September 18, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



417 



While the scales of the pig-fish are much 

 more regular in their features than those of 

 the squeteague, observations of the radii cor- 

 roborate the evidence obtained in 1912 that the 

 radii are merely fissures to permit greater free- 

 dom of body movement. 



Dr. H. V. Wilson, of the University of North 

 Carolina, spent the summer in an examination 

 of the collection of Philippine sponges. The 

 collection embraces all the great groups of 

 sponges : Calcarea, Hexactinellids, Tetractinel- 

 lids including LUhistida, Monaxonida and 

 Keratosa. Sixty-odd packages were examined. 

 These were found to represent twenty-five 

 species, the majority of which are new forms. 



Dr. James J. Wolfe, of Trinity College, de- 

 voted his investigations primarily to an exami- 

 nation of the Diatomaeese of Beaufort. Ex- 

 tensive tow-net collections were made at vari- 

 ous localities under a variety of conditions. 

 These are to be continued at monthly intervals 

 for one year. By this means it is hoped a 

 thoroughly representative collection will be se- 

 cured. Mounts have been made of about 200 

 -species and considerable progress has been 

 made in their identification. 



The culture of Padina sporelings was again 

 •carried on — now with special reference to 

 parthenogenesis. Cultures demonstrably par- 

 thenogenetic, started in the laboratory, as in 

 the earlier work, were transferred to the sea, 

 TTnfortnnately these were destroyed by the se- 

 vere storm of September S-i, necessitating 

 their repetition before this work can be re- 

 ported in full. 



Mr. Eaymond B. Beckwith, of Olivet Col- 

 lege, and Mr. Francis Harper, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, who were assigned to the director for 

 duty, accompanied the various collecting trips 

 and kept complete records of their observa- 

 tions, devoting special attention to the habits 

 of the fishes of the region. 



In addition to his other duties, Mr. Beck- 

 with accompanied the Fish Hawk on the vari- 

 ous collecting trips and assisted the director 

 on the survey of the off-shore fishing grounds. 



In addition to his regular work Mr. Harper 

 took a large series of photographs and a num- 

 ber of autochromes of live flounders to be used 



in illustrating Dr. Mast's report. He also 

 made numerous observations on the birds of 

 the region. In addition to the incidental ob- 

 servations on field trips for fishes, a few holi- 

 days and Sundays were devoted to this work 

 and a list of 87 species recorded. Ten birds 

 were tagged with leg-bands furnished by the 

 A m erican Bird Banding Association. A 

 breeding colony of herons on an island in the 

 vicinity of the laboratory was found on Au- 

 gust 9 to contain approximately 350 little blue 

 herons (Florida ccerulwa), 150 Louisiana 

 herons (Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis), 8 black- 

 crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax 

 ncBvius) and 6 American egrets (Herodias 

 egretta) . The little blue heron is not recorded 

 as a breeding bird of North Carolina in the 

 American Ornithologist's Union List, and this 

 is the first time the American egret is known 

 to have nested in the vicinity since 1899. Ten- 

 tative arrangements have been made for the 

 protection of the colony next year by a warden 

 of the National Association of Audubon So- 

 cieties. A number of species of shore birds 

 were studied and photographed during the lat- 

 ter part of the summer. 



An artist, Mrs. E. Bennett Decker, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, was engaged in making the 

 drawings to illustrate the embryological papers 

 of Dr. Kuntz, and a series of drawings of the 

 dermal denticles and teeth of the sharks of the 

 region to accompany the report of the director 

 on this subject. 



Lewis EadclIffe 



BuKEAU OF Fisheries, 



Washington, D. C, 



Mareli 13, 1914 



SPECIAL ASTICLES 



THE TRANSMISSION OF TERRESTRIAL RADIATION BY 



THE earth's atmosphere IN SUMMER 



AND IN WINTER 



An indirect measurement of the transmis- 

 sion through the earth's atmosphere of those 

 radiations which are emitted by the earth's 

 solid surface may be made by comparing the 

 actual radiation of a surface at the terrestrial 

 temperature toward the sky, with that toward, 

 a black body at absolute zero. The latter can 



