June 11, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



585 



tation. Possibly also when reductions of the 

 photographic measures have been made with 

 every possible refinement, some outstanding 

 effect may be disclosed to be referred to 

 optical refraction in the sun's atmosphere, 

 especially for stars in the polar regions like 

 IsTos. 3, 4, 6 and 10, where the length of the 

 light path through the solar atmosphere 

 would be considerably less than for stars 2, 5 

 and 11, in the equatorial regions {cf. § 5c). 



A future communication will give further 

 consideration to this matter. 



8. In the foregoing paragraph nothing has 

 been said as to the possibility of irregularities 

 in the differential refraction effects in the 

 earth's atmosphere such as have been dis- 

 closed by various investigators and which 

 may not have affected every ray alike over a 

 star field embracing about two degrees of arc. 

 In brief, the actual differential terrestrial 

 refraction effects, because of atmospheric 

 conditions during totality of the eclipse or 

 during the times when the check-plates were 

 exjjosed, or because of the manner of mount- 

 ing of the instrumental appliances, may have 

 been appreciably different from those derived 

 from mathematical formulse and standard re- 

 fraction tables. It would seem that in future 

 tests of the Einstein effect, atmospheric-re- 

 fraction observations and allied meteorolog- 

 ical observations should be included as a nec- 

 essary part of the program of work. 



L. A. Bauer 

 Department op Terrestrial Magnetism, 

 Washington, D. C, 

 May 11, 1920 



FOURTH YEAR OF THE NEOTROPICAL 

 RESEARCH STATION 



The work of the l^ew York Zoological 

 Society Station in British Guiana began in 

 1916. Owing to the difSculty of transporta- 

 tion at the time of the war, there was a lapse 

 during 1917, but work was resumed in 1918 

 and 1919. The station is now entering its 

 fourth year. It has been directed with great 

 ability by Mr. William Beebe, Honorary 

 Curator of Birds at the Zoological Park, and 



has been supported by personal contributions 

 of the trustees of the Zoological Society. 



The distinctive research feature of this 

 station is intensive biologic observation in 

 one region, in fact, in one locality, as dis- 

 tinguished from the observations of Darwin, 

 Batas, Waterton, Chapman, and many other 

 explorers in the great biologic field of South 

 America. The area chosen by Director Beebe 

 is the eastern edge of the tropical rain-forest 

 of South America, which extends unbroken 

 across the greater part of the continent. The 

 fauna and flora are uniform with those of the 

 entire Amazonian region. The locality in 

 Bartica District, British Guiana, at Kartabo, 

 the point of junction of the Mazaruni and 

 Cuyuni rivers, has proved ideal in every way 

 as a permanent site for this station. Within 

 ten minutes walk are sandy and rocky beaches, 

 mangroves, grassland, swamp, and high jungle, 

 each with a growth of life peculiar to itself. 

 Free exposure to the trade winds, the absence 

 of flies and mosquitos, invariably cool nights, 

 excellent buildings assigned by the govern- 

 ment — all these features contribute to the 

 wide range of life and the unbroken health 

 of the scientific staff. 



This region affords a vast opportunity for 

 studying the faunal and floral complex, in- 

 dependent and interrelated adaptations in all 

 grades of life in vertical as well as horizontal 

 life zones. The vertical division of the fauna 

 and flora in distinctive zones, extending from 

 the tree summits to the subsoil, is a biologic 

 contribution of importance. The observations 

 of the station extend from color changes and 

 adaptations to anatomical and functional 

 characters of the archaic as well as of the 

 highly modernized forms of life. 



All together seventy-five papers have been 

 published on the scientific observations of this 

 station, parts of which have already been re- 

 viewed in the volume " Tropical Wild Life " 

 issued by the society in 1917. Three papers 

 appeared in the first volume of Zoologica 

 (1907-1915), and it has been decided to re- 

 serve the third volume of Zoologica exclusively 

 to scientific papers on the station. 



During the year 1919 Director Beebe'a 



