56 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 184. 



Fewkes ; Use of Rubber Bags in Gauging 

 Cranial Capacity, by Washington Matthews ; O. 

 jibwa Feather Symbolism, by W J McGee. 

 The Girl and the Dogs — An Eskimo Folk- 

 tale with Comments, by Signe Rink. 



The July Monist opens with an article by 

 Professor C. Lloyd Morgan on ' The Philosophy 

 of Evolution, 'which seeks to reconcile metaphys- 

 ics with science. Professor Jacques Loeb has a 

 brief discussion of ' Assimilation and Heredity,' 

 maintaining that, since any theory of heredity 

 must be based upon the mechanics of assimila- 

 tion, we are consequently forced to supplement 

 our purely morphological hypothesis of heredity 

 by a chemical theory. Dr. Paul Topinard de. 

 votes some forty odd pages to the treatment of 

 the 'Social Problem,' which he reviews in the 

 light of natural history, anthropology and soci. 

 ology proper. In ' Gnosticism in Its Relation 

 to Christianity,' Dr. Paul Carus seeks to show 

 that gnosticism, far from having been a heretical 

 Christian sect was a general religious movement 

 of pre-Christian times, and that Christianity 

 sprang from it and survived it by the law of 

 the survival of the fittest. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADEL' 



PHIA, JUNE 21. 



Me. Leavis Woolman described a series of 

 well-borings from Rock Hall, Maryland, indi- 

 cating the depth at which forty-one forms of 

 diatoms occur. The deposit resembles that 

 for 80 to 100 feet at Wild wood, Maryland. He 

 regarded the deposit as much more recent than 

 miocene. A small bed of the latter is placed 

 between it and the Eocene. There is a consid- 

 erable mixture of fresh-water diatoms with the 

 marine forms. 



Mr. D. S. Holman described the fission of 

 three forms of infusorians generated in putri- 

 factive solution. 



Me. Philip P. Calveet recounted his recent 

 studies of dragon-flies from tropical America 

 and dwelt on his mode of determining averages 

 of variations in extensive groups. Much the 

 largest proportion of such variation is atavistic, 

 illustrations being given from the genera de- 

 scribed. 



A paper entitled ' A New Chipmunk from 

 Northeastern China,' by Gerrit S. Miller, Jr,. 

 was presented for publication. 



Edw.. J. Nolan, 

 Recording Secretary. 



TOREEY BOTANICAL CLUB, APRIL 27, 1898. 



The first paper, by Mr. Tracy E. Hazen, was 

 entitled ' Notes on the Life History of Hmma- 

 tococcus and other Fresh-water Algae.' He 

 exhibited a dried specimen of Hsematococcus 

 from Vermont, consisting of a dull red incrus- 

 tation on rock, from which some of his own cul- 

 tures had been made. The paper, which will 

 soon be published, described the stages of its 

 life history, and was illustrated by colored 

 drawings. Discussions by Professor Lloyd, Dr. 

 Townsend, Dr. Britton and others followed. 

 The Secretary referred to a gathering of Red 

 Snow made at the Crimson Cliffs of North 

 Greenland by the Peary party two years ago, 

 which exhibits a much more brilliant red than 

 the Hxmatococcus of our own neighborhood. 



The second paper, by Mrs. Elizabeth G. 

 Britton, was entitled ' An account of the Mosses 

 collected by Mr. Pierre Jay in Peru and Bolivia 

 in 1893.' She exhibited about 60 sheets of 

 these mosses, the specimens shown forming, 

 however, only a small part of the entire collec- 

 tion, which include many species of tropical 

 American genera like Hookeria and Meteorium, 

 not yet determined. The Bolivian specimens 

 were collected in June and July near La Paz 

 and Yungus, and are largely si^ecies of high alti- 

 tudes and exposed localities. The Peruvian 

 specimens were collected in the vicinity of Cuzco 

 and the tributaries of the Madre de Dois, and 

 and are mostly forest species, including showy 

 Phyllogoniums and Forotrichums and various 

 species of Entodon and Rliizogonium. The col- 

 lection promises to be very interesting and will 

 be compared with Dr. Rusby's collections of 

 1885 and M. Germain's, both of which have re- 

 cently been enumerated and described by Dr. 

 C. Miiller in his Prodromus of the Mosses of 

 Bolivia in the Niiovo Giornale Botanico Italiano 

 for 1897. 



Edward S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



