VERTEBRATES.

Discovery of the blood-circulation. — From a careful study of the works of Colombo, and a comparison of dates, Tollin concludes that Colombo was not an original discoverer of the pulmonary circulation, but merely appropriated the work of Servetus. -(Arch. path. anat. phys., xci. 1883, 39.) H. N. M. [459

H. N. M.

Internal polarization of nerves. As the result of experiments carried on in Lovén's laboratory, Tigerstedt concludes, that, when the polarizing current is opened, the polarization instantaneously reaches its highest value, and then continuously decreases. The decrease is at first rapid, then falls more and more slowly; so that polarization still remains long after the opening of the polarizing current, and only asymptotically approaches the zero point. (Mitth. physiol. lab. Carol. inst. Stockh., i., ii., 1882.) [460 Action of the intercostal muscles in breathing.- Lukjanow has made fresh observations on this long-disputed subject. In his experiments, rabbits and dogs were used; the breathing of the former being mainly diaphragmatic, that of the latter chiefly costal. On examination of the intercostal spaces, exposed by removing the skin and the pectoral muscles, he found that the changes in their width during inspiration depended on the thoracic region observed. The upper two or three intercostal spaces were narrowed in inspiration; the lower three or four, widened; the intermediate remained unchanged. The phenomena were the same in forced and in quiet breathing, and essentially alike in rabbit and dog, though more conspicuous in the latter animal. Moreover, during artificial respiration, the same changes in the widths of the various intercostal spaces were observed as in normal breathing. The author concludes, that it is most probable that the view of Henke and Brüche is correct, in accordance with which the intercostal muscles have no proper duties as muscles, but simply form an elastic membrane, enclosing the thorax. Very considerable difficulties oppose the acceptance of this view, and these Lukjanow to some extent recognizes. He concludes by stating that the full explanation of the phenomena observed by him cannot be given until all the respiratory movements of the ribs have been separately investigated. (P/lüg. arch., xxx. 1883, 82.) H. N. M. [461

Tarsus of birds and dinosaurs. This paper by Georg Baur forms an important contribution to our knowledge of the resemblances of the tarsus of birds to that of dinosaurs, especially Compsognathus. The tarsus of birds as shown by embryos is composed of a tibiale, fibulare, and a piece representing tarsals 1-5; the latter anchylose with met. 2-4, and the two first with the tibia. Contrary to the observations of Prof. E. S. Morse, the ascending process is held to be a rather late product, but an integral part, of the tibiale. By an extended study of the tarsus among the dinosaurs, he finds the following points of resemblance to birds: 1°. That the tibia and fibula become slim in embryo birds in the same way as in the evolution of dinosaurs. 2°. The similar blending of fibulare and tibiale, and the position of the fibulare under the tibia. 3°. The blending of the first row with the tibia in both cases. 4°. The morphological relations of the ascending process: this is small or absent in early dinosaurs, and is slowly evolved. 5o. The resemblance of the development of the metatarsals in birds to the evolution of the same parts in dinosaurs. 6°. The similar decrease in the number of the toes. (Morph. jahrb., 1882, 417.) J. A. J. [462

Permian fishes and reptiles from Texas. Professor E. D. Cope exhibited some specimens of fishes and reptiles from the Permian formation of Texas. One of these was a new species of Crossopterygian fish, which he named Ectosteorhachis ciceronius. It exhibited some important characters of the posterior cranial region. The base of the skull consists of ossified parachordals; and these embrace the chorda dorsalis posteriorly, and are continued for a short distance posteriorly as a tube. Anteriorly the chordal groove is open. He considered the cranial structure to be an excellent illustration of a permanent embryonic type.

The most interesting reptile was a new genus which occupies a place between the Pelycosauria with molar teeth and those with raptorial teeth, but with more resemblance to the former, or Diadectidae. The teeth are placed transversely in the jaws, but the crowns terminate in an incurved apex, without ledge. He named the genus Chilonyx, and referred it provisionally to the Bolosauridae. The typical species is the Bolosaurus rapidens,—an animal with a skull as large as that of a terrapin, and with robust limbs. The surface of the skull is divided by grooves into numerous swollen areas; and some of these on the lateral occipital region are developed to tuberosities, like the rudimental horns of Phrynosoma Douglassi. (Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting March 6.)

