568 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 825 



membrane which, forms at the same time) 

 until its internal pressure is compensated by 

 the tension of its membrane. 



E. Newton Harvey 

 Maeinb Biological Labobatoey, 

 Woods Hole, Mass., 

 August 31, 1910 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF WATER FROM THE 

 GREAT SALT LAKE 



From about 1900 until 1904 fears were ex- 

 pressed that the Great Salt Lake was doomed 

 to extinction, and that it would be a matter of 

 only a few years until its site would become a 

 salt desert. The recession of the shore line 

 and sinking of the lake level continued until 

 the autunm of 1903. Since that time there 

 has been a rise in the level of the lake, and 

 during the year just ending new fears have 

 arisen — ^fears that large -engineering works 

 like the Lucin cut-o£E of the Southern Pacific 

 and the roadbed of the Western Pacific rail- 

 road would have to be abandoned. A succes- 

 sion of years with abnormally high rainfall is 

 responsible for the condition now existing. 



The above values are taken in part from " The 

 Great Salt Lake," by J. E. Talmage, and all the 

 analyses during recent years have been made in 

 the laboratories of the University of Utah. 



An inspection of the results of analyses of 

 the lake water will be of interest. In Table I. 

 are shown the specific gravity and total solids 

 obtained by investigators at various times 

 during the last forty or more years, and in 

 Table II. more complete results of the latest 

 analyses are recorded. In this connection, it 

 should be remembered that the annual varia- 

 tion of the lake water shows a minimum of 

 total solids in the spring, following the winter 

 and spring precipitation, and a maximum in 

 the autumn. W. 0. Ebaugh 



Wallace Macfarlane 



Univeesitt of Utah ^ 



' a rare fish from the new jersey coast 



A SPECIMEN of Poly prion americanus 

 (Bloch and Schneider) was captured with 

 hook and line by Captain Harry Maddox, 

 eight miles off Asbury Park, N. J., on August 

 21, 1910. This species, known as the wreck- 

 fish or stone-bass is said to be not uncommon 

 in European waters, where it reaches a large 

 size — five to six feet in length. Only a single 

 specimen has been recorded heretofore on the 

 American side of the Atlantic, taken by the 

 U. S. Eish Commission in the GuK Stream 

 off the Grand Banks. 



The specimen taken by Captain Maddox is 

 therefore not only new to the New Jersey 

 list, but is also the first to be recorded near 

 the coast of the United States. It measured 

 a trifle over ten inches and weighed thirteen 

 ounces. 



It was sent to the New York Aquarium for 

 identification and has been turned over to the 

 collection of the American Museum of Nat- 

 ural History. Raymond C. Osburn 



The New Yoek Aquakium 



