574 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 44. 



instance of the wide distribution of deep 

 sea forms. 



Prof. Perrier (Paris) spoke on the clas- 

 sification of worms. The Nematodes, with 

 Echinoderes, Gordius and Aeanthceephalus, are 

 separated from the worms and, under the 

 name Nematelminthes, united with the Ar- 

 thropods. The Plathelminthes and Anne- 

 lids constitute the worms proper. The 

 Rotifers, Bryozoans and Brachiopods form 

 a group (Lopliostomata) transitional be- 

 tween the Plathelminthes and Annelids. 



Prof. Julin (Liege) read an elaborate 

 paper on ' the epicardium, pericardium, 

 heart and stolon in the larvte of Distaplia 

 magnilarva,' which is not reported in the 

 Bulletin of the Congress. 



Prof. Salen&ky (Odessa) gave an account 

 of the development of the heart in the 

 frog, from which it follows that the verte- 

 brate heart is totally different from that 

 of the Tunicates and that the endocardium 

 is of mesodermal origin. 



Prof. Eimer read a paper upon the for- 

 mation of the tailed species of Papilio, in 

 which he further developed his ideas on 

 Orthogenesis referred to in the former paper. 



The day was charmingly concluded by a 

 ' diner intime ' in the Kurhaus at Scheven- 

 ingen. 



Friday, September 20th, was devoted to 

 excursions to Helder, Marken and Grave- 

 land. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST. 



The paper which excited perhaps the 

 greatest interest of all those presented to 

 this Congress was that by Dr. E. Dubois on 

 ' Pithecanthropus erectus, a transitional, man- 

 like form.' Dr. Dubois described the locality 

 in Java where the remains were found, 

 and mentioned as occurring near them a 

 tooth of Hycena, bones of Cervus, etc. !No 

 complete skeleton was found. The speaker 

 then described the cranium and femur, of 

 which he had maintained that they be- 



longed to a man-like creature. He had 

 compared the thigh bone with 150 different 

 femora of Malays, Negroes, Europeans and 

 other races, but could establish no simi- 

 larity. Virchow's view of the greater re- 

 semblance of this femur to that of the apes 

 (especially Hylohates) is correct. It is re- 

 markable that the zoologists maintain the 

 skull to be human, while the human anato- 

 mists refer it to the apes. The speaker dis- 

 cussed the cranial capacity of man and the 

 anthropoid apes, with especial reference to 

 the Neanderthal skull. In his published 

 work Dr. Dubois had not referred to a 

 second tooth found later among the ex- 

 cavated material. The speaker concluded 

 that Pithecanthropus erectus should be placed 

 between man and the anthropoid apes, that 

 it represents a peculiar type and renders 

 necessary the formation of a new genus. 



Prof. R. Virchow (Berlin) opened the 

 discussion with the statement that he 

 agreed better with Dr. Dubois than would 

 be supposed from newspaper accounts. He 

 displayed some human femora, with exos- 

 toses like the Javan specimen. Virchow 

 inclined to the view that the femur was 

 human, but could not deny that the whole 

 appearance of the bone was not man-like ; 

 it is most like that of Hylohates, but gigan- 

 tic compared with the recent gibbons. He 

 expressed himself positively against the 

 opinion that the skull is human and ex- 

 plained the importance of the orbital region 

 in such questions. Dubois' discovery is a 

 very important one. 



In reply Dr. Dubois pointed out the like- 

 ness of this skull to that of Neanderthal. 



Prof. Marsh called attention to the great 

 age of the bones. He had often observed 

 similar exostoses on fossil femora. It is 

 extremely desirable to establish the anti- 

 quitj' of the specimens. 



Prof. Rosenberg (Utrecht) pointed out 

 certain characteristics of femora ; the long 

 axis and its curvature, the linea obliqua, 



