36 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 784 



cess in demonstrating the practicability of a 

 measure hitherto believed impossible of ac- 

 complishment. The greater portion of the 

 foregoing data was furnished by Captain E. 

 P. Bertholf of the Bear. 



The result of Mr. Thurber's experiment is 

 to establish the possibility of feeding fur- 

 seals in captivity. Ineidential to this is the 

 interesting disclosure seemingly demonstrated 

 by three examples under observation that the 

 frenum in the fur-seal young at first opposes 

 an obstacle to their taking solid food, and 

 that its rupture is a prerequisite to their feed- 

 ing on other substances than mother's milk. 

 Should this be proved by subsequent experi- 

 mentation, the knowledge may open up a wide 

 field of endeavor, having as its object the 

 saving from death of those fur-seal nurslings 

 whose mothers have been killed at sea, and 

 which now die a lingering death from starva- 

 tion. 



Barton W. Evermann, 

 Walter I. Lembkey 



bubeau of fishekies, 

 Washington, D. C. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 462d meeting was held Noveinber 27, 1909, 

 witli President Palmer in the chair. 



Mr. A. S. Hitchcock referred to the many 

 changes in nomenclature in recent years, and 

 pointed out that much of this change was in- 

 evitable. He illustrated the changes that must 

 follow from increased knowledge of the history of 

 grasses, by examples from Otto Kuntze and 

 showed how some of Kuntze's conclusions were 

 nullified by an early paper by Rafinesque. 



Professor Bartseh, referring to a recent paper 

 by Professor Spillman, called attention to the 

 attempts of Mr. D. H. Talbot, of Sioux City, Iowa, 

 during the eighties to breed a solid-hoofed hog in 

 order to overcome the foot disease. Hog cholera 

 carried oflf all but two of the selected animals 

 which had only partially solid hoofs. From the 

 progeny of these by selection and breeding a race 

 of solid-hoofed hogs was obtained, specimens of 

 which were seen by the speaker in the early 

 nineties. 



The chair called attention to the consummation 

 of what may be considered the first international 



game preserve. This preserve consists of two 

 separate reservations — one established by the state 

 of Minnesota and the other by the province of 

 Ontario. These two reservations adjoin the inter- 

 national boundary. For several years a bill to 

 establish a game refuge in northern Minnesota has 

 been pending in Congress but has failed to pass. 

 Last February by proclamation of the President 

 the Superior National Forest was established in 

 Minnesota, and shortly after a bill was passed by 

 the state legislature prohibiting the hunting of 

 game animals or birds in national forests, state 

 parks and such other lands in the state of Minne- 

 sota as the game commission might set aside as 

 game refuges. Under this law the Superior State 

 Game Preserve, comprising about 1,000,000 acres, 

 and including all of the Superior National Forest 

 and some other lands adjoining the international 

 boundary, has recently been established. Still 

 more recently the province of Ontario has set 

 aside an equal area as the Quetico National Forest 

 immediately adjoining the Minnesota reservation 

 on the north. The combined area of the two 

 reservations is about 2,000,000 acres. 



Mr. Howell described a case of semi-domestica- 

 tion of a wild bird, the myrtle warbler, in the 

 drug store of Union Station at Washington. Mr. 

 H. W. Clark noted a somewhat similar instance 

 at Lake Maxinkuckee, Ind., in 1906. 



The following communications were presented: 



Observations on the Mammals of the Mammoth 

 Cave: A. H. Howell. 



The paper gave the results of a visit to the 

 cave in late June and early July. The habits of 

 the cave rat {Neotoma pennsylvanica) were de- 

 scribed and specimens exhibited which had been 

 captured in the cave. Mention was made of the 

 occurrence of three species of bats in the cave in 

 winter; none is found there, however, during the 

 summer months. 



The Distribution of Color in the Seeds of Cow- 

 peas: C. V. PiPEK. 



In the seeds of cowpeas, the following colors 

 are met with where the seed is uniformly colored: 

 black (really very dark violet), violet, maroon, 

 pink, buff, cream, white, marbled brown and buff, 

 speckled blue on buff. In many varieties of cow- 

 peas, lif>wever, especially where the body is white, 

 the other color is always distributed in definite 

 types: (1) Small-eyed with a small amount of 

 color about the hilum. (2) Large-eyed with a 

 large amount of color about the hilum. (3) 

 Saddled with a very large amount of color een- 



