May 15, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



737 



pology. Mr. Frank Russell, of the graduate 

 school, has been appointed assistant in anthro- 

 pology to take Dr. Dorsey's place as instructor 

 in the preliminary anthropological courses next 

 year. ■ 



The State Fair Association of Hhode Island 

 ofifers $5,000 in prizes for the exhibition and 

 competition of horseless carriages at the State 

 Fair, Narragansett Park, in September. 



The Committee of the Massachusetts Legis- 

 lature has reported in favor of an appropriation 

 of S100,000 to be used for the extermination of 

 the gypsy moth. The Committee recommends 

 that one or two entomologists be sent abroad 

 to study the habits of the gypsy moth with a 

 view to introducing, if possible, some parasite 

 to prey upon the insect. 



Andrew S. Fullek, a writer on agricultural 

 and botanical subjects, died on May 4th, at 

 his home at Eidgewood, N. J., age 88 years. 

 The death is also announced of Alfred Debains, 

 professor at the agricultural college at Reunes. 

 Prof. Angelo Heilprin has been appointed 

 to represent the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia at the Mining and Geological Mil- 

 lennial Congress to be held at Budapest, Sep- 

 tember 25th and 26th, in connection with the 

 celebration of the founding of the Kingdom of 

 Hungary. 



Me. Gilbert Bowick has purchased for the 

 British Antarctic Expedition, which leaves Eng- 

 land in September, the survivors of the pack of 

 dogs acquired by Lieut. PearyTrom the Esqui- 

 maux of North Greenland. They will be 

 brought from Christiauia and placed for the 

 present in the London Zoological Garden. 



At a meeting of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety on April 27th the President announced 

 that the annual honors had been awarded by 

 the Council as follows: The Founders' Medal 

 to Sir William Macgregor, K.C.M.G., for the 

 valuable geographical work he has done in New 

 Guinea during the years that he has acted as 

 Administrator and Lieutenant-Governor ; the 

 Patrons' Medal to Mr. St. George R. Littledale 

 for his important expeditions in the Pamirs and 

 Central Asia; the Murchison award has been 

 given to Khan Bahadur Yusuf Sharif, native 

 Indian surveyor; the Gill memorial to Mr. A. 



P. Low, of the Canadian Survey, for his ex- 

 plorations in Labrador; the Black grant to Mr. 

 J. Burr Tyrrell for his expeditions to the Barren 

 Grounds of northwest Canada ; and the Cuth- 

 bert Peek grant to Mr. Alfred Sharpe for his 

 many journeys in British Central Africa. The 

 following geographers have been made honorary 

 corresponding members of the Society: M. de 

 Semenoff, Vice-President of the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society; Dr. Von den Steinen, Presi- 

 dent of the Berlin Geographical Society; Dr. G. 

 Neumayer, Director of the Naval Observatory, 

 Hamburg; M. de Lapparent, President of Coun- 

 cil of the Paris Geographical Society ; Dr. Al- 

 brecht Penck, Professor of Geography, Vienna 

 University; Dr. Otto Petterson, the Swedish 

 ocean ographer; Dr. Kan, President of the Dutch 

 Geographical Society ; Prof. H. Pittier, Director 

 of the National Physico- Geographical Institute 

 of Costa Rica. 



Still another welcome contribution to our 

 knowledge of the changes of plumage in birds 

 is a paper by Witmer Stone entitled The Molting 

 of Birds ivith Special Reference to the Plumages of 

 the Smaller Land Birds of Eastern North Amer- 

 ica. This appears as a separate from the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 

 and discusses in more or less detail the molt of 

 some 130 species. A captious critic might, per- 

 haps, complain that in some cases the con- 

 clusions were based on an examination of 

 rather a small number of specimens, but only 

 one who has undertaken similar investigations 

 can appreciate the difficulty of obtaining proper 

 matei'ial and the labor involved in its study. 

 There is an introductory chapter treating of 

 molt in general, in which Mr. Stone briefly dis- 

 cusses the question of direct change in the color 

 of feathers and states that he cannot admit that 

 we have any proof of an actual change of color 

 in a feather apart from what may be produced 

 from abrasion or bleaching. The author, by in- 

 dependent investigation, reaches the same con- 

 clusion as Mr. Chapman in regard to the change 

 of color in the Dunlin and Snowflake. There 

 has been abundant testimony to change of color 

 in feathers without molt, and it is now in order 

 for some one to produce a little evidence. 



Two interesting additions to the alums have 



