810 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 308. 



six teeth, or one more than it is usually credited 

 with. The specimen in the U. S. National 

 Museum shows also that the first upper pre- 

 molar is not a two-rooted tooth, but a single- 

 rooted canimiform tooth having a very small 

 accessory cusp on the posterior face. The first 

 lower premolar is a large tooth with two roots. 

 A jaw of Dorudon collected by Mr. Charles 

 Schuchert seems to show that the Zeuglodonts 

 were diphyodont, for it contains several teeth 

 much smaller than those found in other speci- 

 mens and these teeth had apparently not been 

 fully extruded. 



THE HYOID OF BASILOSAUETJS. 



Accompanying the skull obtained by Mr. 

 Schuchert is a series of bones considered as 

 constituting the hyoid. The complete hyoid is 

 much like that of a toothed whale but with very 

 much longer ai'ches. The baaihyal is flat be- 

 neath, slightly hollowed above, the ceratohyals 

 are immensely long, 35 cm., and quite slender ; 

 the thyrohyals are stout at the point of articula 

 tion with the basihyal, taper slightly and are 

 25 cm. in length. 



THE CRANIAL CAVITY OF BASILOSAtfRUS. 



A CAST made in the cranial cavity of an im- 

 perfect specimen of Basilosaurus shows the 

 brain to have been comparatively smooth and 

 of a most extraordinary shape, being very 

 much wider than long, owing to its excessive 

 prolongation in the auditory region. The sep- 

 aration between cerebrum and cerebellum was 

 rather slight, the tentorium being a mere low 

 ridge. 



F. A. Lucas. 



FORESTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



Strangely enough, there comes from our far 

 distant possessions in the Pacific Ocean — which 

 we are apt to think backward in all directions 

 of economic development — a call for technically 

 educated assistants in a branch of economics, 

 which in our own country is only just beginning 

 to be appreciated. 



The Forestry Bureau at Manila, which is in 

 charge of Capt. Ahern, U. S. A. — a most ener- 

 getic officer who took great interest in advocat- 

 ing rational forestry methods for our public 

 domain — is an inheritance from the Spanish 



government. It was established as long as 35 

 years ago, and employed 66 foresters, as many 

 rangers and 40 other subordinates supervising 

 the exploitation of the government forest prop- 

 erty, which, according to estimate, comprises 

 between 20,000,000 and 40,000,000 acres. 



Capt. Ahern writes that he found ' the regula- 

 tions in force in August, 1898, excellent, prac- 

 ticable and in line with the most advanced for- 

 estry legislation of Europe,' so that they could in 

 the main be re enacted, but, to be sure, the laws 

 and regulations were not fully enforced and 

 scientific forestry not practiced, and " it did not 

 take long to develop the fact that the foresters 

 knew very little of practical forestry, beginning 

 their work after the trees had left the forest, 

 not before, i. e. , devoting all their attention to 

 collecting revenues." 



At present even a revenue of about $8,000 

 per month is derived from licensees, who are 

 mainly engaged in collecting guttapercha, rub- 

 ber, gum, varnish, dye woods (some 17 kinds) 

 and firewood, besides some of the very valuable 

 hard woods. 



Over 400 species of trees are known and a 

 more careful survey will bring the number 

 nearer 500. Of these at least 50 are valuable, 

 the Yang-ylang tree being considered among 

 the most important. This furnishes an oil 

 which forms the base of many renowned per- 

 fumes. On the island of Romblon, a mass of 

 cocoa palms, the result of planting under a 

 former governor, covers the slopes from sea to 

 mountain top, furnishing a yearly revenue of 

 from one to two dollars per tree. 



There are altogether, according to Blanco's 

 magnificent work on the flora of the Philippines, 

 28 genera of palms with 87 species, the most 

 important of which is Coryphsea umhellaria. 



There are 22 species of Cupuliferse, with two 

 oaks (Quercus costata and conocarpa), and five 

 genera of conifers with nine species ; one only 

 true pine, Pinus insularis, occurring in dense 

 forests in the island of Luzon, above 4,000 feet 

 altitude. 



The families of Rubiacese, Rutacese, Eben- 

 a^ese and Leguminosfe furnish quite a large 

 number of arborescent species. Cofiee trees 

 grow wild on the slopes, replacing the original 

 growth, when invaded by the wood chopper. 



