Decembek 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



833 



tion of the latitude variations. The pres- 

 ent tests of the new photographic instru- 

 ment were undertaken with a view to the 

 employment of such instruments at the 

 four proposed stations. The results ob- 

 tained at Potsdam will, therefore, cause the 

 adoption of the older form of instrument. 



Prof. Albrecht has published his 1896 

 report on the variation of latitude. He has 

 included all series of observations from 

 1890.0 to 1896.5 and, after plotting them, 

 has drawn a curve through the points ob- 

 tained. This furnishes the means of get- 

 ting the instantaneous latitude for any 

 place on the earth, and for any time be- 

 tween the extreme dates used in the forma- 

 tion of the curve. This is probably the 

 best way of treating the question, so far as 

 the reduction of recent meridian observa- 

 tions is concerned, but it isiiseless for pur- 

 poses of prediction, or for the re-reduction 

 of older series of observations. But per- 

 haps the time has not yet come for a defini- 

 tive attempt to obtain laws for the motion 

 of the pole which will permit accurate pre- 

 diction, or which will represent former mo- 

 tions of the pole with entirely satisfactory 

 precision. H. J. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



GEOLOGICAL FIELD WORK OF THE UNIVERSITY 



OF WYOMING. 



Prof. Wilbur C. Knight, of the Geological 

 Department of the University of Wyoming, 

 writes that the field work carried on by the de- 

 partment has just closed for the year. The en- 

 tire season has been spent in studying the Jur- 

 assic terrane and collecting its fossils. Besides 

 securing valuable stratigraphical data, many 

 fossils new to science have been discovered. 

 The collection is so large that it will take a 

 year to arrange it for study. The new material 

 can be roughly classified as follows : Inverte- 

 brates, six species. Pisces, two species of Cera- 

 todus. Plesiosaurs, two species. Ichthyosaurs, 

 one vertebra of a large animal. This must not 

 be confounded with Marsh's Baptanodon. Dino- 



saurs, four species — two carniverous and two 

 herbiverous. Crocodiles, one species. 



With this year's discoveries it is now defi- 

 nitely known that there are three species of 

 American Jurassic plesiosaurs, and it is very 

 probable that there are four. This institution 

 has the largest collection of these animals 

 known. 



The dinosaurs are very interesting. The 

 largest carnivor is, so far as can be determined 

 at present, a Megalosaur, but not allied to 

 Marsh's Ceratosaur. The second carnivor is a 

 very small animal. The two herbiverous ani- 

 mals have not been unpacked. One of them is 

 a very large animal, and the other of medium 

 size. The crocodile is a small species. All of 

 this material has been taken from beds in new 

 localities that have never received any attention. 



While collecting new material, parts of 

 most of the saurians that Marsh has described 

 from the Jurassic were found. One of these is 

 probably his Atlantosaurus. The femur in its 

 natural bed measured 6 feet and 3 inches, and a 

 caracoid measured 18 X 26 inches. Owing to 

 the great additions made this year, the Univer- 

 sity of Wyoming now claims the second largest 

 collection of American Jurassic vertebrates in 

 the world, Yale having the largest. As soon 

 as this material can be restored it will be de- 

 scribed, after which it will be arranged for the 

 students of vertebrate paleontology. 



the brain weight of mammals. 

 Among the numerous valuable memoirs in 

 the Gegenbauer Festschrift is one by Max Weber, 

 professor of zoology in Amsterdam, entitled 

 ' Preliminary Studies upon the Brain Weight of 

 Mammals.' This contains the most exhaustive 

 and accurate statistics which have been collected 

 hitherto upon the absolute weights of the brain 

 in the mammals and upon the relation of brain 

 weights to body weights. In every case the sex 

 is indicated, also the general condition of the 

 animal. The length of the animal is given, the 

 weight of the body, the weight of the brain, 

 the ratio and the percentage of brain weight to 

 body weight. The conclusions which Prof. 

 Weber draws are thus based upon the most ex- 

 tensive and accurate statistics which have ever 

 been brought together. They are as follows : 

 First, in the matter of absolute brain weight 



