662 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. VoLjXLn. No. 1088 



Grouping values of the abundance thus ob- 

 tained with respect to each of a series of magni- 

 tudes of one of the environmental elements ex- 

 hibits in tabular form the relation of the distri- 

 bution to that element and the others linked with it. 

 The errors in estimating the abundance arising 

 from the use of a plankton net, the variability of 

 the elements other than the one in question, and 

 the fact that only a relatively small sample of the 

 total population is examined have an important 

 accidental influence on the character of the rela- 

 tion. 



Illustrations are given of a method of testing 

 the significance of the difference between two val- 

 ues of the abundance, which depends upon the 

 probability that a difference in the same direction 

 would arise by chance if the number of hauls were 

 indefinitely increased. A plan is briefly outlined 

 for eliminating the effects of all but one of the 

 elements and testing the significance of the rela- 

 tion indicated by the corrected values of the 

 abundance. The same methods are also applicable 

 to statistical treatment of other kinds of quantita- 

 tive data. 



The Boring Mollusca of the Paoific Coast: Mrs. 

 Ida S. Oldroyd, Long Beach, California. 



The Life History of the Pacific Serring: 0. Mc- 

 Lean Fraser. 



The Pacific herring appear in large schools all 

 along the Pacific coast from California to Alaska. 

 The average weight of those caught in purse seines 

 is about 3.6 oz. and the length 8 inches, not in- 

 eluding caudal finrays. They wander about in 

 search of food, which consists mainly of copepods. 

 There is but one spawning season in one locality. 

 Near the biological station, Nanaimo, this is in 

 February and March. Spawning takes place in 

 shallow water, but this may be incidental to the 

 requirement of barnacle larvae for food at that 

 time. Both females and males rub against the sea 

 weed while spawning. The spawn adheres, hatches 

 out in 14 or 16 days and the yolk lasts another six 

 days. First spawning takes place at the age of 

 three or four years. Most herring caught are from 

 four to eight years; some were found ten years 

 old. The scale increases in size in approximately 

 the same ratio as the other parts of the body and 

 the different year growths are marked off by 

 winter checks or rings. Those who have calcu- 

 lated the growth of the fish in each year from the 

 rate of growth of the scales have failed to take 

 into account that the scale does not start to grow 

 when the fish does. The herring is 3.5 cm. long 



before the appearance of the scale. This should 

 be taken into consideration when the length of the 

 fish is divided according to the divisions of the 

 scale as shown by wiater checks. 



The Nuclear Phenomena in Paramecium: E. T. 



Young, University of North Dakota. 



During the San Francisco meetings on Thursday, 

 August 5, of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, there was formed a Pa- 

 cific Branch of the American Society of Zoologists. 

 The officers elected at this meeting were: 



President, Y. L. Kellogg, Stanford University, 

 Palo Alto, California. 



Vice-president, E. M. Terkes, Santa Barbara, 

 California. 



Secretary and Treasurer, Joseph Grinnell, Uni- 

 versity of California, Berkeley, California. 



Executive Committee, C. O. Esterly, Occidental 

 College, Los Angeles, California; Barton W. Ever- 

 mann, California Academy of Science, San Fran- 

 cisco, California; Charles L. Edwards, Los Angeles, 

 California; J. Frank Daniel, University of Cali- 

 fornia, Berkeley, California; Harold Heath, Stan- 

 ford University, Palo Alto, California. 



On Thursday, August 5, there was formed a 

 Pacific Coast Branch of the American Society of 

 Naturalists with the following organization: 



President, Barton W. Evermann, California 

 Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California. 



Vice-president, John F. Bovard, University of 

 Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. 



Secretary, Ellis Leroy Michael, Scripps Institute 

 for Biological Eesearch, La Jolla, California. 



Treasurer, L. L. Burlingame, Stanford Univer- 

 sity, Palo Alto, California. 



Executive Committee, Trevor Kincaid, Univer- 

 sity of Washington, Seattle, Wash.; Harry B. 

 Torrey, Eeed College, Portland, Oregon; Frank 

 M. McFarland, Stanford University, Palo Alto, 

 California. 



The society will take the place of the local bio- 

 logical societies of the Pacific coast. 



The Biological Society of the Pacific met at the 

 Hotel Sutter, San Francisco, August 4, for their 

 annual meeting. The address of the evening was 

 given by Dr. Harry Beal Torrey, of Eeed College, 

 on "Research and the Elementary Student of 

 Science." At this meeting the Biological Society 

 voted to drop its organization in favor of the 

 newly organized Pacific Branch of the American 

 Society of Naturalists. 



H. V. Neal, 

 Secretary 



