588 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 276 



ground is a combination of feelings or judg- 

 ment, tlie inaccuracy of a judgment may vary, 

 because of the combination of errors, as the 

 square root of the amount. In so far as the 

 ground is the mere mental shocli of diflference, 

 the inaccuracy of the judgments may vary in 

 some more direct relation to the amount. 



Charles H. Judd, Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 321st meeting was held on Saturday, 

 March 24th. Barton W. Evermann exhibited 

 a series of proofs of the colored plates prepared 

 to illustrate a forthcoming report on the fishes 

 of Puerto Rico. Sylvester D. Judd described 

 some ' Feeding Experiments with Captive 

 Birds,' illustrating the difference between 

 the methods of the Broad-winged Hawk and 

 Shrike in killing and eating their prey. The 

 habit of impaling its prey on thorns, employed 

 by the Shrike, was considered to be due to the 

 weakness of its legs which prevented the bird 

 from holding and tearing its prey after the 

 manner of the Hawk. 



W. H. Osgood presented some ' Notes on a 

 Trip Down the Yukon River ' describing the 

 character of the river in different portions of 

 its course and the geological aspect of the 

 banks. The various life regions through which 

 it flowed were pointed out and their faunal and 

 floral peculiai'ities were stated. 



H. J. Webber discussed ' The Influence of 

 Pollen on the Fruit of the Current Year,' de- 

 scribing two crucial experiments where the 

 color and chemical constitution of corn had 

 been changed as a result of the immediate in- 

 fluence of pollen or xenia. lu one case sweet 

 corn, which had been bred true to type for 

 three generations, when crossed with yellow 

 dent corn produced ears having smooth yellow 

 dent kernels with starchy endosperm like the 

 male parent. In the other case Hickory King, 

 a white dent corn, with a large portion of corn- 

 eous endosperm, grown from seed inbred the 

 previous year and known to be pure, when 

 crossed with Cuzco a plumbeous colored soft 

 flour corn produced kernels of plumbeous color 

 or with plumbeous colored spots and little corn- 

 eous endosperm in these characters resembling 

 the male parent. 



F. A. Lucas spoke of 'The Tusks of the 

 Mammoth ' saying while the animal was usually 

 represented with the tips of the tusks flaring 

 outward there was good reason to believe that 

 the tusks pointed inward at the tips as in the 

 modern elephants. He illustrated his remarks 

 with photographs of different specimens includ- 

 ing one 12 feet 10 inches long, from Alaska be- 

 lieved to be the longest tusk_on record. 



F. A. Lucas. 



geological society of WASHINGTON. 



The 100th regular meeting was held at the 

 Cosmos Club, March 28, 1900. 



The program for the evening comprised a 

 ' Symposium on Field Methods,' illustrated by 

 notebooks, maps and instruments used in each 

 class of work. The following contributions 

 were presented : 



M. R. Campbell and A. Keith — Appalachian 

 Methods. 



T. W. Vaughan— Great Plains Methods. 



G. O. Smith — Lake Superior Methods. 



J. D. Irving — Adirondack Methods. 



J. E. Spurr — Reconnaissance Methods in the 

 Great Basin. 



A. H. Brooks — Reconnaissance Methods in 

 Alaska. 



W. Cross — Rocky Mountain Methods. 



H. W. Turner — Sierra Nevada Methods. 

 F. L. Ransome, 

 David White, 



Secretaries. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE. 

 • new-darwinism. ' 



To the Editor of Science : In a review of 

 my book ' Darwinism and Lamarckism ' (G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons) in Science for December 29, 

 1899, Mr. C. W. Hargitt objects, perhaps 

 rightly, to my using the term ' New-Darwinism, ' 

 in a sense different from that in which it has been 

 used by many biologists. I quite agree with 

 him that I ought to have given my reasons for 

 thus using the term and I shall feel obliged if 

 you will allow me to give those reasons now. 



About ten years ago Dr. A. R. Wallace pub- 

 lished a book on the theory of Natural Selection, 

 and about the same time Professor Weismann 

 published an essay on heredity. Both advo- 



