SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



RECENT ACCESSIONS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The National Museum has recently acquired, through exchange 

 with the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, a complete skeleton of 

 the small extinct camel, Stcnomylns gracilis, one of about forty skele- 

 tons found in Sioux County, Nebraska. Stenornylus was very abundant 

 during the Miocene. It was about the size of a large sheep, with the 

 slender, graceful limbs of an antelope. 



A model restoration, of about one-twelfth natural size, of the Amer- 

 ican mastodon has been acquired by the Section of Vertebrate Paleon- 

 tology. The original of the model was made by Mr. Charles R. 

 Knight, the animal sculptor. 



240 specimens of Philippine Annelids, including types of several 

 new species and comprising the remainder of the collection reported 

 on by A. L. Treadwell and Ruth Hoagland, has been received from 

 the Bureau of Fisheries. Mr. John B. Henderson has given a collec- 

 tion of 200 specimens of mollusks comprising 2,3 species of Sphaeridae 

 and Naiades. Miss Emily A. Clark, of the Sudan Interior Mission, 

 has presented a collection comprising 18 species of mollusks from 

 southern Nigeria. 



The Division of Birds has received 35 birds sent by Dr. W. L. Ab- 

 bott from Santo Domingo; and 1,298 birds from the A. H. Jennings 

 estate. The Jennings collection contains a skin of the extinct passenger 

 pigeon. 



The Mesa Verde collections of Dr. J. W. Fewkes are being classi- 

 fied by Mr. Ralph Linton, of Harvard University. The Bureau 

 of Ethnology has also received part of Mr. Jeancon's collection of 

 pueblo antiquities from the Chama district of New Mexico. 



Dr. Walter Hough has arranged a new exhibit showing the develop- 

 ment of illuminating devices. 



An exhibit has been installed in the Division of Medicine to show 

 the types of balances used in weighing medicines and the progress 

 which has been made in these balances. The first of the series is a 

 single beam, double arm prescription balance made about 1840. 



notes. 

 A pre-organization meeting of those interested in an American 

 Meteorological Society was called by Dr. C. F. Brooks at the Cosmos 

 Club on December 20, following the meeting of the Philosophical 

 Society. The Meteorological Society was formally organized at St. 

 Louis during the meetings of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, with the following officers for 1920: President, 

 R. deC. Ward, of Harvard University; Vice-President, W. J. Humph- 

 reys, of the Weather Bureau; Treasurer, R. E. Horton; Secretary, 

 Charles F. Brooks, of the Weather Bureau. A coordinate meeting 

 for presentation of papers was held in New York City on January 3, 

 1920. 



81 