Reptiles.

[463

Dinodipsas, a new venomous snake. - Professor E. D. Cope drew attention to a recent important discovery, made by Prof. Peters of Berlin, of a new genus of venomous snakes, Dinodipsas. The speaker stated that he regarded the genus as pertaining to the Causidae, -a family he had proposed as a subfamily in his first paper read before the Academy in 1859. As Causus, the only genus heretofore known, is African, the statement of Peters, that Dinodipsas is South American, adds an important fact to geographical zoology. Prof. Cope then corrected a statement made by Peters in his herpetology of the Reise nach Mozambique, that he (Prof. Cope) had referred Causus to the vipers. In 1859 he had divided the venomous snakes with vertical and hinged maxillary bones into the subdivisions of the rattlesnakes, the vipers, the Atractaspines, and the Causines. He then designated the entire group Viperidae, after Bonaparte, and had not until later used Dumeril and Bibron's terminology. This did not, however, justify Peters in stating that he has referred the genus Causus to the vipers, and that he (Peters) was the author of a separate family, the Vipernattern,' to receive that genus and Dinodipsas. - (Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting March 5.) [464

Mammals.

On Halichoerus gryphus. - Nehring, basing his remarks upon the result of an examination of a fullgrown male gray seal, captured at Goehren, island Rügen, gives some valuable information in regard to the species. The intestines of the Goehren specimen, which measured 38 metres, i.e., 17 times the length of the animal, were filled with partially digested fishvertebrae, and immense numbers of the nematoid worm, Ascaris osculata. A comparison of skulls in the museums of the universities of Greifswald and Berlin shows that great variation exists; making it probable that the three species of Halichoerus recognized by many zoologists represent but the variations of a single one. The presence of six molars, either on one or both sides of the upper jaw, in 8 out of 34 skulls examined, is noted, and is regarded as representing a tendency to reversion rather than an abnor

mality or monstrosity. The general principle is laid down, that the number and form of teeth in mammals are no less subject to modifications than the amount or color of pelage, the length of the ear or tail, or the proportions of the skeleton. The article closes with remarks on the proportions of the skeleton, and the geographical distribution and abundance of the species. The author inclines to doubt the opinion broached to him by Gerstäcker; namely, that the gray seal is the most abundant species in the Baltic. (Sitz.-ber. gesell. naturf. fr. Berl., 1882, 117.) [465

-

F. W. T.

Mammals as weather-prophets. Dr. C. C. Abbott showed that the autumnal habits of certain animals that are popularly supposed to be indicative of the character of the coming winter could not be depended upon; although, by the majority of people living in the country, they were considered as sure indications of what the winter would prove to be. Dr. Abbott had kept a careful record, extending over twenty years, regarding the building of winter houses by muskrats, the storing of nuts by squirrels, and other habits of these and other mammals, and had found that the habits referred to, or their omission, in certain autumns, bore no relation to the character of the coming winter. (Trenton nat. hist. soc.; meeting Feb. 13.) [466

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Ethnography of Kordofan. — Dr. Peney, physician-in-chief of eastern Soudan, sends to Dr. Hamy of Paris a description of the inhabitants of Kordofan. The country is held principally by Arab tribes; and even the negroes were converted to Islamism under that great revival which subjected all northern Africa to the faith of the Prophet. The class of fakirs, or revivalists, is very graphically described, and A custom of allowing their power over the natives. the females of the tribe to do just as they please one day in four, exists among the Hassanichs. -J. W. P. [467

