252 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1444 



records are as follows: In January, 1902, an 

 18-foot specimen came asliore at Ormond, Fla. 

 It was described by Mr. B. A. Bean in Science, 

 February 28, 1902. Its skin is now in the 

 U. S. National Museum. A second specimen 

 was taken at Knight's Key, Fla., in May, 1912. 

 It was put on record by me in Science of 

 August 22, 1913, and the fish and its capture 

 were fully described by me in "Zoologica," 

 Scientific Contributions N. Y. Zool. Soc, 

 March, 1915. Its mounted skin is in the pos- 

 session of Captain Charles Thompson of 

 Miami, Fla. The third, and, except the 

 Abrolhos Light specimen, the only other def- 

 inite record, is of a fish taken near Cape 

 Sable, Fla., in June, 1919. This I have also 

 put on record in Science for August 27, 1920. 

 The indefinite record in the Atlantic, to which 

 reference has been made, is found in George 

 Bennett's "Wanderings in New South Wales, 

 Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore and China," 

 London, 1834. In Vol. II, p. 267, is a notice 

 of a giant shark seen near the Azores in 1831. 

 It was of great size, but too far off for spots 

 and stripes to be seen, and while it was prob- 

 ably a Bhineodon it cannot be so stated def- 

 initely. Hence the specimen, referred to in 

 the body of this article, constitutes our fourth 

 definite record for the Atlantic Ocean. 



E. W. Gudger 

 American Museum of Natural Histoky 



DISCHARGE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY 



A SPLENDID example of the discharge of static 

 electricity between two persons was witnessed 

 at one of the games in the gymnasiimi of Iowa 

 Wesleyan CoUege at Mount Pleasant during 

 the recent southeasitern Iowa high school basket- 

 hall tournament, and is reported by Ben H. 

 Wilson, a member of the Iowa Academy of 

 Science. 



While the game was in progress between the 

 Wayland and Ft. Madison teams, Saturday 

 evening, March 11, 1922, two players in pur- 

 suit of the ball came together in the southeast 

 corner of the court, after a fast run of almost 

 half way down the length of the floor. A deep 

 yellow spark was discharged between their 

 bodies, the flash of which was plainly visible 

 to spectators in the top row of the balcony in 



the northwest corner of the gymnasium, over 

 one hundred feet distant. This could be no 

 illusion as it was witnessed by over a dozen 

 persons who made exclamation of the fact 

 almost simultaneously. The spark appeared to 

 be emitted at about knee height. Both players 

 had on rubber-soled athletic shoes which would 

 be non-conductors, and wore woolen shirts and 

 cotton flappers. That this was visible in a 

 well lighted room makes the phenomenon aU the 

 more remarkable. 



Shocking the cat by rubbing the fur on its 

 back; lighting the gas from a spark emitted 

 from one's knuckle; witnessing sparks while 

 combing one's hair in the dark; and children's 

 shocking each other while playing on woolen 

 carpets, are all quite common experiences, but 

 this is the first time that the writer has heard 

 of a similar occurrence being reported during 

 an athletic contest. 



H. E. Jaques 



Iowa Wesleyan College 



PARAFFINE PAPER SCREEN FOR SHOWING 

 THE POSITION OF RETINAL IMAGE 



Under the title, "The Inversion of the 

 Retinal Image," Hartridge^ refers to a state- 

 ■ ment by Senet^ that the retinal image is not 

 inverted. The former author then states that 

 the evidence for that inversion is absolutely 

 reliable and proceeds, in five paragraphs, to 

 summarise the evidence on which the inversion 

 of the retinal image is based. I quote his first 

 two paragraphs : 



" (1) If the eye ball of an albino animal be re- 

 moved intact, and be mounted in a tube, so that 

 while the rays from esternal objects enter the 

 pupil, the posterior surface of the eye ball can 

 be examined by an observer, then owing to the 

 absence of pigment in the choroid the image 

 formed on the retina is clearly visible. This 

 image is seen to be duverted, top being at bottom 

 and right being at left. 



(2) In the ease of an ordinary animal the 

 choroid and sclera can with care be removed from 

 the eye ball, leaving the retina in situ; observa- 



1 Hartridge, H. : Proc. of the Physdol. Soc, 

 May 15, 1920, published in the J. of Physiol., 

 Vol. LIV, August 1920, p. 6. 



- Senet : Mevista de la Univcrs-idad de Buenos 

 Aires, 41, p. 398, 1919. 



