826 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 386. 



men lie knew of was the type in the Museum 

 of the Jardin des Plantes. Besides that 

 and the one in the British Museum, there are 

 at least mounted specimens in the Ceylon 

 Government Museum and the Madras Gov- 

 ernment Mviseum as well as, now, in the 

 United States National Museum. The typical 

 species is common about the Seychelles 

 Islands. Dr. Bashford Dean informs me that 

 it was also noticed during the voyage of the 

 Sihoga. 



It is greatly to be deplored that the op- 

 portunity to obtain the skeleton and some of 

 the soft parts of the Florida shark was not 

 utilized for the National Museum. A rare op- 

 portunity was afforded by the waif of the 

 Florida shore which is not likely to be re- 

 peated for a long time. 



It may be added that Rhineodon was the first 

 name applied to the genus and that possibly 

 the American fishes may be specifically dis- 

 tinct from the type and entitled to the name 

 Bhineodon punctatus. 



Theo. Gii.l. 



Cosmos Club, 



Washington, April 28, 1902. 



A METEORIC IRON. 



A METEORIC iron which weighed a little less 

 than nine pounds, and which as respects its 

 shape and its surface markings seems to be 

 almost unique, has recently come into the 

 possession of the University of Wisconsin. 

 The fall of this iron was not observed, but 

 it was turned up by a plow in 1887 on a farm 

 near Algoma post office, Kewaunee county, 

 A¥isconsin. Since that time and until March 

 of the present year it had remained about the 

 farm upon which it was brought to the light. 



Instead of the usual lumpy form, this find 

 has the shape of an elliptical shield, the 

 major axis of which is about ten inches, 

 the minor axis six inches, and the maxi- 

 mum (central) thickness about an inch. 

 The smoothness and density of the con- 

 vex surface is in sharp contrast with the 

 irregularities and the crust of oxide upon the 

 concave side. There is no reason to doubt 

 that the projectile moved broadside on with 

 the convex surface (Brustseite) to the 



front during its translation through the aero- 

 sphere. Upon this surface strongly marked 

 radial lines are arranged like the rays of a 

 solar plexus about a central, nearly fiat ellip^ 

 tical boss some inches in diameter, and these 

 lines increase steadily in depth as they ap- 

 proach the periphery. The Widmannstatten 

 figures show no trace of deformation. Shortly 

 after this find began to be studied by the 

 writer a copy of Professor Cohen's paper on 

 the flat meteoric iron from N'Goureyma in 

 the Soudan (Griefswald, 1902) came into his 

 hands. The two meteorites are in many re- 

 spects similar, though the Algoma iron has 

 the greater synunetry and much more perfect 

 surface markings. It will shortly be more 

 fully described. 



W. H. HOBBS. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 



The fourteenth summer meeting of the So- 

 ciety will be held in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, 

 July 1, in the room assigned to Section E, 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. The place now designated is the lec- 

 ture room of the Oakland M. E. Church, very 

 near the hotel headquarters. The Council will 

 meet on Monday evening at the hotel. The 

 Society will be called to order by the president. 

 Professor N. H. Winchell, on Tuesday morn- 

 ing immediately following the general session 

 of the Association. 



The preliminary list of papers will be mailed 

 about .Tune 7. The Fellows are requested to 

 send their titles and abstracts of papers upon 

 the printed form as early as possible, and not 

 later than June 3. By rule of the Council 

 abstracts are required. Papers offered for 

 printing in the Bulletin should be fully de- 

 scribed on the blank forms, copies of which 

 will be promptly sent on request. 



The circular sent to the Fellows March 11, 

 announced an excursion, under the guidance 

 of Dr. I. C. White, through the Coal Measures 

 of western Pennsylvania and northern West 

 Virginia during the week preceding the Asso- 

 ciation meeting. The party will assemble at 

 the Monongahela House on Monday evening, 

 June 23. This hotel will be headquarters dur- 

 ing the week of the excursion ; the rate will be 



