May 8, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



713 



and concludes that an object satisfies testhetio 

 demands wlien the objective conditions fulfill 

 the suggestions aroused by it. Mr. Lough de- 

 scribes a new perimeter made for the Harvard 

 laboratory in which the stimulus is stationery 

 and the fixation point movable. 



Mr. F. E. Bolton has repeated and varied, 

 with students at the University of Wisconsin, 

 the experiments on the accuracy of recollec- 

 tion and observation suggested by Prof. Cattell 

 and published in this Jottknal (Dec. 6., 1895). 

 The scientific students showed greater accuracy 

 of observation and memory than the classical 

 students, and this held even in regard to literary 

 information. The average of the classical stu- 

 dents gave 1839 as the date of Victor Hugo's 

 death! 



Under Discussion and Reports are given the 

 discussion by Profs. Ladd and Baldwin on con- 

 sciousness and evolution before the American 

 Psychological Association ; Dr. Nichols claims 

 that the existence of specific nerves for pain has 

 been proved ; Prof. Herrick writes from his 

 own experience on the testimony of heart 

 disease to the sensory facies of the emotion, and 

 Mr. G. M. Stratton discusses the relation be- 

 tween psychology and logic. 



The number concludes with reviews of recent 

 psychological literature, contributed by sixteen 

 wi'iters, and notes. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, 2G0TH 

 MEETING, SATURDAY, APRIL 18. , 



Wm. H. Dall exhibited two skins of the Gla- 

 cier or St. Elias bear of Alaska ( Ursus Emmonsi, 

 Dall), kindly lent for exhibition to the Society 

 by Mrs. Admiral Emmons. He stated that the 

 skins from which the original description in 

 Science (N. S. H., p. 87, July 26, 1895) was 

 made, were probably summer skins, the hair 

 being shorter and darker than in those shown, 

 which appear to be winter skins, in which the 

 larger part of the hair is white and much thicker 

 and more woolly, the general tint being hardly 

 darker than in the gray wolf of Alaska. These 

 skins had been dressed and trimmed by a fur- 

 rier, so that the extremities of the head and 



limbs were defective, but the peculiar breadth 

 of the head and the remarkable bluish gray col- 

 oration of the entire coat indicated an animal 

 specifically distinct from any American bear 

 hitherto known, but more nearly allied to the 

 black than to the brown bears. This opinion, 

 he said, is shared by Dr. Merriam, Mr. True 

 and other students of mammals who have ex- 

 amined them. Earnest efforts are being made 

 to obtain a skull and skin suitable for mounting 

 during the present season. 



Under the title Preliminary Notes on Middle 

 Cambrian Medusse, Chas. D. Walcott, of the U. 

 S. Geological Survey, briefly outlined the char- 

 acter and scope of an extended review of the fos- 

 sil medusae, prepared by him. He stated that 

 the preliminary announcement of a review of 

 the fossil medusae of the Middle Cambrian ter- 

 rane must be modified, as during the last two 

 months the scope of the work had been broad- 

 ened and a memoir including not only the 

 fossil forms of the Middle Cambrian, but also 

 those of the lower Cambrian and of the Jurassic 

 of Europe, had been practically completed. 



A description was given of the mode of oc- 

 currence, conditions and manner of preserva- 

 tion, and the interrelations of the fossil and liv- 

 ing medusae, including an account of some in- 

 teresting experiments that he had made of the 

 phenomena attending the preservation of recent 

 or living forms. 



The numerous plates with which the memoir 

 will be illustrated were shown, 45 being devoted 

 to fossil forms and 7 or 8 illustrating the 

 relationship to recent species. 



B. E. Fernow described a Fine Coppice in New 

 Jersey, being a remarkable area known as the 

 East and West Plains of nearly 15,000 acres ex- 

 tent, covered with a growth of Pinus rigida, 

 sprouting from the stump. 



In spite of the poor, shallow, sandy gravel 

 soil with an impenetrable subsoil, hardpan and 

 bog ore underlying it and a periodic recurrence 

 of fires, these pines maintain themselves in a 

 regular coppice. Among the specimens exhib- 

 ited there was a root bearing two sprouts which 

 had evidently been developed into trees one 

 after the other, the older burnt out, the younger 

 showing 83 years of growth, pointing to a per- 

 sistence of the root of probably over 150 years. 



