and traditions of different districts suggests that sacrifices were made in connection with the fire festivals, in fact that the fire at one of the critical times of the May year was a sacrificial one.

I will quote two cases given by Gomme for May Day and All Souls' Day respectively :

At the village of Holne, situated on one of the spurs of Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the Ploy Field. In the centre of this field stands a granite pillar (Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May-morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village used to assemble there, and then proceed to the moor, where they selected a ram lamb, and after running it down, brought it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fastened it to the pillar, cut its throat and then roasted it whole, skin, wool, &c. At midday a struggle took place, af the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer. As an act of gallantry the young men sometimes fought their way through the crowd to get a slice for the chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attended the Ram Feast, as it was called. Dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon, prolonged the festivity till midnight."

a

In the parish of King's Teignton, Devonshire, lamb is drawn about the parish on Whitsun Monday in a cart covered with garlands of lilac, laburnum, and other flowers, when persons are requested to give something towards the animal and attendant expenses; on Tuesday it is then killed and roasted whole in the middle of the village. The lamb is then sold in slices to the poor at a cheap rate.

The popular legend concerning the origin of this custom introduces two important elements-a reference to "heathen days" and the title of "sacrifice " ascribed to the killing of the lamb (p. 31).

"At St. Peter's, Athlone, every family of a village on St. Martin's Day kills an animal of some kind or other; those who are rich kill a cow or sheep, others a goose or turkey, while those who are poor kill a hen or cock; with the blood of the animal they sprinkle the threshold and also the four corners of the house, and this performance is done to exclude every kind of evil spirit from the dwelling where the sacrifice is made till the return of the same day the following year ' (p. 163).

Other traditions indicate that human sacrifices were in question and that lots were drawn, or some other method of the choice of a victim was adopted. I quote from Hazlitt (i., 44) the following report of the Minister of Callender in 1794

"The people of this district have two customs, which are fast wearing out, not only here, but all over the Highlands, and therefore ought to be taken notice of, while they remain. Upon the first day of May, which is called Beltan, or Bàl-tein-day, all the boys in a township or hamlet meet in the moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in the ground of such a circumference as to hold the whole company. They kindle 1 "Ethnology in Folklore," pp. 32 and 163.

a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so many portions, as similar as possible to one another in size and shape, as there are persons in the company. They daub one of these portions all over with charcoal, until it be perfectly black. They put all the bits of the cake into a bonnet. Everyone, blindfold, draws out a portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit is the devoted person, who is to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country as well as in the East, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames; with which the ceremonies of the festival are closed.”

I may conclude this article by referring to similar practices in Brittany, where Baring-Gould has so successfully studied them.'

The present remnants of the old cult in the different parishes are now called "Pardons "; they are still I give those for the May and August

numerous.

festivals (p. 83) :

Ascension Day

MAY.

Bodilis, Penhars, Spezet (at the
Well of S. Gouzenou), Land-
evennec, Plougonnec.

Sunday after Ascension Day Trégoat, St. Divy.
Whit Sunday

Monday

Thursday

First Sunday in August

Kernilis. Plouider; Edern;
Coray; Spezet (Chapel of
Cran).

Quimperlé (Pardon des Oiseaux);
Pont l'Abbé (Pardon des
Enfants); Ergué-Armel, La
Forêt, Landudal, Ploneis,
Landeleau, Carantec.
Gouezec (Les Fontaines).
AUGUST.

Pleyben (horse races); Pléban-
nalec; Pouldreuzic; Plougo-
melin; Huelgoët; S. Nicodème
in Plumeliau (M.), Cattle
blessed; second day horse fair,
and girls sell their tresses to
hair merchants.

Judging by the " 'pardons," the solstitial celebra

tions are not so numerous as those connected with

the May year. The bonfire is built up by the head of a family in which the right is hereditary. The fire has to be lighted only by a pure virgin, and the sick and feeble are carried to the spot, as the bonfire flames are held to be gifted with miraculous healing powers. When the flames are abated, stones are placed for the souls of the dead to sit there through the remainder of the night and enjoy the heat. "Every member of the community carries away a handful of ashes as a sovereign cure for sundry maladies. The whole proceeding is instinct with paganism ” (p. 75).

