I'EBBUABT 7, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



221 



The general discussion -whicli followed 

 brought out the fact that the dictionary, in 

 spite of its defects, contains much informa- 

 tion difficult to obtain from other sources, but 

 that it is very generally at variance with usage 

 among botanists in the matter of pronuncia- 

 tion. 



Notes on the Pine Barrens of Long Island: 



EoLAND M. Harper. 



The flora of the pine barrens of Long Island 

 has received little attention from botanists, 

 chiefly because it consists of comparatively 

 few and widely distributed species. A list of 

 46 Long Island pine-barren plants was piib- 

 lished by Dr. Britton in 1880, and copied by 

 at least three subsequent writers, but even yet 

 the aspects of the vegetation have scarcely 

 been described, or any photographs of it pub- 

 lished in botanical literature. 



The pine barrens are chiefly confined to the 

 southern half of Suffolk County, and are very 

 well developed in the uninhabited portions of 

 the towns of Babylon and Islip. The area 

 covered by them is very flat, with a soil of 

 coarse sandy loam. The vegetation is of two 

 types, dry pine barrens and swamps, the 

 former being by far the most extensive. In 

 the dry pine barrens the trees are nearly all 

 Pinus rigida, and there is a dense under- 

 growth consisting mostly of Quercus ilicifolia 

 and Q. prinoides, two to six feet tall. The 

 commonest herbs are Pteridium aquilinum, 

 lonactis, Cracca, Bapiisia, Basysioma, etc. 

 The effects of fire are everywhere visible. 



In the swamps the flora is somewhat richer 

 than in the dry pine barrens. Acer rubrum, 

 Nyssa, Clethra, Alnus, Myrica, Ilex, Os- 

 munda and Dulichium are characteristic. 

 Ericaceae and allied "families are well repre- 

 sented. 



Nearly all the species in these pine barrens 

 are quite widely distributed in the glaciated 

 region, or on the coastal plain, or both. Many 

 also occur in the mountains, from New Jersey 

 to Georgia. The vegetation is very similar 

 to that of some parts of the pine barrens of 

 New Jersey, from all accounts, but the flora 

 is considerably less diversified. 



The paper was illustrated by photographs. 



and will be published in the January, 1908, 

 number of Torreya. 



Charles Louis Pollard, 



Secretary pro tern. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 409th meeting was held December 3, 

 1907. The president read the program for the 

 coming academic year of the Paris School of 

 Anthropology, and exhibited a photograph by 

 A. Fric of a band of professional Indian- 

 hunters still employed in South Brazil. Sev- 

 eral of the men-hunters show wounds, while 

 in their midst is a small group of captured 

 Indian women and children. 



Professor W. H. Hohnes gave an account 

 of the prehistoric sites in Arizona and New 

 Mexico recently set apart for preservation as 

 public monuments. They are great pueblos 

 in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; Inscription 

 Eock near Zuiii, New Mexico, bearing auto- 

 graph inscriptions of early Spanish explorers; 

 and Montezuma Castle on the Eio Verde, Ari- 

 zona. Professor Holmes was followed by Mr, 

 Edgar L. Hewett, who presented many inter- 

 esting details regarding Chaco Canyon pueblos 

 and the cliff ruins of the Mesa Verde. Illus- 

 trations of these ruins were shown, and a pro- 

 longed discussion engaged in by Messrs. Lamb, 

 Kober, Eobinson and Hewett. 



Dr. Hrdlicka demonstrated the right hu- 

 merus of an adult orang showing perfect heal- 

 ing after a complete oblique fracture at the 

 middle of the shaft, just below the attachment 

 of the deltoid. The bene was somewhat short- 

 ened, but there was little displacement, leaving 

 the animal with a very serviceable limb. The 

 bone is from a wild orang collected in Su- 

 matra for the U. S. National Museum by Dr. 

 W. L. Abbott. In view of the arboreal habits 

 of the orang, the location of the fracture in 

 the right arm, and the time needed for a 

 strong union of the fragments, the healing 

 effected is truly remarkable. The case arouses 

 much speculation as to the behavior of the 

 animal under such conditions, and it seems 

 certain that the injured arm was given a pro- 

 longed rest. Discussed by Professor Holmes 

 and Drs. Lamb, Baker and Kober. 



Dr. I. M. Casanowicz exhibited specimens 



