974 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 286. 



to the subfamily Stilbiscince of the family 

 Mtircenesocidce shows that all are true J/or- 

 inguidce, the genus Stilbiscus being identical 

 with Moringua, having the same structure 

 'of the fins. Instead of Amei'ican waters 

 being destitute of representatives of the 

 family, it now turns out that they are the 

 headquarters of the group and that four 

 genera are found therein — Moringua, Aph- 

 thahniehthys, LejAoconger and Gordiichthys. 



The Porto Eican Ajythcdmichthys agrees 

 most closely with the A. abbrevicdus of the 

 Indo-Moluccan archipelago (Java, Celebes, 

 Amboyna, etc.). It has a more elongated 

 body (the depth about 54 times in the 

 length), and the head forms one-thirteenth 

 of the length. No true pectorals are de- 

 veloped, although a slight fold exists behind 

 the upper portion of the branchial aperture. 

 The tail forms a little more than one-third 

 of the length. The color in life was a uni- 

 form gray olive. The specimen is 270 mm. 

 long. The species may be called Aphthal- 

 michthys caribbeus. A detailed description 

 will be published hereafter. 



This discovery is of unusual interest. It 

 takes a family out of the category of geo- 

 graphically restricted types and adds one to 

 those of tropicopolitan distribution. It is 

 probable that species will be found under 

 analogous conditions in all tropical seas and 

 that they are rare only in museums. But 

 they are of such a shape and occur amidst 

 such environments that they can only be 

 secured by some happy accident, unless they 

 may be deliberately sought for with proper 

 appliances. The family itself has special 

 interest for the morphologist. The species 

 differ from all others in the great extent of 

 the abdominal cavity (about two-thirds of 

 the total length) and the situation of the 

 heart, which is far behind the gill arches 

 and not close to the hindmost one as in 

 fishes generally. 



Theo. Gill. 



H. M. Smith. 



A PRELI3IINARY ACCOUNT OF THE SOLAR 



ECLIPSE OF MAY 38, 1900, AS OBSERVED 



BY THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION. 



Partly in deference to the report of the 

 United States Weather Bureau, from which 

 it appeared that the chance of a fair eastern 

 sky on the morning of the eclipse was about 

 8 to 1 , and after examination bj^ Mr. Abbot 

 of many stations in Xorth Carolina, "Wades- 

 boro, of that State, was selected early in 

 April as the site of the Smithsonian obser- 

 vations. The advantages of Wadesboro 

 being also recognized by Professor Young, 

 of Princeton, Professor Hale, of Yerkes 

 Observatory, and the Eeverend J. M. 

 Bacon, of the British Astronomical Asso- 

 ciation, it came about that four large ob- 

 serving parties, besides several smaller ones 

 and numerous excursionists from the sur- 

 rounding country, were all joined to pro- 

 duce at Wadesboro one of the largest com- 

 pany of eclipse observers ever assembled 

 for scientific purposes. It is a matter for 

 congratulation that the sky at Wadesboro 

 upon the day of the eclipse was cloudless 

 and clearer than the average, so that the 

 efforts of the observing forces were not 

 thwarted by any circumstances beyond 

 their control. The provisions of the Mayor 

 and authorities of Wadesboro for prevent- 

 ing intrusion before and during the eclipse, 

 and thus securing an undisturbed field of 

 operations, deserve especial recognition. 

 Further than this, the many acts of courtesy 

 and hospitality to the visiting astronomers 

 on the part of the townspeople, will long be 

 remembered by the recipients. 



The Smithsonian party proper consisted 

 of thirteen observers, and included Mr. 

 Langley, Mr. Abbot, Aid Acting in Charge 

 of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observa- 

 tory, Mr. Smillie, in charge of photography, 

 Mr. Putnam, of the United States Coast 

 Survey, Mr. Fowle, Mr. Mendenhall, Mr. 

 Child, Mr. Draper, Mr. Gill, Mr. Kramer 

 and Mr. Smith. Included with these the 



