May 7, 1897.] 



SGIENGE. 



739 



it is characterized by a uniform black shale with 

 even sedimentation. An hypothesis is advanced 

 to account for this diiference and some broad 

 fundamental principles laid down which apply 

 to such problems in general. C. D. Walcott 

 gives a brief description of a new species of 

 Lingulepis from the Middle Cambrian, in the 

 Yellowstone Park. 



A. W. Duflf discusses the secondary undula- 

 tions of the water surface noted in tidal observa- 

 tions on the Bay of Fundy. At Indiantown, 

 near St. John, New Brunswick, slight fluctua- 

 tions of level were noted on a calm day, which 

 bad a fairly constant period of thirty-five sec- 

 onds. There was found also a series of larger 

 undulations obtained in the record which had a 

 period of from thirty to forty minutes. Both 

 series ceased at about the same time — about half 

 an hour after high water. In connection with 

 these, the author reviews observations made by 

 various authors on the seiches, particularly those 

 of Forel on Lake Geneva. It is shown that 

 Forel's formula gives with fair accuracy the 

 proper period for the secondary undulations, but 

 while the Swiss seiches are regarded as con- 

 nected with the abnormal conditions of the 

 barometer, no such relation appears to exist in 

 the case here described. 



S. L. Penfield and H. W. Foote describe a 

 new silicate from Franklin Furnace, N. J., to 

 which they give the name Eoebliugite, which 

 is remarkable in containing sulphur dioxide 

 (SO2) and lead. 



THE AUK. 



The April number opens with two papers on 

 the spring plumage of the bobolink, respectively 

 by Arthur P. Chadbourne and Frank M. Chap- 

 man, the first being illustrated with a colored 

 plate. Dr. Chadbourne describes a case of the 

 change of color in a caged male bobolink to the 

 spring dress without any loss or renewal of 

 feathers, whereupon he claims that ' color 

 change in the individual feather is fact, not 

 theory,' and that " the change to the breeding 

 dress in the male bobolink sometimes takes 

 place without a so-called 'moult.' " Mr. Chap- 

 man's paper is to some extent in the nature of 

 a rejoinder to Dr. Chadbourne's, especially in 

 respect to a specimen of a moulting spring bobo- 



link from CorumbS,, Brazil, which Dr. Chad- 

 bourne regards as acquiring the breeding dress 

 partly by moulting and partly by change of 

 color in the feathers themselves, an interpreta- 

 tion, which, Mr. Chapman claims, is quite with- 

 out basis in fact as regards the feathers alleged 

 to be changing color. 



(Jharles W. Richmond describes ten new 

 species of birds from the Kilimanjaro region of 

 East Africa, collected by Dr. W. L. Abbott; 

 A. W. Anthony describes several new birds 

 from Lower California ; W. W. Price describes 

 a new pine grosbeak from California, and 

 Leonhard Stejneger a new guillemot from the 

 Kuril Islands. Harry C. Oberholser discusses 

 at length the characters and relationships of 

 the Western forms of the long-billed marsh 

 wren, describing a new subspecies. William 

 Leon Dawson gives an interesting annotated 

 list of the birds of Okanogan county, Oregon; 

 and A. W. Butler writes of various rare birds 

 occurring in Indiana, including an account of 

 the recent remarkable occurrence of Briinnich's 

 murre far inland. 



The department of ' General Notes ' includes, 

 as usual, a large number of notes on rare or 

 little known species, and a number of important 

 nomenclatural notes ; ' Recent Literature ' con- 

 tains sixteen pages of reviews and notices of 

 recent ornithological publications; ' Correspond- 

 ence ' and ' General Notes ' complete the num- 

 ber, which is much larger than usual and is 

 filled with matter of unusually varied interest. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP "WASHINGTON — 276TH 



MEETING, SATUEDAY, APRIL 10. 



Dr. Theo. Gill and Mr. C. H. Townsend 

 presented by title, ' Diagnoses of New Species 

 of Deep Sea Fishes.' 



Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., under the title, 

 ' A Species of Shearwater {Puffinus assimilis, 

 Gould) New to the North American Fauna,' 

 noted the occurrence of this species as a strag- 

 gler, on Sable Island, on September 1, 1896. 



Mr. Sylvester D. Judd spoke on ' Antennal 

 Circulation in Crangonyx.' 



Mr. Charles T. Simpson read ' Notes on the 

 Classification of Unios,^ being a brief sketch of 

 the anatomical work of Lea, Agassiz, Kirtland 



