April 26, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



659 



the most recently found specimen were 

 shown. This is ten inches high, hexagonal 

 at rim, globular below, decorated in the 

 usual manner of Vermont pottery by in- 

 dented figures and lines over the entire 

 upper portion. It holds twelve quarts. 

 Numerous fragments of highly decorated 

 rims have also been found recently at what 

 appears to have been a camp site, on Mal- 

 lett's Bay, the largest of the nimierous bays 

 of Lake Champlain. At this same locality, 

 in a stiff clay which underlies the loose 

 surface soil many bone awls, scrapers, 

 etc., have been found within the last two 

 months. These objects are interesting in 

 themselves, but they are especially so, as 

 they are the first bone objects found in 

 Vermont, with the exception of one or two 

 which were obtained some years ago at 

 another locality. Marine shells and bits of 

 coral have also been found with these bone 

 objects. 



In ' Recent Geological Changes as Affect- 

 ing Theories of Man's Development,' Pro- 

 fessor G. Frederick Wright characterized 

 the Tertiary as a period of stability and 

 the Quaternary as one of great and rapid 

 changes. 



'Harness Mound Explorations' was the 

 subject discussed by Mr. William C. Mills. 

 The Harness Mound was opened in 1846 

 by Squier and Davis and again in 1885 by 

 Professor F. W. Putnam. In these earlier 

 explorations fifty burials were imcovered. 

 Mills has recently found 133 additional 

 burials. Cremation was quite generally 

 practised. In eases where cremation took 

 place at the grave no artifacts were found 

 with the remains, but where cremation had 

 taken place prior to the deposition of the 

 remains, artifacts accompanied the latter. 

 Mr. Mills discovered a series of post-holes 

 surrounding the burials. Long awls made 

 of the leg bone of the deer were described 

 and differences noted between the bone 



implements from the Harness Mound and 

 those found at Fort Ancient. 



Mr. Alanson Skinner gave the results of 

 his 'Recent Discoveries at a Prehistoric 

 Indian Village Site at Mariner's Harbor, 

 Staten Island.' In the spring of 1903 re- 

 cent railroad excavations at Mariner's Har- 

 bor, Staten Island, N. T., exposed a prehis- 

 toric site of the Hackensack Indians, a local 

 branch of the Leni Lenape. Shell pits and 

 burials were found, and up to the spring of 

 1906 these were opened whenever exposed 

 and many skeletons were found. Pottery 

 was abundant, and this, usually in Algon- 

 kin style, often showed Iroquoian influence. 

 Grooved axes occurred, but no celts, and no 

 implements were found with burials. 



Saturday morning's program being of 

 interest to students of social and economic 

 science, members of Section I accepted an 

 invitation to be present and take part. 

 Professor Franz Boas opened the session 

 with a paper on ' Heredity in Head Form. ' 

 Dr. Robert Bennett Bean followed with 

 'Some Racial Peculiarities of the Negro 

 Brain,' it being a resume of his studies 

 recently published in the American Jour- 

 nal of Anatomy} In 'Brain and Educa- 

 tion,' Dr. Thomas M. Balliet traced the 

 development of the sensory, motor and as- 

 sociation centers. 



'Selection and Elimination by Immigra- 

 tion' was discussed by Dr. Maurice Fish- 

 berg. From available data, collected dur- 

 ing the enrollment of soldiers for the civil 

 war, it appears that immigrants to the 

 United States are, on the average, taller 

 than the people in the countries from which 

 they come. It was found that natives 

 of England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, 

 France, etc., were, on the average, about 

 one inch taller than the soldiers in armies 

 of the countries of their birth. Not only 

 were the immigrants from foreign coun- 

 * September 1, 1906, pp. 353-432. 