66

With regard to the accompanying sacrifices, we read :-" In ancient times sacrifices were made of cocks and oxen at certain shrines--now they are still presented, but it is to the chapels of saints. S. Herbot receives cows' tails, and these may be seen heaped upon his altar in Loqeffret. At Coadret as many as seven hundred are offered on the day of the 'pardon.' At S. Nicolas-des-Eaux, it is S. Nicodemus who in his chapel receives gifts of whole oxen, and much the same takes place at Carnac."

NORMAN LOCKYER.

I "A Book of Brittany."

SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL

ASIA.1

IT is with a lingering feeling of regret that we recognise how different, of necessity, are the explorations of the present day from those of fifty years ago. No longer is it possible, except in rare instances, for a traveller to return with tales of new discoveries of lakes, sources of rivers, mighty peaks, and of the strange peoples that dwell there. Much work still remains, but it is of a more scientific nature, and therefore will probably provide matter which when published may be less entertaining and less widely read. When a traveller makes a speciality of one particular branch of science, as Dr. Gottfried Merzbacher does in his volume on "The Central TianShan Mountains," to the almost entire exclusion of all others, it follows that he can only appeal to a limited number of readers; to those, in fact, who are interested in the study of geology and glaciers. We would, however, make this reservation, that the photographs which adorn this book are exceptionally beautiful representations of snow scenery, and will more than satisfy the ordinary reader as well as the man of science, and that the map is of great general value.

For two seasons, 1902-3, did Dr. Merzbacher and his companions labour in the central Tian-Shan Mountains which lie north-east of Kashgar. Russian explorers have visited this district many times, but the main backbone of the range has never been closely explored, and Dr. Merzbacher was able to discover and correct many errors in existing maps. We would here point out the growing necessity for the closer interchange of information between the various scientific societies of different countries. Dr. Merzbacher met a Russian expedition which to his delight was not intending to work over quite the same tract of country, while Dr. Friedrichsen and Signor Giulio Brocherel have already published the results of their explorations of the same range, which were being undertaken almost simultaneously with those of Dr. Merzbacher and his companions. Healthy rivalry is to be encouraged, but such lapping of work as this is regrettable.

over

We trust that the botanical, zoological, and climatological observations, which have been almost entirely omitted from this volume, will be included in the more detailed report. We cannot help feeling that a preliminary volume, such as this is intended to be, should have included some reference to these other subjects, while some of the geological and glacial notes might have been left to the more detailed report.

The care with which Dr. Merzbacher explored is worthy of the highest praise, leaving little or nothing

In this volume, which is of the nature of a preliminary report, Dr. Merzbacher has embodied observations on the present and past glacier conditions of the Tian-Shan Mountains, and on peculiarities in the physical features of its valley formations, subjects to which, throughout the expedition, his attention was specially directed. A more detailed report, however, is to follow when his rich collections have been scientifically examined and arranged.

"The Central Tian-Shan Mountains, 1902-1903." By Dr. Gottfried Merzbacher. Pp. ix +285. (London: John Murray.) Price 125. net.

for any future travellers in this region to accomplish. He made his winter quarters at Kashgar, but was not content to wait for more clement weather, and made many useful excursions during the winter months, which happened to be unusually mild. It would be out of place to attempt here a description, however short, of his journeyings, and indeed, without a map, it would be nigh impossible to follow any such description. Each glacier, each valley, each ridge is in turn visited, surveyed, and described. The position of the great peak of Khan-Tengri

(23,622 feet) was correctly fixed, and the discovery was made that this, the culminating eminence of the whole Tian-Shan, does not stand in the main watershed, and is not a nucleus of converging ranges, but is situated on a secondary spur which projects from the main range far to the south-west. The true" nucleus " is the so-called "Marble Wall," which in lieu of a better name Dr. Merzbacher has christened after the president of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society Mount Nicholas Mikhailovich! The Inylchek glacier was found to have a total length of from forty-three to forty-six miles, in place of six to eight miles as previously supposed, and another equally large glacier was discovered but not visited. In the matter of climbing Khan-Tengri, which has been sometimes wrongly assumed to have been the main object of this expedition, Dr. Merzbacher points out the difficulties, which will probably have the result of exciting someone to make the attempt.

An accident which resulted in the unfortunate destruction of many photographic plates gave the energetic traveller an excuse for revisiting some of the ground already traversed, and enabling him, owing to the finer weather, to take still better photographs. Dr. Merzbacher's visit to the alpine lakes, such a rare phenomenon in the central Tian-Shan, and his notes thereon are of great interest, but as winter was closing in work became more difficult, and the expedition finally reached Tashkent via Kulja.

