614 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 95. 



The Guetares were a tribe of moderately 

 high culture in the interior. One of their 

 cemeteries was excavated by Mr. Alfaro, 

 and a large amount of material obtained. 

 They were skilful in dressing stone, and 

 one of their tables (or seats?) pictured in 

 the report is remarkable for symmetry and 

 finish. It is forty centimeters high and 

 seventy-one in diameter. As goldsmiths 

 they were not equal to the tribes near the 

 Chiriqui lagoon, and decidedly inferior to 

 those of Colombia, the Chibchas and Quim- 

 bayas. Their pottery, a number of speci- 

 mens of which are figured, was superior in 

 design and technique. It was of curious 

 forms, and often ornamented with figures 

 in polychrome. 



The affiliations of the Gruetares are still 

 uncertain, as, except a few proper names, 

 we have no specimen of their language, 

 and they are apparently extinct. 



D. G. Brinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



Dr. S. Oppenheim contributes to the volume 

 a paper on special periodic solutions in the 

 problem of three bodies, and Dr. de Ball 

 has an investigation of the orbit of Comet 

 1882 III. H. J. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 

 The Astronomical Journal of October 6th 

 contains the announcement by Dr. See of 

 his re-discovery of the companion of Sirius 

 at the Lowell observatory. The other as- 

 tronomers of the observatory have also seen 

 and measured the companion. Dr. See says 

 that, according to these measures, the com- 

 panion has fallen no less than 30 degrees 

 behind its predicted place in position angle. 

 We suspect that this statement may be due 

 to a misprint or a slip of the pen. 



We have received Vol. IV. of the publi- 

 cations of the Kuflfner observatory in Vi- 

 enna. It contains zone observations be- 

 tween 6° and 10° south declination, together 

 with mean positions derived from them. 

 There are also descriptions, by Messrs. Rep- 

 sold, of the new prime vertical instrument 

 of the observatory, which is provided with 

 a vertical circle, and of the new heliometer. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 A SCIENTIFIC session of the National Academy 

 of Sciences will be held in New York, at Co- 

 lumbia University, beginning November 17th, 

 1896, at 11 o'clock a. m. Members who have 

 papers for this meeting may send the titles to 

 Dr. C. F. Chandler, Columbia University, New 

 York City. A special stated session of the 

 Academy is called for Wednesday, November 

 18th, in New York, to consider the President's 

 Annual Report to Congress, and other business 

 that may come before the Academy. 



The Honolulu correspondent of the United 

 Associated Presses writes that Mr. C. R. Bishop 

 has authorized the trustees of the Bishop Mu- 

 seum to expend $750,000 in building an aqua- 

 rium and marine biological station at Honolulu, 

 for the scientific study of marine life in the 

 Pacific. Prof. W. T. Brigham has just returned 

 from visiting European aquariums and is pre- 

 pared to complete the plans. A body of pro- 

 fessors and investigators will be maintained, 

 and students will doubtless be attracted from 

 Europe and America. 



Majoe, J. W. Powell and Mr. Frank Ham- 

 ilton Cushing have recently completed a sea- 

 son's archseologic work on the coast of Maine. 

 A number of interesting shell mounds were ex- 

 plored, and their contents are now en route to 

 Washington for installation in the National 

 Museum. In addition to the artifacts exhumed 

 from the shell mounds, the collectors were able 

 to obtain, through the aid of the Passama- 

 quoddy or Abenaki Indians, an aboriginal 

 birch-bark lodge, constructed by the natives in 

 primitive fashion, native implements being 

 chiefly employed in its construction. 



Db. Albert S. Gatschet, also of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, has recently returned 

 from an ethnologic trip through eastern Maine 

 and contiguous parts of British territory. His 

 scientific results include a rich collection of 



