616 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 485. 



the animal were described at some length. 

 The process of casting the shell was detailed 

 and several of the stages shown by photo- 

 graphs. Attention was called to the fact 

 that the two forms of the female which have 

 been described in this species are two condi- 

 tions of the same individuals. One, with the 

 narrow abdomen, is the original condition of 

 the female, while the other, the form with the 

 broad abdomen, is the condition assumed after 

 union with a male preparatory to egg laying. 

 It appears that eggs are not produced in water 

 much less strongly salt than that of the open 

 ocean. Consequently, egg-bearing females 

 are seldom found in such bodies of water as 

 Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, although 

 crabs may be found in copulation there 

 throughout the summer. The females prob- 

 ably die soon after spawning. 



Under the title ' Natural Selection in 

 Kinetic Evolution' O. E. Cook maintained 

 that natural selection has a definite evolution- 

 ary function, not to be disregarded as under 

 the theory of evolution by mutation. Selec- 

 tion is not, however, the direct cause of evolu- 

 tion; it is able to produce adaptations or ac- 

 centuate particular characters by deflecting 

 the normal evolutionary motion of species, 

 which proceeds whether selection is operative 

 or not. Selection represents, as it were, an 

 obstruction in the evolutionary highway; the 

 species is able to turn aside because it is 

 normally in motion, not because the environ- 

 ment is able to initiate evolutionary changes 

 in stationary organisms.* 



Wilfred H. Osgood, 



Secretary. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 357th meeting was held March 8, 1904. 



An interesting letter from Mr. C. H. Eobin- 

 son, of Philadelphia, on certain ruins in 

 Arizona, was read. Professor A. E. Jenlis, 

 of the Philippine Government, reports that he 

 has secured living groups of the four prin- 

 cipal peoples of the islands for exhibition at 

 St. Louis. A letter from Dr. Daniel Folkmar 

 detailing anthropological investigations car- 



* For full discussion see The Popular Science 

 Monthly, LXIV., pp. 445-456, March, 1904. 



ried on by him in the Philippines was read. 

 Dr. Ales Hrdlicka announced the finding 

 of cremated bones from Rockingham County 

 and Scott County, Virginia, in the collection 

 turned over from the Army Medical Museum 

 to the National Museum. 



The bill prepared by a committee of the so- 

 ciety for the preservation of ancient ruins, 

 and a resolution endorsing the same, were 

 read. After a discussion by Dr. H. M. Baum 

 and Mr. McGuire, the resolution was favor- 

 ably acted on. 



The general secretary exhibited a number 

 of fire syringes from Burma, Siam and the 

 Malay Archipelago, and demonstrated the 

 efliciency of the apparatus for producing a 

 spark. The range of the fire syringe was 

 discussed, and it was suggested that the in- 

 vention may have originated from the use of 

 the popgun, or other air-compressing device. 

 The paper was discussed by Mr. Safford and 

 Dr. Hrdlicka. 



Mr. W. E. Safford read a paper entitled 

 ' Notes on the Language of the Aborigines of 

 Guam.' The Chamorro-Spanish book on the 

 Christian doctrine, written by an Augustinian 

 friar, formed the basis of Mr. Safl^ord's studies. 

 The primitive words are of Malay origin, and 

 not one per cent, are Philippine. The Guam 

 language has afiinities with the Papuan, as 

 shown by the sufiLxed possessive particles. Mr. 

 Safford discussed the spread of numerals, and 

 says that complete data on this subject will 

 go far to solve the problem of the origin of 

 the Malayo-Polynesian and Papuan language. 

 He called attention to the fact that the same 

 system of numeration is spread from Formosa 

 and the Malay Archipelago to Madagascar, 

 and across the Pacific to Hawaii, New Zealand 

 and Easter Island. A series of papers by 

 Mr. Safford, embracing the grammar of the 

 Guam vernacular, is appearing in the Ameri- 

 can Anthropologist. The paper was discussed 

 by Dr. Lamb, Dr. Baum, Mr. Hallock and the 

 secretary. 



Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt read a paper entitled 

 ' The Clan Among the North American In- 

 dians.' Mr. Hewitt said that among the 

 Iroquois and most other tribes descent is on 

 the female line. The clan is formed from 



