December 27, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



1013 



spite of arctic sleeping bag and blankets and 

 overcoats so numerous that one could hardly lift 

 the weight in breathing. On the trips in which 

 a second night was passed at this height, more 

 sleep was secured, indicating that the body was 

 getting adjusted to the altitude. The headache 

 disappeared and the appetite revived on the re- 

 turn trip. On the first of these trips, records 

 were made of the pulse and respiration, as ac- 

 curately as could be made by a person upon him- 

 self. They are as follows: Aug. 18, 10 p. m., 

 at observatory on retiring, pulse 80, respira- 

 tion 16 ; August 19, 6.00 a. m., on rising, pulse 

 80, respiration 16 ; 3.30 p. m. at tambo de los 

 huesos, elevation 13,300 feet, pulse 96, respira- 

 tion 12 ; Aug. 20, 6.25 a. m., at hut 15,400 feet, on 

 rising, pulse 90, respiration 12; 12.30 p. m., at 

 summit, 19,200 feet, pulse 86, respiration 11 ; 

 Aug. 21, 10 a. m. at hut, 15,400 feet, pulse 86, 

 respiration 11. The rather small increase in the 

 pulse and the decrease in the respiration are 

 noteworthy. While I made no records on other 

 trips, I noticed frequently that my tendency 

 was to breathe more slowly than usual, except 

 when moving about. 



WiNSLOw Upton. 

 Providence, E. L, 

 December 7, 1901. 



SCIENTIFIC ORNITHOLOGY. 



The following remarkable misuse of termin- 

 ology occurs in Mr. Robert Ridgway's ' Birds 

 of North and Middle America,' Part I., The 

 Finches, just from the press of the Government 

 Printing Office. He says in his Introduction : 

 ' ' There are two essentially different kinds of or- 

 nithology : systematic, or scientific, and popular. 

 The former deals with the structure and classi- 

 fication of birds, their synonymies and technical 

 descriptions. The latter treats of their habits, 

 songs, nesting, and other facts pertaining to 

 their life-histories." And he continues : " Pop- 

 ular ornithology is the more entertaining with 

 its savor of the wildwood, green fields, the 

 riverside and seashore, bird songs and the many 

 fascinating things connected with outdoor 

 nature. But systematic ornithology, being a 

 component part of biology — the science of life — 

 is the more instructive and therefore the more 

 important." And are, indeed, life-habits and 

 life-history not biology, not, if scientifically 



studied, science of life, not more important 

 than the mere forms which result from this part 

 of bird biology ? Could there be found a worse 

 misconception of where science and popular 

 writing differentiate ! 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 



THE RESULTS ATTENDING THE EXPERIMENTS 



IN LOBSTER CULTURE MADE BY THE 



UNITED STATES COMMISSION OF 



FISH AND FISHERIES. 



In April, 1900, the United States Commission 

 of Fish and Fisheries appropriated several thou- 

 sand dollars to be used in devising, if possible, 

 a practical method of artificial lobster culture, 

 and the undersigned was appointed to take im- 

 mediate charge of the experiments. 



The breeding period of the lobster, continuing 

 as it does only through a few w^eeks of the late 

 spring and early summer, is so brief that ex- 

 tended experiments have been impossible, but 

 the experiments that have thus far been made 

 (during the spring of 1900 and of 1901) would 

 indicate that very large numbers of lobsters 

 may be hatched and retained in captivity until 

 they have reached an age when they are well 

 able to take care of themselves. Indeed, it 

 would seem that the enormous mortality among 

 lobster young (which results either from boiling 

 females 'in berry,' or stripping the eggs from 

 the female as the lobsters are taken from the 

 traps) may not only be lessened, but that the 

 young enclosed in these eggs may, with very 

 little expense, be hatched in the more important 

 fishing ports and hamlets and j)rotected until 

 they have passed through the critical stages. 



It seems advisable to defer the rendering of 

 the final report until the Commission has profited 

 by the experiments of another season. Inas- 

 much, however, as the problem is of considerable 

 economic importance, it would seem desirable 

 to make some report at the iiresent time, al- 

 though only a report of progress. 



In the spring of 1900 a number of exi^eriment 

 stations were established along the New Eng- 

 land coast, namely, at Orrs Island, Freeport, 

 Annisquam, Gloucester, Woods Holl, Naushon 

 and Wickford. Experiments had been made 

 previously at Woods Holl, but without encour- 



