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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



physiological, taxonomic, and geographical — 

 which are commonly attempted in museums, 

 but which it is rarely possible to complete, 

 specimens representing an equal amount of 

 time or money would have a higher educa- 

 tional value if divided among a considerable 

 number of special series, each illustrating 

 some morphological or teleological princi- 

 ple. . . . Instead of vainly attcmptmg to 

 obtain and exhibit all the species of all the 

 groups, most educational museums would 

 attain more satisfactory results by selecting 

 the more interesting or instructive forms 

 from all classes, and limiting their efforts to 

 complete groups for a few, upon which, as 

 well as upon a larger number, may be illus- 

 trated the principles of classification and 

 of individual and geographical variation. 

 Among special series other than systematic, 

 are analogous forms and structures which 

 are sometimes mistaken for one another, 

 but are more readily discriminated when 

 brought together. . . . Physiological series 

 would contain the hibernating animals, those 

 which are blind or nearly so, and such as 

 are provided with scent-glands or tusks, 

 and all poisonous vertebrates. A local col- 

 lection should embrace all the animals of 

 the vicinity, and will benefit the student, 

 both as an example for him to follow or im- 

 prove upon, aud as exemplifying the laws 

 of geographical distribution and the influ- 

 ence of environment. The local collection 

 need not contain anatomical preparations, 

 but should exhibit both sexes and all stages 

 of growth — its mode of life, friends, and 

 foes — so as to interest also the children, 

 f;xrmers, fishermen, hunters, and other resi- 

 dents of the neighborhood." 



In a paper on the hybridization and 

 cross-fertilization of plants, Professor E. L. 

 Sturtevant, of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, showed that in our com- 

 mon vegetables cross-fertilization tends to- 

 ward atavism, or reversion to an ancestral 

 form, rather than to a blending of the indi- 

 vidual properties of the present plants. 



In describing some of the habits of the 

 musk-rat, Mr. A. W. Butler mentioned well- 

 authenticated cases of the change of habits 

 as a means of adapting itself to the changed 

 conditions of life brought about by the 

 presence of civilized man. 



Mr. J. C. Arthur reported, as the result 



of his investigations of pear-blight, that sap 

 from an infected tree v/hen inoculated into 

 a healthy tree, invariably produced the dis- 

 ease ; that when culture's to the sixth gen- 

 eration of organisms were made with all 

 precaution to prevent error, and healthy 

 trees were inoculated with the pure culture 

 of this sixth generation, the tree was stricken 

 with blight, which started from the point 

 of inoculation and gradually extended over 

 the whole plant ; and that, wherever there 

 was a blight not produced by freezing, bac- 

 teria of this species were invariably present. 

 Professor Bessey read a paper on the inflo- 

 rescence of the dodder. 



The Section of Histology and Microscopy 

 was discontinued, at the reiiuest of its mem- 

 bers. 



The NatiYe Tribes of Alaska. — Mr. W. 



II. Ball's address to the Anthropological 

 Section of the American Association was 

 on " The Native Tribes of Alaska." Pass- 

 ing by the details in it which are chief- 

 ly of interest to specialists, we are in- 

 formed that the tribal limits of the west- 

 ern Innuit, geographically considered, are 

 very mutable, and constantly changing in 

 small details. This arises from the fact 

 that the geographical group which we have 

 called a tribe among the Innuit is not a po- 

 litical organization headed by a chief or 

 chiefs, but simply a geographical aggrega- 

 tion of people who have by possession ob- 

 tained certain de facto rights of hunting, 

 fishing, etc., over a certain area. The jeal- 

 ousy of adjacent groups keeps the imaginary 

 boundary-line pretty well defined, through 

 fear of reprisals should it be violated, but 

 under the influence of the whites, with their 

 trading-posts, the boundaries are becoming 

 violablc with impunity, and are falling into 

 oblivion. Hence the geographical names 

 distmguishing the groups are ceasing to 

 have any serious significance. The degree 

 of civilization which the Aleuts have at- 

 tained is very promising. The people are 

 not scattered over the archipelago except in 

 their hunting-parties. Notwithstanding the 

 nominal division into groups, they are prac- 

 tically as much one people as those of two 

 adjacent English counties. The Rev. Mr. 

 Dorscy gave an account of the peculiarities 

 of the language spoken at the Siletz Indian 