Regarding this volume as a preliminary report Dr. Merzbacher deprecates drawing conclusions from the facts noted until his rich materials have been examined by competent experts. He however mentions one point on which his scientific conviction is settled once and for all, namely, that for the Tian-Shan also an Ice age has to be accepted.

of bipedal forms with which we are now familiar from the reconstructed skeleton of the iguanodon and its allies, and also from the ponderous quadrupedal, long-necked, small-headed Diplodocus, Brontosaurus, and Cetiosaurus types of gigantic herbivorous reptiles. Compared with these latter, Triceratops was a quadrupedal reptile of quite moderate size, the skeleton, according to the late Prof. Marsh, being not more than 25 feet in length and 10 feet in height. The present reconstruction by Mr. Gilmore still further reduces its length by the omission of six of the presacral vertebræ (introduced by Prof. Marsh), so that, as now restored, its total length is only 19 feet 8 inches.

The striking feature, which remains unchanged, is the skull, which is fully 6 feet long, and is consequently just one-third of the entire length of the skeleton as now set up.

Two powerful horn-cores of the bovine type, 2 feet in length, rise from the frontal bones of the skull, at the base of which are the round bony orbits. The snout is narrow and pointed, and carries a third

Photography was used on this expedition to an unprecedented. extent, many beautiful views being due to the telephotographic process, which was used with excellent results. In addition to botanical and zoological collections climatic observations were taken twice daily, while the map was compiled with great care, and is also well drawn and beautifully reproduced. It is a pity that the same symbol should have been used to denote permanent villages and the pasturages, which are only visited at certain seasons by the Kirghiz herdsmen.

This volume, which is published under the authority of the Royal Geographical Society, is a worthy record of scientific work carried out under great difficulties. The author is to be warmly congratulated.

TH

A LARGE-HEADED DINOSAUR. HE mounted skeleton of Triceratops prorsus, of which a note by Mr. Charles W. Gilmore, preparator to the department of geology in the United States National Museum, Washington, has recently been published with two plates, is interesting as displaying another Dinosaur of a distinct and very remarkable type, differing entirely from the numerous series 1 Proc. United States National Museum, Washington, vol. xxix., pp. 433-435, with plates i. and ii., 1905.

smaller horn upon the nasal bone. Behind the pair of frontal horns is an immense frill of bone spreading back over the occipital region and covering the first six cervical vertebræ; it was 2 feet 6 inches long and 3 feet broad, resembling an immense Elizabethan ruff, ornamented with about twenty-four pointed bosses of bone along its border. The rostrum and predentary bones were armed with pointed horny beaks, the teeth being confined to the maxillary and dentary bones, forming a single series in each jaw. They are remarkable as having two distinct fangs, placed transversely in the jaw, with distinct sockets, and are displaced vertically; the successional teeth cut their way between the alveolar margin and the adjacent root of the old tooth, or between the two roots. Prof. Marsh had published a restoration of this dinosaur in 1891 (see Geol. Mag., plate vii.), the chief difference between which and the present skeleton set up by Mr. Gilmore being the reduction in the number of the presacral vertebræ, already referred to, and the placing of the limbs, especially the forelimbs (the humerus and the radius and ulna), in a

more flexed and diverging position to enable the head of the animal in browsing to approach nearer to the ground. The bony cores on the skull were sheathed in horn as well as the beaks, and there is evidence of a dermal armature of bosses and spines which once covered the dorsal and lateral region of the creature's body. Mr. Charles R. Knight has given a spirited restoration of this animal in the Century Magazine (1897, p. 18). A life-size papier-maché reproduction of Triceratops has been made in America by Mr. Lucas, and it is to be hoped a copy may shortly be secured for the Natural History Museum in Cromwell Road. H. W.

NOTES.

THE King has conferred the honour of Knighthood upon Prof. A. Pedler, C.I.E., F.R.S., Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, and Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University.

WE are requested to announce that the endowment fund now being raised for the family of the late Prof. G. B. Howes, F.R.S., will be closed shortly, and all intending contributors are asked to send their contributions without delay to the treasurer, Mr. Frank Crisp, at 17 Throgmorton Avenue, London, E.C.

