depths of 1090 and 3655 metres; Lepioderma macrops, between 1153 and 3655 metres; and Macrurus affinis, between 590 and 2220 metres. The explanation would seem to be not only that the organisation of these fishes is such as enables them to support the enormous pressures at the greater depths of the ocean, but that in the course of their movements of ascent and descent they proceed very slowly so as gradually to get accustomed to the alterations in pressure. These fishes are all flesh eaters, with well developed dental systems; the absence of light prevents the growth of marine alga in these depths, and as a general rule all the fish found below 150 metres are of necessity predatory. These deep-sea fishes, as Dr. Günther reminds us, do not belong to any peculiar order, but are chiefly modified forms of surface types; some of these modifications being no doubt very extreme, but serving as indications not only of the struggle for existence, but also of the plasticness of the forms to adapt themselves to the extreme conditions under which they live. The most remarkable phenomena in connection with their deep-sea life is doubtless the tremendous pressure which has to be borne. No one seems to doubt but

that these deep-sea forms live as active a life as surface forms, indeed their very appearance seems to indicate a swiftness and energy of movement not to be surpassed by surface swimmers; and we may believe that the abyssal pressure has a great deal to do with keeping their feebly calcareous bones and delicate muscular system compact and in a condition for effective use. The placid state of the water at these depths must also be borne in mindno storms affect them, and the extraordinary attenuation of some organs may be directly ascribed to this phenomenon. Thus Macrurus globiceps (Fig. 1), which forms one of a family of deep-sea Ganoids, known as living at depths of from 600 to 2200 metres, and occurring in considerable variety and great numbers over all our oceans, is a new species, described by M. L. Vaillant as found at a depth of between 1500 and 3000 metres. Its body, globular in front, will be seen to be very greatly attenuated

behind.

In some of the deep-sea fishes peculiar organs, unknown for the most part among surface fishes, are to be found; these are sometimes 66 more or less numerous, round, showing mother-of-pearl coloured bodies embedded in the skin"; in some fish these are to be met with on the head, or near the eyes, or along the sides and back. Dr. Günther informs us that of these strange bodies the following hypotheses are possible: (1) all these different organs are accessory eyes; (2) only those having a lens-like body in their interior are sensory, those with gland-like structure are not sensory but are phosphorescent; and (3) all are producers of light. Many serious objections can be urged against the first view. Some of the fish with immense eyes have these bodies, others without eyes want them, while as to glandular bodies being sense organs this is not yet scientifically realisable. One seems therefore justified in adopting the middle hypothesis, and though on first thought it seems strange that fish with large eyes should have accessory eyes, yet Dr. Günther's supposition may be the true one -that there are light producers behind the lenses, and that these latter may act the part of "bull's-eyes" in a lantern. This form of "light organ" might constitute a very deadly trap for prey, one moment shining it might attract the curiosity of some simple fish, then extinguished the simple fish would fall an easy prey.

Long filamentous organs are to be met with showing apparently a brilliant type of phosphorescence. Among the many curious forms of development of these tactile organs to be met with, one of the most singular is that to be seen on a fish referred by M. L. Vaillant to a new genus and species found at a depth of 2700 metres, and represented in the annexed woodcut (Fig. 2). In this form (Eustomias obscurus) the tactile organ takes the

appearance of a long filament, which is placed underneath the lower jaw, and which ends in an inflated and rayed knob-like phosphorescent mass.

Another peculiarity now well known in deep-sea fishes is the enormous development of the mouth and stomach of these fish. In the genus Melanocetus and in Chiasmodus the capacity of the stomach is such that it can contain prey twice the size of the fish which swallowed it, and perhaps the largest gape of jaws known is that of Eurypharynx pelecanoides. The greatest depth at which a fish was taken during the cruise of the Talisman was 4255 metres; the fish was Bythytes crassus: but it will be remembered that during the Challenger Expedition a specimen of Bathyopis ferox was taken at a depth of 5000 metres.

We hope again to have the opportunity of referring to other of the deep-sea forms taken by the Talisman.

