832 



SCIENCE 



[iV. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 



in being- oval. Pantodon (fam. Pantodon- 

 tidffl) also has strongly tuberculate basal 

 cireuli. T. D. A. Cockeeell 



Univebsity or Coloeado 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE NEW YOKE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 SECTION OF BIOLOGY 



The regular monthly meeting of the Section of 

 Biology held at the American Museum of Natural 

 History, March 13, 1911, was devoted to a public 

 lecture by Dr. George A. Soper, president of the 

 Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, on the "Sci- 

 entific Aspects of the Work of the Metropolitan 

 Sewerage Commission. ' ' 



In connection with the investigations of the 

 commission upon the pollution of the waters of 

 New York harbor from various sources, a great 

 amount of scientific work has been done by Dr. 

 Soper and his assistants. The most interesting 

 features of this work and its results were dwelt 

 upon in popular manner by the lecturer. 



At the regular monthly meeting of the section 

 held at the American Museum of Natural History, 

 April 10, 1911, Chairman Frederic A. Lucas pre- 

 siding, the following papers were read: 

 A New and Peculiar Porpoise from Japan: EOY 



C. Andrews. 



The speaker exhibited photographs and parts of 

 the skeleton of a new porpoise secured in the 

 summer of 1910, in Eikuzen province, Japan. 

 This specimen is allied to Phocoena dalli True, and 

 with that species forms a distinct group of 

 Pftocffina-like porpoises which deserves generic 

 rank. This group resembles Phoccena externally, 

 but has white side and ventral areas sharply 

 defined from the black of the upper parts, a fal- 

 cate dorsal fin, and vertebrae numbering 95 or 

 more. The type of the new genus to which 

 Phocaeiia dalli was referred is the specimen which 

 was secured in Japan, and has been formally de- 

 scribed in a Bulletin of the American Museum of 

 Natural History, now in press. 



The Japanese porpoise presents characters, both 

 externally and in the skeleton, which distinguish 

 it from aU other members of the entire family. 

 The caudal peduncle shows a strongly marked 

 "hump," and ventrally a prominent concavity 

 which gives the posterior portion of the body a 

 most extraordinary appearance. The neural 

 spines of the entire vertebral series are extremely 

 long and slender, reaching a height much greater 

 than in any other known member ef the Del- 



pliinidce. The transverse processes are also very 

 long and rod-like. The number of vertebrae is 95, 

 approaching closely P. dalli, which has 97. The 

 scapula is unlike that of any other member of 

 the family in that its height almost equals its 

 greatest breadth, and it is in general shape some- 

 what like that of a Baleen whale. 



The specimen is, on the whole, one of the most 

 remarkable members of the Delphinidse that have 

 thus far been discovered. 

 Observations on Birds and Fishes made on an 



Expedition to Florida Waters: J. T. Nichols. 



This paper concerned itself with a trip through 

 Florida waters on Mr. Alessandro Fabbri's yacht 

 Tekla in the interests of the American Museum's 

 department of fishes. 



Attention was called to the abundance of the 

 white ibis and Louisiana heron, contrasted with 

 the scarcity of aigrette-bearing herons. After a 

 brief mention of the work and the results obtained, 

 the balance of fish-life in a fresh-water outlet of 

 the everglades was compared with the balance of 

 fish-life in the salt water as at Key West. 



In the former situations gar pikes (Lepisos- 

 teus) were abundant, as were various Gentrarchids 

 (among them the large-mouthed bass and blue-gill 

 sunfish) which darted in and out through the 

 little channels among the weed, but which 

 did not drive head first through the masses 

 of weed as did the leathery-skinned gars, and 

 only made quick sallies into the shallower and 

 less open waters, where various species of Poecili- 

 ids, especially Gambusia, and Fundulus goodei 

 were tremendously abundant. The surprising 

 freedom from mosquitoes was mentioned and it 

 was pointed out how the existing balance of fish- 

 life was favorable to a great abundance of 6am- 

 busia, etc., which might be expected to prey on 

 mosquito larvae. The Gentrarchids would be likely 

 to hold in check a fish like the banded pickerel, 

 which would have followed these small fishes into 

 the shallows where the Gentrarchids did not follow 

 them, and perhaps materially reduced their num- 

 bers. The situation here where the large primitive 

 gar, the spiny-rayed modern Gentrarchids and the 

 abundant intermediate PoecUiids made up the bulk 

 of the fish population, was compared with the 

 more complicated marine situation where large 

 selachians and spiny-rayed basses, snappers, 

 grunts, wrasses, scorpion fishes, etc., and schooling 

 herrings and anchovies of various sorts in a way 

 constituted homologous classes. 



L. HUSSAKOF, 



Secretary 