The religions of savages.-M. A. Reville is the author of a work upon the religions of peoples noncivilized, published in Paris by Fischbacker. Mr. A. Lang, reviewing this work, criticises the author for relying too much upon older authorities and upon mere compendiums, but gives him credit for seeing the true import of many superstitions of lower races that have no reason for us.-(Academy, Jan. 13.) [468 Brains of great men. - Gen. Skobelef, the hero of Plevna, after death was subjected to a rigorous autopsy. The circumference of his head was 57 centimetres; of the skull, 54; antero-posterior diameter, 18 centimetres; transverse, 14. The brain weighed 1,457 grms. The brain of Gambetta is deposited in the laboratory of the school of higher studies, and will be described by M. Mathias Duval of the Society of mutual autopsy, to which M. Gambetta also bebelonged.-J. W. P. [469 Woman among the Kabyles. The indigenes of Algeria are among the most interesting portions of the human family. As specimens of humanity, as a composite ethnic residuum, as the repository of features in civilization that have long since been wanting among those with whom they originated, the Berbers have attracted a wide attention. The Kabyles are the modern Berber representatives of the ancient Numidians, familiar to classical scholars in the story of Jugurtha. M. Camille Sabatier has passed some time among these people, and gives us the benefit of his experiences. To those coming from an Arab population, the most striking fact in Kabyle life is the liberty of going and coming ac

corded to females of all ranks, and on all occasions. Although the poor are very miserable, they are not disheartened; and every care is solaced by a gaudy wrapping, or some tawdry jewelry. While the birth of a son is an occasion of rejoicing, the daughter is an evil omen. It is only when she arrives at a marriageable (marketable) age, that the parents awaken to a consciousness of her existence. All the forces of her education combine to render her vigorous, servile, and revengeful, and to banish love from her heart. The rite of marriage and of bride-sale are described in the graphic style of an eye-witness, and the future of the Kabyles briefly foretold. (Rev. d'anthrop., Jan., 1883.) J. W. P. [470 Mollusks and civilization. If all the tribes of men were arranged upon the squares of a modern city, so that by walking eastward and westward we could visit the peoples of the whole earth, they could each be so arranged, that, by going northward and southward, the student of special topics might study the phases of his pet pursuit among the various races. Dr. de Rochebrune has chosen this latter method of study, and has taken the word 'mollusk,' or shell, as his talisman. The use of this animal as food, and of its test in art and ornament, has existed among all peoples, ancient and modern. Others have already gone over the ground,- Stearns, Yates, Barber, Wyman, and Martens, for instance; but the author, having enjoyed especial advantages in the museum of the Trocadero, is able to present something new on the subject of ethnographic conchology. The first memoir is upon the mollusks in the graves of lower Peru. The species used for food as well as for ornament are minutely identified. They are twenty-seven in number, and some of them evidently had been brought a great distance. (Rev. d'ethnogr., No. 6, 1882.) J. W. P. [471

Mound-builders' pipes.-The curator presented for inspection a collection of thirteen of the 'curvedbase' mound-builders' pipes just received from that indefatigable explorer and collector, Rev. J. Gass. These pipes were collected the past year from the mounds in Muscatine, Rock Island, and Mercer counties, by Mr. Gass, his brother, and some neighbors; and he has recently acquired full possession of them for the benefit of the academy, with a full description of the mounds, their structure, etc.

One of these pipes is a finely carved stag's-head, representing the antlers bent around the bowl, and carved in relief; another is an eagle, perched, and holding some small animal in its claws; and two others are neatly carved birds. These four are of ash-colored pipestone. Another is a finely sculptured black bear, and is very appropriately cut in a smooth, fine-grained blackstone. The sixth is supposed to represent a fox with the face turned backward, carved in a beautiful bright red catlinite. The seventh, a non-descriptive animal, is also cut in red catlinite, very much spotted.

Two of plain form are composed of plain red catlinite. The other four are made of a light-brown stone, rather small, and of the simplest form.

There is also an 'axe' of the exact usual form of the plano-convex copper axes, so-called, which is also made of the catlinite, or red pipestone, and a small charm of the same material.

This constitutes a very important addition to this already unequalled collection of the relics of the mound-builders, and brings the collection of pipes of this typical form up to the number of fifty-six, including several unfinished specimens, and by far the largest collection of its kind in the world.(Davenp. acad. sc.; meeting Feb. 23.)

[472

NOTES AND NEWS.

-The Compendium of the tenth census, which is now being distributed by the interior department, is comprised in two octavo volumes, each of about 900 pages. This is about double the size of the compendium of the ninth census. This great increase is produced in the main by the introduction of more detailed tables, and of subjects which were not taken up by the ninth census, or, if taken up, their statistics were not summarized in the compendium.

