RECORDS 39 



furnish a still more valuable contribution to such knowledge in 

 the centuries to come. R. S. Woodward. 



PUBLIC LECTURE. 



On February 26, a public lecture was presented under the 

 auspices of the Section of Biology, by Professor Bashford Dean, 

 of Columbia University, entitled " Journeyings of a Naturalist 

 through Japan and the Philippines." 



Professor Dean referred to the zoological relations of the 

 Japanese archipelago with the adjacent continent on the one 

 hand, and with the island series on the other ; /. c, first, the 

 Aleutian, second, through the Bonin Islands with the region of 

 New Guinea, and third, through the Liu Chiu Islands with 

 Formosa and the Philippines. The importance of the Line of 

 Blakiston separating the Hokkaido from the southern islands 

 was emphasized. 



Special attention was called to the favorable facilities for 

 zoological work which are offered in the region of Misaki, near 

 the mouth of the Bay of Yokyo, and to the work of the Marine 

 Laboratory of the Imperial University in this region. Dr. 

 Dean had an opportunity of examining the centers of animal 

 artificialization, an art in which the Japanese have been so emi- 

 nently successful. Especially praiseworthy is the method of 

 oyster-culture practiced in the Inland Sea near Hiroshima ; 

 hardly less interesting were the establishments in which varie- 

 ties of gold fish are propagated, and even more striking were 

 those for the cultivation of the breed of Tosa fowls, in favor- 

 able specimens of which the tail features attain the great length 

 of fifteen feet. Success in the maintenance of this breed ap- 

 pears to be due to the selection of those fowls in which moult- 

 ing occurs irregularly, and the effort is made to suppress en- 

 tirely the moult in that region of the fowl where long feathers 

 are to be produced. In referring to a journey in the Philip- 

 pines, Professor Dean described many interesting experiences, 

 particularly, those at Maujuyod, where living specimens of 

 Nautilus were obtained. Henry E. Crampton, 



Secretmy. 