AT a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia on December 5, 1905, Dr. Dixon announced that Mr. D. M. Barringer and Mr. B. C. Tilghman, members of the academy, had notified him of their discovery that the crater of Coon Mountain, or Coon Butte, in northern Arizona, twelve miles south-east of Cañon Diablo station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway, is an impact crater, and not a crater produced by a steam explosion, as has been supposed since the examination made of it by members of the United States Geological Survey. It appears from their work that the large crater and elevation known as Coon Mountain is the result of a collision with the earth of a very large meteorite or possibly a small asteroid, fragments of which are well known to the scientific world by the name of the Cañon Diablo siderites. The investigations show (1) that the formation of the crater and the deposition of the meteoritic material were simultaneous; (2) that meteoritic material has been found 500 feet below the surface of the centre of the crater; (3) that sandstone supposed to be in place exists less than 1000 feet below the surface of the centre of the crater. The authors have presented to the academy for publication two comprehensive papers in which they set forth in full their reasons for the above statements.

A COPY of the programme of the excursions arranged in connection with the International Geological Congress, to be held in Mexico during next September, has just reached

us.

geyser district of Ixtlán and to the volcano, Colima. During the progress of the congress short journeys will be made to Pachuca, to Cuernavaca, and other places near Mexico. At the close of the conferences an excursion to the north, of twenty days, will take place. Salamanca, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Mapimí, Conejos, Ciudad, Parras, and other localities will be visited. Another excursion after the meeting will be to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The following subjects will be discussed at the congress :— (1) Climatic conditions during the geological epochs, when Messrs. G. Boehm, T. C. Chamberlin, W. B. Clark, W. H. Dall, W. M. Davis, A. Heilprin, V. Uhlig, and S. W. Williston will take part. (2) The relations between tectonics and eruptive masses: Messrs. A. Bergeat, A. Dannenberg, G. K. Gilbert, J. P. Iddings, A. Karpinski, A. Lacroix, and E. Naumann will speak. (3) The genesis of metalliferous veins: Messrs. B. von Inkey, F. Klockmann, W. Lindgren, W. B. Phillips, J. E. Spurr, and W. H. Weed will participate. (4) The classification and nomenclature of rocks: Messrs. Wh. Cross, J. P. Iddings, A. Karpinski, A. Lacroix, A. Osann, W. B. Phillips, H. S. Washington, and F. Zirkel will take part in the discussion. Communications may be addressed to the general secretary, M. Ezequiel Ordóñez, 5a del Ciprés, No. 2728, Mexico, D. F. THE stone implements of the Zambesi valley near Victoria Falls, noted by Mr. Lamplugh in his report on the district (see NATURE, p. 112), and more fully described by Colonel Feilden in a letter recently printed in NATURE (p. 77), possess much interest in view of their possibl high antiquity. At a meeting of the Geological Society of South Africa on October 30, 1905, Mr. J. P. Johnson, of Johannesburg, in giving an account of a further collection of these implements which he had made during a recent visit to the falls, stated that some of the specimens appear to show the transitional stage between the Eolithic and Palæolithic cultures. In the same paper the occurrence of implements of the pygmy" type near Bulawayo is recorded.

In the second part of the Bergen's Museums Aarbog for 1905, Mr. P. Bjerkan describes the ascidians collected by the Norwegian fishery-steamer Michael Sars from 1900 to 1904, while Mr. H. Brock does the same for the hydroid polyps obtained during the last two years. Three ascidians regarded as new are named by the former author, one of these representing a new genus; but all the hydroids appear to be identified with previously known forms. The organisation of Cephalodiscus has been recently fully investigated by Dr. H. Schepotieff, who records the results of his studies in a third article; while Mr. O. Bidenkap supplies a list of Arctic bryozoans.

To the October issue of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences Dr. J. W. Haishberger contributes two interesting papers on the flora of the

In the first of these the general character of the flora, which is evidently of comparatively recent introduction, is discussed, and the different zones described. The second paper, on the other hand, is devoted to an explanation of the origin of the curious "hour-glass-conformation" of the stem of the Bermuda palmetto (Sabal blackburniana), long ago described in a letter from Mr. O. A. Reade to Sir Joseph Hooker. The explanation, according to the author, is simplicity itself, the constrictions being caused by unfavourable seasons of excessive drought.

In a recent issue (vol. xxi., art. 14) of the Bulletin of the American Museum, Prof. H. F. Osborn describes two new generic types of carnivorous dinosaurs from the