The contents of the work before us may be summarized as follows: to the statistics of population, including, as allied topics, occupations, illiteracy, the defective, dependent, and delinquent classes, and mortality, are given about 800 pages. These include the statistics of the aggregate population, of race and nativity, by states, counties, and minor civil divisions; a classification of the native population by state of birth, and of the foreign element by country of birth; and the statistics of sex and age. The latter are very full, comprising, among others, a table giving the number in each state of each successive year of age. This matter is followed by the statistics of agriculture, which occupy about 275 pages, These comprise, in general terms, the area and size of farms, extent of cultivated land, and the vegetable and live-stock productions. They are given by states and counties.

The statistics of manufactures, which follow, occupy about the same number of pages as those of agriculture. These are particularly full and complete, containing, besides tables of general statistics by states and counties, the statistics of no less than 332 different industries. Tables of power used in manufactures, a subject new to the census, follow. The statistics of mineral production, petroleum, and of quarries, succeed; then those of railroads, steamcraft, canals, telegraphs, and telephones. Statistics of occupation are sandwiched in between the last and those of fisheries. Then follow foreign parentage, areas, families, and dwellings; Alaskan statistics; fire, life, and marine insurance; wealth, debt, and taxation; illiteracy and public schools; the defective, dependent, and delinquent classes; and, as a fitting finale, mortality.

As will be noticed, the arrangement of the work is not all that could be desired. While the great bulk of the statistics regarding the population are grouped in the earlier part of the work, a number of subjects closely related to it are scattered in toward the end. It is very probable that this was a necessity, growing out of the order, in time, in which the different subjects were prepared for publication.

As this work contains abstracts of all the statistical matter of the census, its completion presupposes that of the more extended tables, which form the statistical matter of the full reports; and their appearance

may be expected as rapidly as the capacity of the Government printing-office will permit.

The third meeting of German geographers will be held at Frankfort-on-the-Main on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of this month. As at the previous meetings at Berlin and Halle, the morning sessions will be given up to scientific addresses, and the afternoons to questions of school method. There will also be an exhibition of geographic teaching-material, to remain open for two or three weeks.

As the city of Buenos Aires was separated from the province of the same name in December, 1880, and made federal territory, it has been decided to establish a new city for the provincial capital, to be called La Plata. Its first foundations were laid Dec. 9, 1882, about twenty-five miles east of Buenos Aires, and three miles west of the harbor of Ensenada.

- For the past five years the Department of agriculture has been endeavoring to encourage the production of raw silk in the United States by the dissemination of eggs, and by publishing for free distribution a manual of instruction. A definite impulse to the industry was looked forward to, when the tariff commission recommended that a small duty be placed upon reeled silk and cocoons; but this recommendation was unheeded by the Senate committee having the bill in charge. A most interesting discussion was brought out, however, by the amendment offered by Senator Morgan of Alabama, Feb. 8, to strike out those articles from the free-list, and to place a duty of ten per cent ad valorem upon them. Senator Morgan defended his amendment in a very able manner, and was seconded by Senator George of Mississippi. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 39 yeas to 7 nays. Strangely enough, the two principal arguments were diametrically opposed to each other. Senator Hawley of Connecticut stated that the production of silk had been attempted in this country, at intervals, for two hundred years without success, and held that it could not succeed with all the protection the government could give it; while Senator Ingalls of Kansas pictured in glowing colors the success attained by M. de Boissière at Silkville, Kan., and argued, that, while such results are possible without an import-duty, the necessity for levying such a tax does not exist. As a commentary on this latter argument, we may state that Boissière's silk-experiment is now, and has been for some years,

at a stand-still, solely because stock-raising and general farming have proved more profitable as an investment.

