Decembee 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



937 



■will convince any one at all familiar with such 

 features that he is on the crest of a high water- 

 shed which has been cut through in very recent 

 times ; recent, that is, in comparison with the 

 period of the alluvial valleys up and down the 

 stream from his point of observation. 



Gerard Fowke. 



the senegal baobab tree. 

 It is said by travelers that the fruit of the 

 Senegal Baobab tree is used by the natives to 

 curdle milk. As it is also called ' sour gourd ' 

 and cream-of-tartar tree, the curdling is prob- 

 ably due to an acid ; and other vegetable acids 

 are also known to be so used. But it seems that 

 other vegetable products that are not acid will 

 also curdle milk. In northern Mexico I was 

 once served with a palatable dish of cooked 

 ' cheese ' that the mistress of the house told me 

 she had herself curdled with the juice of berries, 

 some of which she showed me. They were fruit 

 of a Solanum, apparently S. heterodoxum. She 

 was an intelligent woman, and spoke of that 

 use of the berries as a common custom in 

 Mexican families. Like other fruits of the 

 nightshade family, they had no perceptible acid _ 

 taste ; and the curd which they produced had a 

 consistence similar to that which is produced 

 by rennet. Possibly the action upon milk of 

 the juice of that and other non-acid fruits is 

 similar to the action of rennet, which is thought 

 by some investigators to be a kind of ferment. 



C. A, White. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 

 THE LARGEST DEEP-SEA FISH. 



During the cruise of the Albatross in 1888 

 in the Pacific Ocean, a fish nearly five feet long 

 was hauled up in a trawl cast in water of the 

 depth of over 1,000 fathoms. Unfortunately it 

 was thrown overboard, but happily not before 

 a photograph was taken of it. Mr. Townsend 

 has ever since hoped to have another chance to 

 secure the species, but without present hope. 

 It became desirable to make allusion to the 

 species at this time, and he has conferred with 

 Dr. Gill and asked to indicate its probable af- 

 finities. 



The species appears to be most nearly related 

 to Percophis, and for the present it may be as- 



sumed that such is the case, but it is by no 

 means certain that it is. It is deserving of the 

 generic name Macri as with reference to its length 

 as well as bulk, and the specific name amissvs 

 is appropriate for it as an estray from its rela- 

 tives as well as to indicate the loss of the type. 

 It is definable as follows : 



MACRIAS. 



A genus of Percophoid fishes with moderately 

 oblong head, eyes in the second fourth of the 

 head's length, slightly projecting lower jaw, 

 thick lips, small teeth, small jugular ventrals 

 and anal with origin behind that of second 

 dorsal. 



MACRIAS AMISSUS. 



The body is elongate and between five and 

 six times longer than high ; the head forms 

 more than a fourth (1 : 3 4/5) of the extreme 

 length ; the caudal about a seventh. The head is 

 oblong conical in profile, with the forehead nearly 

 rectilinear; the eyes are in the third eighth 

 of the length, with the diameter equal to about 

 an eighth of that length, and nearly midway 

 between the preoperculum and the front of the 

 jaw ; the mouth is quite oblique and the supra- 

 maxillary extends scarcely behind the front of 

 the eye ; the teeth appear to be cardiform ; the 

 lips thick. The dorsal rays are not sufficiently 

 defined to count exactly, but they approximate 

 the following formula : DXI — 19. 



The specimen was obtained at the Albatross 

 dredging station 2788, otf Chonos Archipelago, 

 southern Chili, S. A. (Lat. S. 45° 35', Long. 

 W. 75° 550, at the depth of 1050 fathoms ; bot- 

 tom green mud ; bottom temperature, 36° F. ; 

 surface temperature, 58° F. ; from an 11-foot 

 beam trawl, Feb. 11, 1888. The dredge haul 

 lasted three hours. 



The fish was about five feet long, and is the 

 largest deep-sea fish taken by the Albatross — 

 probably the largest ever taken by beam trawl 

 or dredge. Its color was grayish. It had the 

 softness of flesh characteristic of deep-sea fishes, 

 settling down on the deck so that its natural 

 contour does not show in the large 8x10 photo- 

 graph that was at once made of it. 



There being no receptacle available for pre- 

 serving it in alcohol, it was placed in a cask and 

 salted. Later the cask and specimen were un- 



