Septembee 7, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



317 



and the bones of the tarsus were broken and 

 healed during life, the accompanying exostosis 

 soldering them together. It is most unfortu- 

 nate that this wilful error should be perpetu- 

 ated, but like Richardson's figure of the 

 pouched rat, it will probably endure for gen- 

 erations to come. 



The most generalized penguins are placed 

 by Ameghino in the family Oladornidce in- 

 cluding but two species, Cladornis pachypus 

 and Cruschedula revolva. The figure of this 

 last is poor and from this alone it is not quite 

 evident why it should be placed with the 

 penguins at all. Wiman and Ameghino 

 agree in considering that the' penguins origi- 

 nated in the Southern Hemisphere and that 

 they have always had much the same distribu- 

 tion as at present. Ameghino further be- 

 lieves they descended from species that in- 

 habited the vicinity of fresh water. The 

 known facts bear out the first conclusion, but 

 in view of the little we know regarding the 

 history of birds it will be best to accept it 

 subject to further revision. 



The above notes had just been sent in when 

 Dr. Abel's paper from Centralblatt fiir Min- 

 eralogie * * * was received. In this Dr. 

 Abel discusses the bones described by me in 

 1900 as the pelvis of Zeuglodon and concludes 

 that they are really the coracoids of a gigantic 

 bird which he names Alabamornis gigantea. 



The paper seemed so clear and convincing 

 that this conclusion was at once accepted and 

 a brief review begun on that basis. As this 

 proceeded it became evident, with my knowl- 

 edge of the bones in question, that if they were 

 the coracoids of a bird, that bird was extra- 

 ordinary not say exceptional in many partic- 

 ulars. It has, therefore, seemed best to post- 

 pone the review of Dr. Abel's paper until later 

 in order to better examine certain details and 

 if possible, reexamine the bones themselves. 

 This is not for the sake of mere argument as 

 to whether the bones are those of a bird or 

 beast but because, if they are from a bird, 

 they are most important. 



The bearing on this particular article lies 

 in the fact that Dr. Abel finds the nearest re- 

 semblance to these bones in the coraeoid of 



Anthropornis, described by Dr. Wiman, al- 

 though the differences between the two are 

 great. 



F. A. Lucas. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Dr. a. a. Michelson, professor of physics 

 at Chicago, has been elected a foreign mem- 

 ber of the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome. 



Dr. L. a. Bauer has been elected a corre- 

 sponding member of the Gottingen Royal 

 Academy of Sciences. 



In connection with the recent meeting of . 

 the British Medical Association in Toronto, 

 McGill University, Montreal, will confer the 

 degree of LL.D. in absentia on Sir Thomas 

 Barlow, Sir William Broadbent, Professor 

 Allbutt and Sir Victor Horsley. 



The Graefe medal of the German Ophthal- 

 mological Society has been awarded to Dr. 

 Ewald Hering, professor of physiology at 

 Leipzig. 



Dr. Kuno Fischer has retired from the 

 professorship of philosophy at Heidelberg. 



Dr. Simon Schwendener, professor of bot- 

 any at Berlin, has celebrated the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of his doctorate. 



Nature states that Mr. William Lutley 

 Sclater has resigned the directorship of the 

 South African Museum, Cape Town, which 

 he has held for the last ten years, and has 

 returned to England. He has accepted the 

 post of director of the museum of Colorado 

 College. 



From the same journal we learn that Mr. 

 Michael John Nicoll, who recently returned 

 from accompanying the Earl of Crawford as 

 naturalist during his winter voyage in the 

 Valhalla, R.T.S., round Africa, has accepted 

 the post of assistant director of the Zoological 

 Gardens at Giza, near Cairo, and has left Eng- 

 land to take up the duties of his appointment. 



Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian min- 

 ister to Great Britain, has accepted the presi- 

 dency of the Social and Political Education 

 League in succession to Professor F. W. Mait- 

 land. 