The report of the entomologist of the department, recently issued, confirms all that has been hitherto said as to the adaptability of our country to this industry, and as to the value of the osage orange (Maclura aurantiaca) as silk-worm food. But while there can be no question on these points, or as to the desirability of permanently establishing so important an industry, he has felt it necessary to dissuade rather than encourage large enterprise in this direction, for the simple reason, that, under existing conditions, the investors must needs meet with disappointment. He remarks, "Those who have eggs for sale, or who are interested in the propagation and sale of mulberrycuttings, and those who are influenced by philanthropic or benevolent motives, can afford, albeit from opposite motives, to stimulate in every possible way the interest naturally felt in the subject; but the disappointment, under existing circumstances, is apt to be great in proportion as the interest increases, so that there is danger of a repetition of the many reactions from similar attempts in the past. This follows necessarily from the fact that the reeled silk is imported free of duty, while there is so very heavy a duty on the woven goods.

"There is a duty to-day, on wools valued at 32 cents, of 10 to 11 cents per pound, and 10 per cent ad valorem. Still, in past years, as in 1846, wool has been imported free of duty. Now, wool is essentially a raw product, having gone through no expensive process of manufacture; yet what would our wool-growers throughout the country say, if it were proposed to do away with the duty, and allow wool to come in, as reeled silk is now allowed to come in, free? They would, no doubt, declare that such action on the part of Congress would give the death-blow to wool-growing in the United States. Silk-culture is in just the condition that wool-growing would be in under such circumstances; and if there is any advantage to the country in the protection of one kind of silk-manufacture, then, logically, that other branch of silkmanufacture, namely, silk-reeling, which would add value to the cocoon, and give encouragement to its production, should also be protected."

He remarks that the raw silk' now imported, to the value of over twelve million dollars, is a manufactured article, requiring unusual skill and intricate machinery, and that its introduction free of duty is as much an encouragement to foreign manufacturers as the removal of the duty would be on the woven goods.

-The January number of The Virginias, the excellent mining journal edited by Major Hotchkiss, and devoted to the industrial development of the two Virginias, contains a rough map of the Cabin creek coal company's lands, lying south of the Kanawha

valley, with sections and borings, in illustration of two reports upon the coal and timber lands of the company by Prof. S. P. Sharples and Capt. I. A. Welch, which are printed in full. The same number contains a reprint of Hitchcock's paper before the mining-engineers in 1882, on the Crystalline rocks of Virginia compared with those of New England, and Notes on the geology of the Virginias from the notebooks of the Virginia geological survey of 1835-41, by the late Prof. W. B. Rogers, toward whom Major Hotchkiss stands as literary executor so far as his Virginia work is concerned. It also contains, from the same papers, a geological section of the Ohio river hills at Wheeling, now mostly buried under heaps of slag and cinder, and a careful analysis of the same by Prof. I. C. White. We trust the people of Virginia appreciate Major Hotchkiss's work.

-The officers of the Paris anthropological society for the present year are: president, Dr. Proust; vicepresidents, Dr. Hamy and Dr. Dureau; general secretary, Dr. Topinard; assistant, M. Girard de Recille; annual secretaries, Dr. Prat and M. Issaurat; committee on publication, M. de Quatrefages and Dr. Parrot; curator of the museum, Dr. Collineau; treasurer, M. Leguay; librarian, M. Vinson.

The school of anthropology was opened on Nov. 4, 1882, with the following courses: - zoological anthropology, M. Mathias Duval, on anthropology and embryology compared, Darwinism, cerebral convolutions; - general anthropology, Dr. Topinard, on the history of anthropology, observations and measurements to be made upon the living by travellers; – ethnology, M. Dally, description of races, geographical distribution, crossing, degeneration, affiliations, evolution; - prehistoric anthropology, M. de Mortillet, protohistory, religion from an ethnic point of view, development of arts, and the origin of agriculture and industry; medical geography, M. Bordier, influence of social environment upon the progress and spread of diseases;-demography, M. Bertillon, statistics of marriage, births, and deaths in the different countries of Europe.

last four years, and increasing rapidly, have been formed. A newly discovered shell-heap in Ipswich has been opened, and every specimen of value saved; giving the only single shell-heap contents, as yet systematically preserved, from this county. In the early spring some 75 hardy western catalpa-trees, from five to eight feet high, were distributed gratuitously to persons in the county who would give the tree a fair trial, and report results.

