Maech 3, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



349 



rocks in this vicinity, showing at the contact 

 undoubted intrusive phenomena. The Carbo- 

 niferous series contains several isolated masses of 

 granitic rocks of varying character, which are 

 also intrusive into the sediments. 



The deposits are fissure-veins with a west to 

 northwesterly strike and southerly dip, occur- 

 ring, as a rule, in the calcareous shales of the 

 sedimentary formation. The principal minerals 

 are galena and zincblende in a gangue of pre- 

 dominating siderite. Veins of the same char- 

 acter are also found in the granite areas enclosed 

 in the sediments. The veins are pre-Miocene 

 and post-Carbonifereus in age, their crossings 

 being in part covered by andesitic flows. The 

 granitic rocks also contain another series of 

 veins of very different composition. They 

 carry chiefly gold contained in pyrrhotite, chal- 

 copyrite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite. Replace- 

 ment has played an important part in the vein 

 formation, especially in those veins which are 

 contained in the sedimentary areas. The fis- 

 sure plans are well defined but the ore-bodies 

 do not follow these strictly in detail, and may 

 exhibit considerable irregularity. 



(3) ' Cretaceous fossils collected by J. B. 

 Hatcher in Patagonia,' by Mr. T. "W. Stanton. 

 Among the collections brought back by Mr. 

 Hatcher's last expedition to Patagonia there 

 are some Cretaceous invertebrates that seem to 

 represent a fauna new to South America. The 

 localities from which they were obtained are 

 near Lake Puerrydon in Latitude 47° 30' S. 

 and Longitude 72° W. There are about 35 

 species in the collection of which 28 are suffi- 

 ciently well represented to be described and 

 these all appear to be new. Although there 

 are some indications of relationships with Lower 

 Cretaceous faunas, consideration of the collec- 

 tion as a whole leads to the conclusion that the 

 horizon is about the middle of the Cretaceous, 

 at least not lower than the Gault. 



F. L. Ransome, 

 David White, 



Secretaries. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 3l8th meeting was held on Saturday, 

 February 10th. H. J. Webber exhibited pho- 

 tographs of the Melon Pawpaw, Carica papaya, 



which is a native of both the East and West 

 Indies. The form native in Florida has a fruit 

 about the size of an egg, but the cultivated 

 varieties (of which there are several) bear 

 fruits from the size of a small musk melon up 

 to five or ten pounds in weight. The fruit is 

 pyriform and much resembles a musk melon in 

 taste and make-up and is sliced and eaten in 

 the same way. 



The most noteworthy character of the plant 

 is its well known faculty of rendering meat 

 tender when cooked with it. This is due to 

 the presence of a soluble ferment known as 

 papain which is similar in action to the animal 

 pepsin. The fruit of Carica also contains this 

 ferment in considerable quantity and bids fair 

 to become a very valuable desert fruit, especi- 

 ally for invalids troubled with indigestion. It 

 is a fruit which should be more widely known 

 and sold in all markets. 



Henry W. Olds spoke on ' Form in the Songs 

 of Birds,' showing first that the study of bird 

 music, while interesting, is of little, if any, 

 value as an aid to the development of the sci- 

 ence of ornithology. He then considered the 

 question of the use of our stale. He gave a 

 brief resume of its evolution and stated that, 

 wonderful as it seems, it is a fact that some of 

 the birds do use our scale. He instanced sev- 

 eral that unmistakably are governed by the 

 intervals that compose it, although some of 

 them occasionally wander from the key just as 

 human singers do. Mr. Olds then considered 

 various essential forms that give to music co- 

 herence and capability of aesthetic satisfaction. 

 These he illustrated with blackboard notations 

 and whistled examples of both human and 

 avian music. He showed diflerent means by 

 which is produced that sj'mmetry that is 

 needed to satisfy the musical sense — the regular 

 recurrence of phrases or kinds of phrases, repe- 

 tition of one theme on diflferent pitches, the 

 regularity of these repetitions, antiphonal or 

 answering themes, etc. , and for every example 

 in our music instanced its counterpart among 

 bird songs he had noted. In conclusion he 

 suggested that these were not accidental re- 

 semblances, but seemed to show on the part of 

 the birds intelligent appreciation of musical 

 effects ; and that there appeared to be no 



