July 2, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



13 



Eighi, Bologna; Sir Ernest Eutherford, Cam- 

 bridge; and Professor E. Van Aubel, Ghent. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Yale Univeesity has received from an un- 

 named gTaduate a gift of $3,000,000 to the 

 general endowment of the university, con- 

 tingent upon additional gifts of $2,000,000 by 

 next January, exclusive of those through the 

 alumni university fund. The gift is made to 

 meet increased faculty salaries. 



Cornell University has received a gift of 

 $500,000 from Mr. August Heckscher, of ISTew 

 York City, for the endowment of research. 

 The income of the fund created by Mr. Heck- 

 scher's gift will be used to maintain research 

 professorships and to provide facilities for 

 scientific work. 



Professor Franklin Moon, who has held 

 the chair of forest engineering since 1912, has 

 been elected dean of the New York State 

 College of Forestry at Syracuse. 



Dr. Edward Bartow, chief of the Illinois 

 State Water Survey Division, has been elected 

 head of the department of chemistry of the 

 Iowa State University. 



Dk. H. E. Wells, formerly professor of 

 chemistry at Washington and Jefierson Col- 

 lege, has been appointed professor of chem- 

 istry at Smith College. 



Professor Horace Gunthorp, of the depart- 

 ment of zoology and physiology at Washburn 

 College, has accepted an assistant professor- 

 ship of zoology in the University of Washing- 

 ton, at Seattle. 



Dr. H. M. Dawson has been selected to be 

 the occupant of a newly established chair of 

 physical chemistry at the University of Leeds. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



ORTHOGENESIS AMONG FISHES 



In tracing successions of fishes, extinct and 

 recent, we observe the outlines of a law or 

 generalization, still vaguely understood, which 

 seems to be in line with Elmer's conception of 



orthogenesis. This is defined as the doctrine 

 that the phylogenetic evolution of organisms 

 takes place systematically in a few definite 

 directions, as contrasted with irregular diver- 

 gence in many directions. 



The facts in brief are these: In certain 

 groups some particular structure will acquire 

 a high degree of development and specializa- 

 tion; this being pursued along what might 

 seem to be a definite determinative line; after 

 which, the structure, being over-developed, 

 undergoes again progressive degeneration, 

 sometimes being altogether lost. 



Two series of fishes may illustrate that 

 point: the rock fishes (Scorpmnidw), in their 

 most primitive forms are very much like the 

 different types of bass, the chief difference 

 lying in the presence of a peculiar backward 

 extension of the bone under the eye, forming 

 what is called the suborbital stay, and the fact 

 that the skull has spines on its upper surface. 

 We have the elaboration of spines on the head, 

 the elaboration of scales, forming ultimately 

 a series of bony plates, the extension over the 

 head of a coat-of-mail, the elevation of fins, 

 and other modifications. These gradually 

 fading away through the different categories 

 of seulpins (Cottidce), until we come to the 

 sea-snails (Liparidm). These still retain the 

 suborbital stay, but have lost all the hitherto 

 specialized qualities : there are no scales, the 

 body is covered with thin movable skin; there 

 are no spines anywhere on the head or fins, 

 and the fins themselves are very small in size, 

 largly enveloped in the soft flaccid skin. 



Quite as remarkable is the process of evo- 

 lution and transformation of the butterfly 

 fishes {Choetodontidce) . Beginning with forms 

 like Ephippus, not very different from ordi- 

 nary bass-like species, these fishes become 

 specialized in very high fins, the reduction of 

 the size of the gill opening and the develop- 

 ment of brush-like teeth of the mouth. Pass- 

 ing on further we see the tail provided with 

 bony structvu-es, sometimes with a brush of 

 spines like porcupine quills, sometimes with a 

 sharp cutting lance in a sheath on either side. 

 The scales grow smaller and rougher, the fins 

 being however reduced in height and in 