ANCIENT JAPAN1

HIS volume contains a literal translation of the oldest THIS troductions, notes, and appendices, and is beyond Japanese book in existence, accompanied by indoubt the most learned and remarkable work which

Of

European scholarship has yet produced from Japan. the many important propositions on the early history of the Japanese race established by it we shall have to speak later on; but of the work itself it may be said now that the translator claims it to be "the earliest authentic connected literary product of that large division of the human race which has been variously denominated Turanian, Scythian, and Altaïc, and it even precedes by at least a century the most ancient extant literary compositions of non-Aryan India." Indeed more than this may be said; for if the claim of Accadian to be an Altaïc language be Japan (to which the Kojiki belongs), but also its classical not substantiated, not only the archaic literature of literature, precedes by several centuries the earliest extant documents of any other Altaïc tongue. This alone would render the work an object of much interest, but it derives additional importance from its contents as well as from the period at which it was written. It is the earliest record of the language, customs, mythology, and history of ancient Japan, and soon after the date of its compilation, as Mr. Chamberlain points out, most of the salient features of distinctive Japanese nationality were buried under a superincumbent mass of Chinese culture; it is therefore to these "Records" and one or two other ancient works that the investigator must look if he would modern customs and ideas which have simply been bornot be misled at every step into attributing originality to rowed wholesale from the neighbouring continent. tradition for some years before that period, it was not appears beyond doubt that, though the work existed in committed to writing till the year 712 of our era, and from it a picture can be formed of the Japanese of that remote epoch. It is to the sections devoted by the translator to the manners and customs of the early Japanese and their political and social ideas that we propose to direct special attention now.

It

As pictured, then, in these "Records," the Japanese of the mythical era had emerged from the Stone Age and from the savage state. They were acquainted with the use of iron for weapons of the chase, such as arrows, swords, knives; but there is a curious silence about ordinary implements, such as axes and saws, though they had the fire-drill, pestle and mortar, wedge, and shuttle for weaving. The art of sailing appears to have been quite unknown, but boats for use on the inland lakes are mentioned. As would naturally be expected, the population was scattered along the seashore and on the banks

Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x. Supplement. Translation of the "Kojiki" or "Records of Ancient Matters." By Basil Hall Chamberlain. Yokohama, 1883.

of the larger rivers, while house and temple building are the subjects of frequent reference. The Japanese of the present day appear to have inherited their habits of great personal cleanliness from their early forefathers, for we read more than once of bathing, and bathing-women are said to have been specially attached to an imperial infant. Among the religious practices, too, was that of lustration. A custom of the early Japanese, which is still found existing in the island of Hachijô, off the east coast, was that of a woman before childbirth erecting with her own hands a one-roomed hut without windows, into which she was expected to retire and give birth to her child. In Hachijô formerly a woman was driven out from the village under these circumstances to a hut on the mountain side, which she was not permitted to leave under any circumstances whatever before the birth of the infant; but in later times the custom was so far relaxed that the hut was allowed to be put up within the homestead. Each sovereign on his accession, also, had a new palace erected for him; but these so-called "palaces" were nothing more than ordinary wood huts. Although cave-dwellers are referred to in the "Records," it appears that at the date to which the work refers they had quite passed away. The principal food was fish and the flesh of wild animals. Rice is mentioned in such a manner that there can be no doubt of its cultivation from immemorial antiquity; sake, the native ricebeer, is also referred to. In dress the mythical Japanese appear to have reached a high level, and we find many garments specialised, such as skirts, trousers, girdles, veils, and hats; while it is interesting to note that although jewellery forms no part of the attire of the modern Japanese, their ancestors adorned themselves with necklaces, bracelets, and other articles formed from stones considered precious. They appear to have had a tolerably extensive acquaintance with the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but the tea-plant was evidently not yet introduced among them. Iron, which was used from time immemorial, was the only metal they knew; and their acquaintance with colours was confined to black, blue (including green), red, white, and piebald (of horses). In the Japan of to-day the different degrees of relationship are distinguished in much the same way as in Europe, except that brothers and sisters, instead of being considered as mutually related in the same manner, are divided into two categories, elder and younger, in accordance with the Chinese usage. But the ancient Japanese had a complicated system of nomenclature, which appears to have perplexed native commentators themselves, the foundation of which was a subordination of the younger to the elder born, modified by a subordination of the females to the males. A distinction also appears to have been drawn between the chief and secondary wives, and the wife is constantly spoken of as younger sister." It appears that consanguinity, however close, was no bar to marriage, as we hear of unions with half-sisters, step-mothers, and aunts. When the Chinese ethical code was imported, these gradually disappeared, but not, it is said, without political troubles. Exogamy did not exist, and there appear to have been no artificial impediments in the way of marriage. On death the hut of the deceased was abandoned; and there was a tradition of an earlier custom of burying alive so ne of the retainers in the neighbourhood of a royal tomb. This is the only trace of human sacrifice to be found in the records of the Japanese race, and there is also a total absence of any trace of slavery. They were unacquainted with any of the arts by which their descendants are best known; they had neither tea, fans, lacquer, or porcelain. They knew nothing of vehicles, money, or the computation of time. They were ignorant of writing, and of course had no books.

