92 



SCIJSI^GE. 



fVoL. IX., No. 208 



to their study. And I respectfully submit that no 

 one should accept the geological generalizations of 

 chemists, astronomers, and physicists until their 

 ■utterances have been approved and accepted by those 

 whom we recognize as the ablest and most authorita- 

 tive expounders of our science. As regards origin 

 of earthquakes and the condition of the interior of 

 the earth, as well as the other questions I have men- 

 tioned, I must decline to retract the opinions I have 

 advanced until they shall be met with new facts or 

 better arguments than any yet offered. 



J. S. Newbeeey. 

 New York, Jan. 14. 



A card to American geologists. 



A meeting of the American committee of the In- 

 ternational congress of geologists will be held in 

 Albany from April 6 to April 9, 1887. 



The object of this meeting is to perfect a scheme 

 embodying the thoughts of American geologists on 

 the questions of classification, nomenclature, colora- 

 tion, etc., entering into the system of unification of 

 geological science, which is the object of the Inter- 

 national congress. 



In order that the committee may represent the 

 views of all geologists in the United States, it hereby 

 invites from all, thejr individual opinions on any 

 subjects likely to arise in the congress. Those who 

 will meet the American committee in Albany are 

 requested to send to the undersigned a note of the 

 topic or topics they propose to treat, and the time 

 which they will require. In cases where it is not 

 convenient for them to go to Albany, they are 

 requested to forward a statement of their views to 

 the undersigned in writing before April 1, for pres- 

 entation to the committee. 



For information as to the kind of questions to be 

 discussed, attention is called to the ' Keport of the 

 American committee,' published last spring, in which 

 the debates in the third session of the International 

 congress are reported. 



The following are the sub-committees of the. 

 American committee : archean. Hunt, Hitchcock, 

 Winchell, Pumpelly; lower paleozoic, Hall,"Winchell, 

 Lesley ; upper paleozoic. Hall, Lesley, Newberry, 

 Stevenson, Williams; mesozoic, Newberry, Cook, 

 Cope, Powell ; cainozoic (marine). Smith, Newberry ; 

 cainozoic (interior). Cope ; quaternary, recent, arche- 

 ology, Powell, Winchell, Cook. 



Peesifoe Feazee, Secretary. 

 Philadelphia, Jan. 32. 



Loco-weed. 



In your note on the ' loco-weed,' on p. 32 of Science 

 for Jan. 14, reference is made to the belief of the 

 Indians that an insect is the cause of the disease sup- 

 posed to be produced in horses and cattle by eating 

 this weed. In western Kansas there are two plants 

 called ' loco ' by the ranchmen. These are Oxytropis 

 lamberti, Pursh, and Astragalus mollissimus, Torr. 

 Specimens of the latter plant were brought to me a 

 few days ago, whose lower stems were abundantly 

 occupied by a stalk-boring insect larva. These in- 

 sects are believed, not by Indians but by a certain 

 physician, to be the cause of the ' loco ' disease in 

 horses by producing 'bots.' Moreover, this physician 

 has frequently seen the horse bot-fly deposit its eggs 



upon the leaves of the Astragalus Henceforth let 

 elementary entomology be added to the courses of 

 study in our medical schools. 



I may add, that Prof. L. E. Sayre, of the depart- 

 ment of pharmacy of the University of Kansas, is 

 making an exhaustive study of the ' loco ' problem. 



Feangis H. Snow. 

 Lawrence, Kan., Jan. 16. 



Spiders and the electric light. 



Some disadvantage or evil appears to be attendant 

 upon every invention, and the electric light is not an 

 exception in this respect. In this city they have 

 been placed in positions with a view of illuminating 

 the buildings, notably the treasury, and a fine and 

 striking effect is prodiiced. At the same time, a 

 species of spider has discovered that game is plenti- 

 ful in their vicinity, and that he can ply his craft 

 both day and night. In consequence, their webs are 

 so thick and numerous that portions of the archi- 

 tectural ornamentation are no longer visible, and 

 when torn down by the wind, or when they fall from 

 decay, the refuse gives a dingy and dirty appearance 

 to every thing it comes in contact with. Not only 

 this, but these adventurers take possession of the 

 portion of the ceiling of any room which receives the 

 illumination. 



It would be of interest to know whether this 

 spider is confined to a certain latitude, and at what 

 seasons of the year or temperature we can indulge in 

 our illumination. G. Thompson. 



Washington, D.C., Jan. 24. 



A pineal eye in the mesozoic Mammalia. 



Among the large number of mesozoic genera which 

 have been determined by Owen, Marsh, and others, 

 only one genus has any considerable portion of the 

 skull preserved. This is Tritylodon, a comparatively 

 large animal from the upper triassic of South Africa, 

 described and figured by Professor Owen in the 

 Quarterly journal of the Geological society in 1884. 

 In describing the cranium, he writes (p. 146), " A 

 short anterior divarication [of the parietals] bounds . 

 a small vacuity exposing matrix which has filled the 

 cerebral cavity ; which vacuity is completed anteri- 

 orly by a similar divarication of the mid and hind 

 angles of the frontal bones, the mid suture of which 

 is unobliterated. The above vacuity, v, if natural, 

 represents a fontanelle, or it may be interpreted as a 

 pineal or parietal foramen ; it may, however, be due 

 to posthumous injury." 



Now that the meaning of the pineal gland has been 

 made clear, this observation is of very great interest 

 and importance. Tritylodon is one of a large and 

 widely spread group of mammals, represented by 

 Triglyphus, from the triassic bone-bed near Stutt- 

 gart ; Bolodon, from the English Purbeck (Jurassic) ; 

 AUodon, from the American upper Jurassic ; and 

 Polymastodon, from the American lowest eocene, or 

 ' Puerco.' From the large size of the parietal fora- 

 men in Tritjdodon, which greatly exceeds that of any 

 of the recent lizards in relative diameter, and com- 

 pares with that of the labyrinthodonts and saurians, 

 we may safely infer that the primitive Mammalia, of 

 this family at least, had a pineal eye of some func- 

 tional size and value. Heney F. Osboen. 



Princeton, N. J., Jan. 24. 



