432 
having failed to yield a rigid theoretical 
proof of evolution by selection, many similar 
experiments had been made with the same 
object on certain organisms which have only 
one parent; but in most cases these “uni- 
parental”’ strains are just as resistant to the 
process of selection with reference to given 
characters as are biparental races. Professor 
Jennings had succeeded however, in getting 
positive results from selective processes in 
the case of certain kinds of Difflugia, uni- 
parental amoeba-like animals. Starting with 
a single individual, he had by selecting for 
large size, been able in the course of many 
generations to increase materially the size 
of the individuals; and similarly by segre- 
gating in each generation the individuals 
having the largest number of spines, he had 
succeeded in materially increasmg the num- 
ber of spines. Even after selection ceased 
the progeny of the modified races retained 
the effects of the selective process. 
A LARGE and representative collection of 
invertebrate fossils from Porto Rico was 
secured by Messrs. Chester A. Reeds and 
Prentice B. Hill in the work carried on by 
them the past summer in connection with the 
Porto Rico survey. In addition Dr. Reeds 
brought back a fairly well-preserved jaw and 
several parts of ribs representative of fossil 
mammals of the Tertiary formations. Ter- 
tiary mammals are almost unknown in the 
West Indies. The only described specimen 
is the skull of a very interesting primitive 
Sirenian, related to the manatee and dugong 
found in Jamaica and named Prorastomus 
by Professor Owen many years ago. Dr. 
Reed’s specimens are probably Sirenian — 
the jaw certainly is —but differ from Pro- 
rastomus. It may help to clear up some of 
the puzzling problems in the evolution of the 
original group, an offshoot, as now appears, 
of the same primitive stock that gave rise to 
the elephants and mastodons. It is of inter- 
est also to note that certain bones from the 
Porto Rico Tertiary in the collection of 
Signor Narcisso Rabell Cabrero, San Sebas- 
tian, appear also to be Sirenian. No land 
mammals have been found in any Tertiary 
formation in the West Indies; this however 
is to be expected since these formations are 
all marine or littoral, and the discovery of 
land animals in them would not be expected 
unless as a rare accident. 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Tue large collection of prehistoric pot- 
tery collected by Mr. Algot Lange on the 
island of Marajo has been acquired by the 
American Museum. Marajo Island in the 
mouth of the Amazon River is 165 miles long 
by 120 wide, or considerably larger than the 
island of Jamaica, and belongs to Brazil. 
A collection of some two thousand pieces 
comes from Pacoval Island in Lake Arary, 
the source of the Arary River. Mr. Lange 
described the little island of Pacoval as a 
veritable archzological mine. Fragments of 
pottery coyer the ground and everywhere 
the earth is mixed with pottery ranging in 
size from minute pieces to vessels weighing 
as much as twenty-five pounds. Nothing 
is known of the makers of this ware. Who 
they were or where they came from is at 
present a mystery, but it is hoped that a 
study of the unique and beautiful decora- 
tions on the pottery will afford some infor- 
mation on the point. 
Dr. Ciark WissLeR and Dr. Robert H. 
Lowie, of the American Museum of Natural 
History, have been appointed delegates from 
the New York Academy of Sciences to the 
Nineteenth International Congress of Ameri- 
canists which meets in Washington at the 
end of December. 
Dr. Henry E. Crampton, curator of 
invertebrate zodlogy at the American Mu- 
seum, delivered the oration before the Phi 
Beta Kappa Association of Pennsylvania 
on December 4. Dr. Crampton took for 
his subject ‘Science, Culture and Human 
Duty.” 
Tue annual meeting and dinner of the New 
York Academy of Sciences will be held 
December 20. The retiring president, Dr. 
George F. Kunz, will deliver the address 
of the occasion. 
Mr. M. P. SKINNER, a member of the 
American Museum, has presented to the 
institution some valuable motion-picture 
films and photographs of animals of the 
Yellowstone Park, obtained during his twenty 
years experience in that region. 