This brings us to another interesting part of the subject, viz. the antiquity claimed by native writers for their monarchy, and the reliability of their early chronology.

There is no break in their history between the fabulous and the real, and the continuity of their mythology and history is a tenet of the native commentators. They hold the age of the gods to have ceased and that of their human kings to have commenced at an era corresponding with 660 B.C., and the then ruler of Japan is claimed as the first of an unbroken line of sovereigns extending down to the Mikado of to-day. All the earlier European writers on Japan have accepted 660 B.C. as the commencement of historical Japan; the Mikado himself has claimed this long descent; frequently in official publications we find this accepted as the Japanese year 1.1 In native chronologies we find the names of a series of Emperors who have reigned from that time. This antiquity, though as yesterday compared to that of the Chinese, is highly respectable if correct, but unfortunately there is nothing whatever to support it. For, in the words of Mr. Chamberlain, this era, this accession of the first emperor, "is confidently placed thirteen or fourteen centuries before the first history which records it was written, nine centuries before (at the earliest computation) the art of writing was introduced into the country, and on the sole authority of books teeming with miraculous legends." Another scholar, who made the chronology of Japan a special study, and who has published a valuable monograph on that subject, the late Mr. Bramsen, does not scruple to say that "the whole system of fictitious dates applied in the first histories of Japan is one of the greatest literary frauds ever perpetrated, from which we may infer how little trust can be placed in the early Japanese historical works." In short it appears that, for all historical purposes, Japan is a newer country than England by several centuries. Another proposition for which native scholars have always strenuously contended will also have to be abandoned. It is usual to say that early Japanese civilisation was a purely indigenous product, and that even a certain form of writing called "letters of the Divine Age" existed long before there was any contact with China. European scholars have always been doubtful about this divine alphabet, and it is now beyond doubt that they are the invention, or adaptation from Corea, of a later age; but it is also certain from these "Records" that, "at the very earliest period to which the twilight of legend stretches back. Chinese influence had already begun to make itself felt in these islands, communicating to the inhabitants both implements and ideas." It would occupy too much space here to exhibit the evidences of this. One must suffice. "Curved jewels," magatama as they are called, figure largely in the Japanese mythology as ornaments of the early Japanese. These are generally made of jade, or a jade-like stone, and Prof. Milne shows that no such mineral has ever been discovered in Japan. Further proofs of Chinese influence are found in the nature of the myths, the existence of the intoxicant sake, the language, &c. The religion of the early Japanese appears to have been merely a bundle of miscellaneous superstitions," not an organised system. We find no body of dogmas, or code of morals, authoritatively enforced by a sacred book. The gods of their mythology were of course the object of worship; conciliatory offerings of a miscellaneous kind were made to them. Purification by water is the sacred rite of which we hear in ost. Trial by hot water also existed; compacts, too, resembling our oaths, were entered into with a god. Priests are mentioned, but the impression conveyed is that in early times they did not exist as a separate class. In his "History

In an interview with the Japanese Minister in London, published in the Pall Mall Gazette of February 26, His Excellency is reported to have attributed the ardent attachment of the Japanese to his country to two facts one that Japan has been unconquered for 2500 years, the other that for the sameperiod it has been governed by the sa ne dynasty. "No other State can point to such a record," said Mr. Mori, and it is but natural that we should feel a pride in our country," &c., &c. The Minister, as will be seen, would have to deduct nearly fifteen hundred years from his major premiss before he touched the solid ground of fact.

of Civilisation," Buckle attributes some of the superstition of the inhabitants of Spain and Italy to the occurrence of earthquakes and other volcanic phenomena; but in Japan there is "no testimony to any effect produced on the imagination by the earthquakes from which the Japanese islanders suffer such constant alarms." Nor is there any tradition of a deluge, which is the more remarkable as Noah's deluge has recently been claimed as a myth of Altaïc origin. "Yet here we have the oldest of undoubtedly Altaïc nations without any legend of the kind." There is no such thing as star-worship, nor are there any fancies such as the imagination of other races has connected with them.

Much, very much, more might be written on this deeply interesting volume. Although more than a thousand years of Japanese history must be cut away, "the Japanese mythology is the oldest existing product of the Altaïc mind." When to this are added the facts that here we have the ipsissima verba (for the translation is literal) of the Japanese compiler of eleven centuries ago, that it is the first complete translation of an archaic Japanese work, that it is the first work in which an attempt is boldly made to separate Japanese history from myths, and to fix the commencement of the historical era, and that it contains abundant illustrations of the manner and ideas of this primitive race as recorded by themselves, we have said enough to attract a wide circle of students. Besides the very valuable preliminary discussions, the text is abundantly annotated by the translator, who has for this purpose made use of the works of the numerous native commentators and editors of the work.

