Mabch 6, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



389 



At the 31st meeting the death of Professor 

 A. M. Collett was announced, and Mrs. Cor- 

 nelia S. Miles, first vice-president, bec;uue 

 acting president. Mrs. Miles is principal of 

 the Broadway School, Denver, Colorado, and 

 has received the degree of A.M. in the gradu- 

 ate school of the University of Denver, and 

 last summer was engaged in scientific work 

 in the graduate school of the University of 

 Chicago. 



Professor George L. Cannon, who for a 

 number of years had been engaged with Pro- 

 fessor Collett in scientific work in the East 

 Denver High School, gave a sketch of his life, 

 and offered resolutions which were adopted. 



Mr. E. B. Sterling delivered a lecture on 

 ' puff balls,' obtained in Denver and vicinity, 

 explaining the difference between them and 

 the eastern forms. He pronounced the sev- 

 eral species at Denver, so far as tested by 

 his observations and experience, to be edible. 

 His lecture was supplemented by a short ad- 

 dress by Professor Ellsworth Bethel, a recog- 

 nized authority on botany in Colorado. Pro- 

 fessor George L. Cannon followed with an 

 address on the ' Death of the Leaves,' con- 

 trasting the fall colors of this region with 

 those of the East. 



At the 32d meeting, 'Navajo Blankets, 

 their History and Symbolism,' was the topic 

 for discussion. After some introductory re- 

 marks by Dr. J. B. Kinley, Colonel U. S. 

 Hollister spoke at length on the subject, il- 

 lustrating his remarks by about sixty-five 

 blankets from his ovm private collection. He 

 described their system of weaving, use of 

 dyes, and the meaning of the symbols. 



Dr. A. L. Bennett delivered a lecture at 

 the 33d meeting on the ' Value of the Cranial 

 Capacity as Indicating the Degree of Intel- 

 ligence Enjoyed by the Prehistoric f^liff 

 Dwellers of our Great Southwest.' Dr. Ben- 

 nett, in addition to being chairman of the 

 Section of Anthropology and Ethnology of 

 the Colorado Academy of Science, is also a 

 fellow of the Anthropological Institute of 

 Great Britain and Ireland. Dr. Bennett has 

 spent considerable time examining and mea?- 

 uring the cranial capacity of the large col- 

 lection of the Cliff Dweller slculls from the 



Mancos region, Colorado, in the museum of 

 the State Historical and Natural History 

 Society of Colorado. Erom data obtained in 

 these measurements he gives them a higher 

 grade of intelligence than has been accorded 

 by some to these primitive people. 



Mrs. W. S. Peabody read a paper on the 

 ' Work and Plans of the Cliff " Dwellings 

 Association,' being an interesting review of 

 efforts made to preserve from vandalism and 

 the relic hunter the prehistoric ruins of the 

 Southwest. Will. C. Ferril, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE PUBLICATION OF REJECTED NAMES. 



I WISH to speak quite respectfully of Mr. 

 T. D. A. Cockerell; but surely systematists 

 would be much happier if he and his like did 

 not raise such distiirbing questions as that 

 in Science for January 30, p. 189. Had he 

 chosen to condemn Messrs. Banks and Xnowl- 

 ton, first for wasting time, ink and paper over 

 names that they never intended to use, sec- 

 ondly for presumption in substituting their 

 own inventions for those of Marx and Les- 

 quereus, then one would have applauded him. 

 But all he objects to in them is that they in- 

 advertently happened to print the so-called 

 MS. names a page or so ahead of the new 

 names proposed by themselves. Mr. Cock- 

 erell does not attempt to prove that the MS. 

 names were published five minutes earlier, 

 and it is clear that the publication of the old 

 and new names was simultaneous in each 

 paper. The precise number of pages, lines, 

 or words that intervened can make no differ- 

 ence. Suppose that Mr. Banks had written 

 as follows : " For this species of Filistrata 

 there is a choice of two names: F. oceanea 

 and F. fasciata. The name F. oceanea has 

 been found on an unpublished label, but since 

 in my opinion it is inappropriate, I shall call 

 the species F. fasciata." Now to be consist- 

 ent, Mr. Cockerell would have to insist that 

 in writing thus Mr. Banks contravened the 

 rules of nomenclature, because he introduced 

 oceanea first. ' An two men ride of a horse, 

 one must ride behind.' Surely an author 

 does not lose his freedom of choice before he 



