Mat 28, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



865 



proving destructive to poultry. On several occa- 

 sions it has been known to enter tlie houses in 

 search of roaches and other vermin, and has been 

 captured in rat-traps. 



It is strictly nocturnal, and spends the day in 

 caves, holes in the coral limestone rocks and in 

 hollow trees and logs. It is a slow, stupid crea- 

 ture. It is unable to run rapidly, but shambles 

 along with the zigzag, sidewise motions of a 

 plantigrade. It js, doubtless, owing to this that 

 it obtained the native name of " Orso " (bear). 



. Article XXIV. by S. A. Eoliwer is on "A 

 Fossil Larrid Wasp " ; the same author con- 

 tributes article XXV., a discussion of the 

 fossil saw-flies (Tenthredinoidea) of the 

 Florissant Shales. Article XXVI. comprises 

 notes on the skull of Lysorophus iricarinatus 

 Cope, by E. C. Case, of which the author re- 

 marks, that 



Were it not for the extreme specialization of 

 this limbless Gymniophiona-like form it would 

 occupy almost exactly the transitional position 

 tetween the amphibians and reptiles. 



Article XXVn., by Dr. Matthew, particu- 

 larly describes the osteology of Blastomeryx, 

 and discusses the phylogeny of the American 

 Cervidae, in which the writer asserts that 



Blastomeryx proves to be a very primitive deer, 

 approximately ancestral to the American Cervidce, 

 and derivable in its turn from the Oligocene genus 

 Leptomeryx, whose relationship to the Cervid 

 phylum had not been suspected. We are thus 

 enabled to trace the ancestry of the American 

 Cervidse back to the Oligocene, by successive stages 

 known from the entire skeleton, and not merely 

 from the inadequate evidence of teeth and jaws. 



Article XXVIII. is by FUippo Silvestri, on 

 the Myriopoda from Porto Kico and Culebra; 

 article XXIX. consists of " Mammalogical 

 Notes," by Dr. AUen; article XXX. is a 

 further contribution by S. A. Eohwer on the 

 saw-flies from Florissant, Colorado. 



President Osborn contributes article 

 XXXn. on "New or Little Known Titano- 

 theres from the Eocene and Oligocene." 

 Professor Wheeler discusses the " Ants of 

 Casco Bay, Maine," in a very attractive 

 paper, filled with descriptions of predatory 

 expeditions, slave-making hunts and colonial 

 devices and aspirations, which are picturesque 

 enough in themselves, and are treated with 



very circumstantial seriousness. Professor 

 Wheeler in this paper engages again in an 

 extended debate on the origin of slavery 

 (dulosis), and social parasitism in ants, 

 wherein we are told that Wasmann has re- 

 peated Professor Wheeler's experiments on 

 the formation of colonies, has corroborated 

 them, and that " an outstanding difference in 

 interpretation " only now remains between 

 these distinguished naturalists. 



The volume concludes with a paper by Dr. 

 Allen, on " Mammals from Nicaragua." 



t. P. Geataoap 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 RADIUM IN SPIRAL NEBULA AND IN STAR CLUSTERS 



In consequence of a prolonged study of the 

 relation to celestial spectra of the spectrum of 

 radixmi emanation as published by Sir WiUiam 

 Eamsay and Professor J. Norman CoUie,* I 

 announced on January 19, 1905, the principle 

 of " critical radioactivity " or the transforma- 

 tion of the chemical elements at critical pres- 

 sures and temperatures in the stars. This ex- 

 plosive transformation of the elements at crit- 

 ical physical states, occurring ia the heavenly 

 bodies, I have named " radioaction," in order 

 to distinguish it from ordinary radioactivity. 



Eadioaction, hypothesis a, was announced 

 as a tested theory in the face of Eutherford's 

 statement : 



The transformation of matter occurring in the 

 radio-elements is, on the other hand, spontaneous, 

 and independent of temperature over the range 

 examined.^ 



It was also in challenge of the natural infer- 

 ence to be drawn from the statement of Eunge 

 and Preeht, made at the close of their accoimt 

 of the measurement of the lines of the radium 

 spectrum : 



Concerning all strong radium lines, it may be 

 affirmed with certainty that, according to our 

 measurements, they are not found among the 

 measured solar lines of Rowland.' 



Changes in pressure and temperature are, 

 on all sides, said to produce no marked changes 



^Proc. Roy. Soc, 73, p. 470, May, 1904. 

 ' " Radioactivity," first edition, p. 350. 

 'Ann. der Phys., 317, 412, June, 1903. 