NOTES

THE gold and silver Rumford Medals have been presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to Prof. Rowland of Baltimore for his researches on heat and light.

WE are sure that every field-naturalist and working geologist will be grateful to Prof. Bryce for introducing into Parliament his Bill "to secure access to mountains and moorlands in Scotland." Since the substitution of deer for sheep and cattle on the Scottish moors and mountains, great restrictions have been placed on access to these favourite haunts of the lover of nature, so that in some districts the tourist and collector are faced by the trespassers' board in all directions. We have no wish whatever to infringe the rights of private property, but surely the great landed proprietors of Scotland can afford to be generous to those whose noblest game is a rare butterfly, an Alpine flower, or a chip from the rocky escarpment of a hill. Already some of the most valuable hunting grounds of science have been shut up, and in the present condition of things we may soon hear of such natural phenomena as the Parallel Roads of Glenroy being rendered inaccessible, and the traveller confined to the dusty highways. The Bill embodies every possible precaution against the abuse of the access craved, and we strongly advise the members of the many natural history societies and field club, all over the country to use every legitimate means to obtain for it Parliamentary sanction. We need scarcely point out how greatly interested in the provisions of the Bill are all artists and the great army of tourists.

SIR J. H. LEFROY, we are glad to learn, has accepted the presidency of the Geographical Section at the Montreal meeting of the British Association.

SIGNOR QUINTINO SELLA, whose death on March 15 is announced, was president of the R. Accademia dei Lincei.

We regret to learn of the death of Dr. Behm, the eminent geographer of Gotha, the editor of the Geographische Mittheilungen, the Geographisches Jahrbuch, and, along with Prof. Wagner, of the well-known " Bevölkerung der Erde."

WE are glad to notice the hearty manner in which the Times recognises the necessity for scientific education among all classes. In an excellent leading article on the Technical Institute, it maintains that the old rule-of-thumb methods will no longer suffice, and that science and organised knowledge are bound to invade industry as they have already invaded almost every branch of human endeavour.

THERE can be no doubt of the great scientific value of a bathymetrical survey of the Scottish lochs, about which Lord Balfour of Burleigh asked a question in the House of Lords on Tuesday, and concerning which there has been a correspondence between the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Government. No one wishes to retard the completion of the English Survey for the purpose of this special undertaking; but this is not necessary, as, without going to any great expense, Government might easily employ other existing agencies in carrying out the

work.

SIR RICHARD OWEN was on Saturday presented with a framed and illuminated address by the Geologists' Association, on the occasion of his retirement from the post of DirectorGeneral of the Natural History Department of the British Museum. A large audience assembled in the lecture-hall at South Kensington to witness the ceremony. The address was presented by Dr. Henry Hicks, F.G.S., who said that in his

retirement Sir Richard Owen would take with him the good wishes and warm interest of all who appreciated his scientific work, and his great personal kindness in communicating its results to others. Sir Richard Owen, in reply, said that, of all the recognitions which he had recently received of his years of service in the State museums, none would be more valued by him than that testimonial from his fellow workers in those walks

of natural science in which he had been for over half a century more or less occupied. He would value the address amongst the rarest of his treasures, and he trusted that its contemplation would stimulate his sons and grandsons, particularly the latter, to walk in their grandfather's footsteps. He returned his grateful thanks, and wished the members and all present every happiness.

It is intended at the forthcoming celebration of the tercentenary of Edinburgh University to confer the degree of LL.D. on sixty-nine gentlemen, among whom are Prof. Cayley, Mr. Archibald Geikie, Prof. Helmholtz, Sir John Lubbock, Sir Henry Maine, and Prof. Haeckel.

AT its last private sitting the Academy of Sciences of Paris debated the question of the sale of the Observatory grounds in order to find the funds required for the erection of a succursale in the vicinity of Paris. The matter was postponed for fiftee days, after a long and interesting discussion. The majority of the Academy is of opinion that it would be desirable to grant the credits required for the erection of a new establishment; but many members are against the sale of any parcel of ground. They contend that the present position of the Observatory must not be deteriorated under any pretence whatever. MM. Wolf and Janssen delivered addresses defending the statu quo.

THE Convention for the protection of cables has been signed in Paris by the plenipotentiaries of the following nations:Germany, Argentine Republic, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, San Domingo, Spain, United States of America, United States of Colombia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Salvador, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, and Uruguay. The protocol has been left open for acceptation by the other countries. This is the final step towards the accomplishment of the work originated at the Congress of Electricians in Paris.