Mabch 10, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



389 



Lacerta; but large fenestra lateralis nasi, em- 

 phasized by Gaupp, wanting in all stages. 



Considerable individual variation in arrange- 

 ment of nerve foramina. Without reference to 

 age, hypoglossus foramina may be either three or 

 two on each side, or three on one side and two 

 on other. Also irregularities in course of ab- 

 ducens. 



Discussion of columella auris deferred. 

 The Taxmiomio Value of the Brain : B. G. Wildee, 



Cornell University. 



That the brain presents distinctive characters 

 in certain teleostean families was claimed by L. 

 Agassiz in 1844.^ Tlie taxonomic value of en- 

 cephalic characters has been maintained at dif- 

 ferent times by Owen, Gill and the writer. Never- 

 theless, recent revisions of various groups do not 

 even mention the brain, and four years ago a 

 review ° by a former secretary and vice-president 

 of the zoologic section of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science declares that 

 the study of the nervous system has no value 

 from any other point of view than that of func- 

 tion. The present paper mentioned instances of 

 generally accepted groupings that might have 

 been based upon the brain alone; recalled mal- 

 assignments (e. jr., of the Sirenia with the Ceta- 

 cea, of ganoids and selachians as Palceichthyes) 

 that might have been averted by due considera- 

 tion of the brain; and held that such considera- 

 tion forbade the association of ganoids and dip- 

 noans as a " ganoid-dipnoan phylum," warranted 

 the separation of lampreys and hags as coor- 

 dinate groups of class grade, and showed that 

 Pristiophorus is a primitive type not nearly re- 

 lated to Pristis. Standard treatises evince indif- 

 ference toward the brain or ignorance pf it, and 

 are open to criticisms comparable with those in 

 the American Journal of Science, Vol. 20, July, 

 1880, p. 76; likewise the commingling of constant 

 and peculiar characters with others not really 

 distinctive, as deprecated in 1885'' and in 1894.° 



The Histology of the Oviduct of the Domestic 

 Fowl: Feank M. Surface, Kentucky Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station. 

 This paper will be published in the Annual 



Report of the Maine Agricultural Experiment 



Station for 1911. 



'^Bull. 8oc. 8ci. Nat. NeuohatS, December 4, 

 p. 147. 



« Science, Vol. XXIV., p. 846. 



* Science, Vol. VI., p. 223, September 11. 



° Asso. Amer. Anat., Proceedings, 7th session, 

 p. 19. 



The Lampreys of the Cayuga Lake Basin: Fate 



of Lampreys after Spawning; Non-parasitism 



of the Brook Lam,prey : Simon H. Gage, Cornell 



University. 



After spawning, lake lampreys were put into 

 wire cages with live cat-fish. The cages were kept 

 in the running water of the stream where they 

 spawned, and in the lake water at the Limnolog- 

 ical Station. The spent lampreys never fed upon 

 the cat-fish, and soon died. Dead bodies of lam- 

 preys were found in great abundance along the 

 stream. The discovery was made that the noto- 

 chord is very persistent, enduring in full perfec- 

 tion after all the rest of the animal had decayed. 

 There seems great probability that under favor- 

 able conditions the notochords might become fos- 

 silized; if so they would puzzle the paleontologist. 



The non-parasitism of the brook lamprey was 

 first reported by me in 1898. The demonstration 

 has been repeated during the years 1907, 1908 

 and 1909, by keeping the transforming animals 

 over winter in an aquarium. They live under the 

 sand like the ammocoete, and only emerge in the 

 spring when their sexual products are ripe. Lake 

 lampreys when they transform attack fish with 

 great ferocity, and suck their blood, but the brook 

 lamprey never attacks fish under the most favor- 

 able conditions. When they emerge from the 

 sand they lay their eggs and die. From their 

 structural adaptation to parasitism it is believed 

 that they were once parasitic, but have lost that 

 habit. 

 Protective Coloration in Poultry: Raymond 



Peabl, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 



This paper has appeared in the American Nat- 

 uralist for February, 1911, under the title: 

 " Data on the Relative Conspicuousness of Barred 

 and Self-colored Fowls." 

 Ada/ptive Color Changes in Flounders: F. B. 



Stjmnee, U. 8. Bureau of Fisheries. 



The author described the results of some in- 

 quiries, conducted at Naples and Woods Hole, 

 into the relation between the visible background 

 and the color-shade and pigment-pattern assumed 

 by the fish. 

 Sense of Smell in Selachians: R. E. Sheijwn, 



University of Pittsburgh. (Introduced by S. 



H. Gage.) 



1. A current of water, caused by the respiratory 

 movements, and augmented by the forward motion 

 of the fish in swimming, courses through the 

 nasal capsules of the dogfish. 



2. By this means substances in solution in the 

 water come in contact with the olfactory mucous 

 membrane. 