-The meteorological bureau of Ohio proposes to establish a system of weather-signals to be displayed on railway trains, making use, of course, of the predictions furnished by the U. S. signal service. Arrangements have already been made with one road leading out of Columbus; and a system of signalling will be put in operation as soon as the best form of signals can be determined upon.

-The chief publications on natural science issued in Bengal the past year were catechisms of sanitation and hygiene for use in the schools in Bengal, and text-books of algebra, arithmetic, and physical geography. Baboo Kási Charan Gupta published the first volume of a Bengalese translation of an English work upon surgery.

The lecture of Major J. W. Powell, upon Indian mythology, which was announced in the programme of the Washington Saturday scientific course for the 10th inst., was not delivered, owing to the illness of the lecturer. Mr. G. K. Gilbert, who acted as substitute, spoke upon the Ancient lakes of the Great Basin.

Geographers and meteorologists will regret to learn that the bill making appropriations for the Signal-service of the U. S. army, which passed the last Congress, requires the parties at Point Barrow and Lady Franklin Bay to be recalled, if possible, from the field. It appears that the bill would have been mandatory were it not for the doubt as to whether Lady Franklin Bay can be reached next summer; and, in any case, we may expect the Point Barrow party to be withdrawn. An attempt will be made, however, to utilize the relief expedition to the last locality, by observations with the pendulum, etc., during the stay of the vessel. It is to be hoped, at least, that the observations will not be interrupted before the end of September; since several of the international parties did not get well at work before that time in 1882, and the observations for one co-operative year will not be complete if any of the parties are interrupted in their work at an earlier date in 1883.

-The report of the Board of commissioners of the Second geological survey of Pennsylvania to the legislature, Jan. 1, 1883, contains a colored map showing the progress of the survey up to Dec. 31, 1882. There remains unsurveyed a large part of Huntingdon and Centre counties, a small part of Clinton, and parts of Schuylkill, Carbon, Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, and Clearfield counties. In the anthracite region a

number of underground maps have been prepared. Twenty such are finished, and with them a number of accompanying sections. The appropriation for the anthracite work is not sufficient; and they estimate the cost of completing it at $50,000, and the time necessary at three years.

The Chester and Delaware county reports (C4 and 5), the Warren county report (I 4), and the Lehigh and Northampton report (D3), will be issued shortly, as soon as the rest of the illustrations are printed.

It is to be hoped that the legislature will provide the necessary funds for the completion of the valuable work of this survey, and that a general index will be prepared, rendering the work of the survey more accessible than it is at present, owing to the large number of volumes, and the somewhat imperfect tables of contents or indexes attached to each volume. We also hope for some contributions from the survey to American paleontology, in addition to Lesquereux's memoirs on the fossil floras, and are sorry to see no mention of any such work.

- At a meeting of the Ohio state forestry association, March 10, it was decided to call a general state convention in the interests of forestry, to be held in Cincinnati, April 26 and 27. Communications, both scientific and practical, are solicited by the secretary, Adolph Leué, Camp Washington, Cincinnati, O.

- The census office has recently published a bulletin concerning the timber resources of West Virginia (No. 25 of the Forestry series). The forests consist chiefly of broad-leaved trees, the narrow-leaved trees (white pine and spruce) being confined chiefly to the higher mountains. The white pine covers about 310 square miles, which are estimated to contain 990,000,000 feet of merchantable lumber. The broad-leaved forests consist in the main of white and chestnut oaks, black walnut (which is wide-spread, but most abundant in the south-west), yellow poplar, and cherry (which is abundant in Greenbriar, Nicholas, and Webster counties, and the country adjoining them).

The lumber product of the state during the census year was valued at $2,431,857. Along the Ohio and its principal branches, especially in the north-western part of the state, all the valuable timber has been cut.

The bulletin is accompanied by a map, showing, in colors, the different classes of forests, and the area from which the valuable timber has been removed.

- Mr. James C. Pilling, of the Bureau of ethnology at Washington, has published in a separate pamphlet his Catalogue of linguistic manuscripts in the library of the Bureau of ethnology, which first appeared in Major Powell's first annual report. The vocabularies of Schoolcraft, Gibbs, Gallatin, Hale, and the Smithsonian institution, have been used for many years in gathering Indian linguistic material. Some of these have been published; others had been