April 29, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



701 



modern scale, another essential, and, there- 

 fore, the burden of proof is upon those that 

 deny its use by them. Two instances were 

 cited in which the same notes were taken 

 down on separate occasions, in each of which 

 the record was completely independent and 

 the first was not in mind when the second 

 was taken. A phonographic record of an 

 Eskimo song secured on one of Lieutenant 

 Peary's expeditions was presented to demon- 

 strate the identity of the intervals used by the 

 singer with those of the modern scale. In 

 ■conclusion, a whistled imitation was given of 

 a melodious and rhythmical song of a wood 

 ■pewee, and it was remarked that the technical 

 requirements of modern music observed in the 

 construction of this song are far more won- 

 derful than the use it makes of the intervals 

 of the modern scale. 



Wilfred H. Osgood spoke on ' The Caribou 

 of Alaska,' giving an outline of the present 

 .state of knowledge of the subject and detail- 

 ing his own experience with one of the still 

 remaining herds. The caribou of Alaska are 

 all of the barren-ground type and their spe- 

 cific or subspecific relationships are still very 

 imperfectly understood. They are found in 

 comparatively large numbers in three general 

 areas — the Alaska Peninsula, the region be- 

 tween the Yukon and Tanana rivers, and 

 northeastern Alaska between the Yukon River 

 and the Arctic coast. They have been ex- 

 terminated over a large part of their former 

 range and are now being killed in large num- 

 bers for their flesh and hides. Their annual 

 increase, however, is large and they might 

 easily be preserved under very liberal shooting 

 regulations provided these could be enforced. 

 A number of small scattering herds were ob- 

 served in the region between the Yukon and 

 Tanana rivers near the town of Eagle. The 

 habits of the animals and the methods of 

 hunting them were described. Lantern slide 

 views showing small herds of the animals and 

 the character of the country inhabited by 

 them were shown. 



M. W. Lyon, Jr., read a paper presenting 

 the results of a study of the existing hares, 

 rabbits and pikas, based on skulls and skele- 

 tons mainly in the collection of the IT. S. 



National Museum. The hares and rabbits, 

 family Leporidse, were shown to contain ten 

 distinct genera, many of which have previ- 

 ously been recognized as subgenera. Two 

 were pointed out as new. The pikas, family 

 Ochotonidse, were shown to contain a single 

 genus, Ochotona, composed of three subgenera. 

 The characters by which the groups are de- 

 termined are found in the enamel pattern of 

 the teeth, the form of the cervical and lumbar 

 vertebrse, sterna, ribs, bones of the forearm, 

 etc., in addition to characters of the skull. 

 Regret was expressed that only very few skele- 

 tons were available for study and the desira- 

 bility of securing at least one skeleton of each 

 species of mammal in addition to numerous 

 skins and skulls was emphasized. 



M. C. Marsh read a paper on ' The Gas 

 Disease in Fishes.' The subject was first 

 investigated at the Bureau of Fisheries' sta- 

 tion at Woods Holl, Mass. The sea water for 

 the aquaria was forced by steam pumps into 

 elevated tanks for a gravity flow. Leaks in 

 the suction pipe allowed air to enter, which, 

 upon passing through the pump, was forced 

 into solution by the hydrostatic pressure. 

 The water reaching the aquaria was super- 

 saturated with atmosperie nitrogen, possibly 

 also with oxygen. In this condition it was 

 rapidly fatal to all adult fishes, death usually 

 being due to gas embolism. The occurrence 

 of the free gas in the blood vessels was ex- 

 plained as a precipitation due to the slight 

 elevation of the temperature in the systemic 

 circulation, the blood as it passed through the 

 gills tending to supersaturate like the water. 

 A hydrostatic pressure of about six pounds 

 prevented all symptoms of the disease, pre- 

 sumably by raising the saturation point of the 

 blood plasma. The water could also be ren- 

 dered harmless by a deaerating process as by 

 passing it through perforated pans and allow- 

 ing it to fall through several feet in a shower 

 of slender streams. The renewal of the suc- 

 tion pipe, preventing access of free air to the 

 water under pressure, likewise did away with 

 all manifestations of the disease. 



Wilfred H. Osgood, 



Secretary. 



