870 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 677 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The meeting of November 19, 1907, was ad- 

 dressed by Professor Marshall H. Saville, Co- 

 lumbia University, on " Arcbeological Ee- 

 searches on the Coast of Ecuador." Professor 

 Saville, who has charge of the G. G. Heye ex- 

 pedition, plans to examine the antiquities of 

 the entire region between Mexico and Peru, 

 taking up in order the coast and interior val- 

 leys, and thus far, two seasons have been spent 

 in western Ecuador, between the 4° south 

 latitude and 1J° north latitude. Two cultures 

 anciently occupied the coast; the Manabe, in 

 the dry region of the south; and the Esma- 

 raldas in the humid region on and north of the 

 equator. The ruins of the former are situ- 

 ated on the slopes of forested foothills which 

 are watered with night fogs that descend about 

 midway on their flanks. The houses, which 

 were light wooden structures capable of resist- 

 ing earthquakes, were placed on terraces ex- 

 cavated from the hillsides resembling the 

 trincheras of Mexico. The remains are a few 

 slabs sculptured in has relief and numerous 

 great stone seats of U-shape resting on the 

 back of a puma. Mounds occur in which 

 skeletons and pottery are found. The remains 

 of Esmaraldas are exposed on the sea bluffs 

 and along the river banks. Enormous de- 

 posits of artifacts are found along the coasts 

 for two hundred and fifty miles, and on the 

 Atacamanes Eiver are great deposits in the 

 alluvium, showing on sections two lines of 

 hiunan remains, pottery, etc. In these de- 

 posits were upright tubes of pottery which 

 were cofiins. Numerous gold objects and some 

 emeralds were found by the expedition. A 

 remnant of the Caiapas Indians living in 

 northern Ecuador, about sixty miles north of 

 the town of Esmaraldas, were visited and 

 photograjihed. 



The thanlis of the society were extended to 

 Professor Saville for his interesting paper. 

 Walter Hough, 

 General Secretary 



THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 

 OF BIOLOGY 



On May 13, 1907, the section met at the 

 American Museum of Natural History for an 



interesting session. The papers were as fol- 

 lows: 



Brief Account of the Expedition to the 

 Fayoum, Egypt: Professor Henry E. Os- 



BORN. 



A summary of the valuable results of this 

 expedition in search of Palwomastodon and 

 Arsinoitherium was given and illustrated by a 

 fine series of stereoptieon views. A detailed 

 accoxmt of the expedition has already been 

 published in Science.' 



The Supernumerary Chromosomes of Hem,ip- 

 tera: Professor Edmund B. Wilson. 

 In striking contrast to nearly all forms here- 

 tofore described, the genus Metapedius pre- 

 sents a considerable range of variation in the 

 individual number of chromosomes, though the 

 number is constant in each individual. The 

 following numbers have thus far been observed 

 in a total of 30 individuals (spermatogonia in 

 the males, ovarian cells in the females). M. 

 terminalis, males 22, 23, females 22, 25; M. 

 femoratus, males 22, 23, 26, females 24, 26 ; 

 M. granulosus, males 23, 26, 27 (?), females 

 26. The variation is thus seen to be inde- 

 pendent of sex; and it is not a casual fluctua- 

 tion within the individual, since the individual 

 number is constant and in the male is defi- 

 nitely correlated with the number present in the 

 maturation-divisions. Thus with 22, 23 or 26 

 spermatogonial chromosomes the first sperma-' 

 togonial division shows, respectively, 12, 13 or 

 16 chromosomes — a relation shown constantly 

 and in a large number of cells. Study of the 

 conditions shown in the males leads to the con- 

 clusion that all individuals possess a funda- 

 mental or type group of 22 chromosomes that 

 are always present and show the same general 

 arrangement in the first division. To these 

 may be added in certain individuals one or 

 more " supernumerary chromosomes " which, 

 like the idiochromosomes, differ in behavior 

 from the others in failing to couple at the time 

 of general synapsis, dividing as univalents in 

 the first division where they appear smaller 

 than the bivalents (as will be shown hereafter 

 in photographs). Thus are explained the 

 peculiar numerical relations above stated — 



' N. S., Vol. XXV., No. 639, March 29, 1907. 



