Jantjabt 21, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



107 



which place they ■will he sent to Kobe and 

 trans-shipped from Australia and New Zea- 

 land. Mr. Meares will join the expedition in 

 New Zealand. 



The third paper dealing with the results of 

 the Smithsonian African Expedition under 

 Mr. Eoosevelt has been issued by the 

 Smithsonian Institution as No. 1883 of the 

 Miscellaneous Collections. It describes a new 

 species of otocyon to which the specific name 

 of virgatus is given. The animal is a small 

 carnivorous mammal closely resembling a fox. 

 It is generally buff in color and it has been 

 found by Mr. Gerrit Miller, of the museum 

 staff, to differ slightly from Otocyon mega- 

 lotis, which occurs farther south, especially 

 in color and in the characteristics of its teeth 

 and skull. The otocyon is peculiar to Africa 

 and is not represented in the United States, 

 but resembles in color the swift or kit fox of 

 the western plains. The skull of this new 

 form closely resembles that of the gray fox of 

 our native fauna. 



The Experiment Station Record, quoting 

 from Conservation, states that the Biltmore 

 Forest School, Biltmore, N. C, closed on 

 November 1, when Dr. C. A. Schenek, who 

 had been superintendent of the school for 

 about fifteen years, severed his relations 

 with the Biltmore estate. Some twenty-five 

 of his students have signified their intention 

 of continuing their work under his direction 

 and will accompany him to Germany. A new 

 school under his management is to be organ- 

 ized, to retain the name of the Biltmore 

 Forest School, but instead of having a single 

 fixed location it will carry on work over a wide 

 range of forests. The principal headquarters 

 will be in Germany near the Black Forest, 

 where the school will be located for about six 

 months each year. For the rest of the year 

 practical work in the forests of Maine, Wis- 

 consin and eastern Tennessee is contemplated. 



The Journal of the American Museum of 

 Natural History states that the department of 

 anthropology has recently been enriched by 

 the accession of two large local collections. 

 The first of these was made on Manhattan 



Island by Messrs. Calver and Bolton. It is 

 particularly valuable, because the sites on the 

 upper end of the island, whence the objects 

 were obtained, are fast becoming obliterated. 

 Several skeletons are particularly interesting 

 as being the only authentic remains of the 

 Manhattan aborigines known. There is also 

 a large and perfect pottery vessel of the Iro- 

 quoian type from the upper end of Manhattan 

 Island. The second collection was made on 

 Staten Island during the years 1900-9 by Mr. 

 Alanson Skinner, of the department of an- 

 thropology, and is the largest and most com- 

 plete in existence from this locality, consist- 

 ing of nearly 1,200 specimens. 



Statements made to the United States 

 Geological Survey by operators and others 

 conversant with the coal mining industry 

 indicate that the production of coal in the 

 United States in 1909, while exceeding that 

 of 1908, did not reach the high-water mark 

 attained in 1907, the banner year of indus- 

 trial activity in this country. It is, of course, 

 impossible to give accurate information re- 

 garding tonnage, but it appears from the 

 reports received from the coal-mining states 

 by Edward W. Parker, statistician of the sur- 

 vey, that the increase in production in 1909 

 over 1908 was between 8 and 10 per cent., 

 which would indicate a total production of 

 from 440,000,000 to 450,000,000 short tons. 

 Exclusive of the output from Sullivan County, 

 the shipments of anthracite from the mines in 

 Pennsylvania during the eleven months ended 

 November 30, 1909, amounted to 56,194,447 

 long tons, against 58,837,076 long tons for the 

 same period in 1908. It is estimated that the 

 shipments in December will amount to 5,500,- 

 000 long tons. To the shipments should be 

 added the usual percentage for local trade and 

 colliery consumption and the production of 

 Sullivan County, which would bring the total 

 production of Pennsylvania anthracite in 1909 

 to approximately 71,150,000 long tons, or 

 about 79,700,000 short tons, and the bitumin- 

 ous production will have amounted to be- 

 tween 360,000,000 and 370,000,000 short tons. 

 The largest production from the anthracite 



