8. Abstammungslehre. 327 



selachians and sping rayed basses, snappers, grunts, wrasses, scorpion fishes, 

 etc., and schooling herrings and anchovies of various sorts in a way con- 

 stituted homologous classes. Hussakof (New York). 



900) Andrews, R. C, A New and Peculiar Porpoise from Japan. 



(New York Academy of Science, Section of Biology. 10. April 1911.) 

 The Speaker exhibited photographs and parts of the skeleton of a new 

 porpoise secured in the summer of 1910, in Rikuzen Province, Japan. This 

 specimen is allied to Phocoena dalli True, and with that species forms a 

 distinct group of Phocoena-like porpoises which deserves generic rank. This 

 group resembles Phocoena externally, but had white sides and ventral areas 

 sharp ly defined from the black of the upper parts, a falcate dorsal fin, and 

 vertebrse numbering 95 or more. The type of the new genus to which Pho- 

 coena dalli was referred is the specimen which was secured in Japan, and 

 has been formally described in a Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, now in press. 



The Japanese porpoise presents characters, both externally and in the 

 skeleton, which distinguish it from all other members of the entire family. 

 The caudal peduncle shows a strongly marked „hump", and ventrally a pro- 

 minent concavity which gives the posterior portion of the body a most extra- 

 ordinary appearance. The neural spines of the entire vertebral series are 

 extremely long and slender, reaching a height much greater than in any other 

 known member of the Delphinidae. The transverse processes are also very 

 long and rod-like. The number of vertebrse is 95, approaching closely 

 P. dalli, which has 97. The scapula is unlike that of any other member of 

 the family in that its height almost equals its greatest breadth, and it is in 

 general shape somewhat like that of a Baleen Whale. 



The specimen is, on the whole, one of the most remarkable members of 

 the Delphinidse that have thus far been discovered. 



Hussakof (New York). 



901) Andrews, R. C, Field Notes on Japanese Whales. 



(New York Academy of Science, Section of Biology. 16. Jan. 1911.) 

 The Speaker gave an account of a recent seven-months' stay at the 

 Japanese whaling stations, telling of the methods employed in capturing and 

 preparing the whales for commercial use; also of new notes on the habits of 

 Finback, Blue, and Sei whales. 



The latter species, called by the Japanese „sardine whale" is referable 

 to Balaenoptera antarctica Schlegel, and although it has been taken for 

 a number of years at the Japanese stations almost no material relating to it 

 is extant. The species is so closely allied to Balaenoptera borealis 

 Lesson of the Atlantic that further investigation will probably prove it 

 synonymous. 



Photographs of the rare North Pacific Blackfish (Globicephalus 

 scammoni) and, of several species of Dolphin were also shown. It was 

 announced that a new porpoise of a most peculiar body shape had been 

 secured, and would be described in a future number of the American Museum 

 Bulletin. Hussakof (New York). 



902) Trepel, A., Biologisches von Sciurus vulgaris L. 



(Aus der Heimat 24,1. p. 9—15. 1911.) 

 Verf. beobachtete 1908 in Grüna (Sachsen) den Fraß von Eichhörnchen 

 an Fichtentrieben. Die herunterfallenden Reste der letzteren wiesen fast aus- 



