abstracts: zoology 269 



In habit the three species van^ from prefectly prostrate to perfectly- 

 erect, five types being recognized for purposes of description, namely, 

 prostrate; procumbent; low, half bushy; tall, half bushy; and treelike 

 or erect. The last two types are considered most valuable from an 

 agricultural standpoint. In general, Asparagus beans produce slender 

 vines, prostrate or procumbent without support, while the Catjung 

 and Cowpea possess all the types of habit. 



Natural hybrids are rare in the United States, but they have been 

 found at Madison, Indiana, and at North Lansing, Michigan. In the 

 agricultural literature there is much confusion due to the fact that there 

 are many more varieties than has been generally recognized, and also 

 to the fact that seed color alone had been accepted as a criterion of the 

 variety. Of the numerous named varieties it is possible now to identify 

 satisfactorily very few, excepting those of which pedigreed or other- 

 wise authentic seed is available. In the main the names have been 

 preserved only in a traditional way by seedsmen. The characteristics 

 most important in the cowpea, considered mainly as a forage crop, are 

 outlined and the most valuable varieties to use in breeding are indi- 

 cated. C. V. P. 



ZOOLOGY. — The northern elephant seal, Macrorhinus angustirostris 

 Gill. Chas. Haskins Townsend, Director of the New York 

 Aquarium. Zoologica No. 8, pp. 159-73, figs. 52-72. April 15, 

 1912. 



This is the second publication of the scientific results .of the expedition 

 to the Gulf of California, in charge of C. H. Townsend, by the U. S. 

 Fisheries Steamship Albatross in 1911, published by permission of the 

 U. S. Commisssion of Fisheries in Zoologica (Scientific Contributions of 

 the New York Zoological Society). 



The author gives an account of the rediscovery of a species long on 

 the verge of extinction. He refers to the extensive slaughter of the 

 elephant seal for its oil about sixty years ago and its subsequent occur- 

 rence at rare intervals in Lower California. 



The Albatross expedition found about 150 of the animals at Guadalupe 

 Island, off the coast of Lower California, and procured specimens and 

 photographs illustrating the great size of the adult male, its remarkable 

 proboscis and its manner of fighting. The food and breeding habits of 

 the animals are also considered. 



The following points are noted: The northern species is unquestion- 

 ably distinct from the southern elephant seal of the Antarctic islands 



