September 12, 1S84. 



SCIENCE. 



263 



Cincinnati society of natural history. 



Aug. 5. — Mr. U. P. James presented a paper on 

 conodonts and fossil annelid jaws from the lower 

 Silurian of south-western Ohio. The only annelid 

 heretofore noticed from these rocks in Ohio is that 

 described by Prof. G-. B. Grinnell in Amer. journ. sc, 

 September, 1877, under the name of Nereidavus vari- 

 ans, and referred to the jaw apparatus of an annelid. 

 Mr. James has discovered other forms which are 

 similar in character. They occur as small, dark, 

 shining objects, varied in form, and detached from 

 each other, of a glossy black tint, though changed by 

 weathering to a rusty red. They are composed of 

 chitinous matter, and undergo no change in nitric 

 acid. Mr. James has identified some of the forms 

 with species described by Mr. G. J. Hinde. Cono- 

 donts were first noticed by Pander, in 1856, and have 

 been referred to as fish-teeth. Though their zoologi- 

 cal relations cannot be finally determined until found 

 in position, the best authorities agree in thinking 

 them the lingual armature of large naked mollusks. 

 Dr. Xewberry has described conodonts from the Cleve- 

 land shale of the Waverly group in Ohio, and Mr. 

 Hinde figures forms from the Silurian of Cauada, and 

 Devonian of the United States. They are now identi- 

 fied from the Cincinnati group of Ohio, some of the 

 forms being identical with those from Canada and 



England. Mr. Charles Dury stated that he thought 



the Oswego and black bass (Micropterus dolemieu 

 and M. nigricans) were but forms of one species. The 

 black bass is always found in swift-running streams, 

 while the Oswego bass inhabits sluggish waters, 

 ponds, and lakes. The Oswego bass is of a much 

 larger size, lighter color, and has a larger mouth, than 

 the black bass : hence the name of the white or large- 

 mouthed bass. Ross Lake, an artificial pond near 

 Cincinnati of about forty acres, was stocked a few 

 years ago with black bass. It now swarms with the 

 other form. Though many specimens of M. dolemieu 

 have been taken, not a single M. nigricans has been 

 caught, as far as known. Other instances were cited 

 in which the large-mouthed species had appeared in 

 ponds which were stocked with the small-mouthed 

 form. Mr. Dury concluded that the Oswego bass is a 

 variety of the black species, due to a difference in 

 habit and to a superabundance of food. Dr. W. A. 

 Dun said that he had caught the large-mouthed 

 species in the Kanawha River, under the falls, though 

 he thought that Mr. Dury's conclusion was in the 

 main correct. Dr. D. S. Young agreed with Mr. 

 Dury. He said, that, as far as color was concerned, 

 he had observed that to vary with the season. The 

 fish were of a lighter color in summer and in warm 

 water than in winter and in cool water. He had caught 

 the large-mouthed bass in rapid-flowing streams, 

 under circumstances which showed that they had 

 probably escaped from overflowed ponds or dams. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The McGill university convocation conferred upon 

 the following members of the British association, at 



its final meeting in Montreal, the honorary degree of 

 LL.D. : Lord Rayleigh, the Governor-general of Can- 

 ada, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir William Thomson, Profes- 

 sor Bonney, Professor Frankland, Captain Douglas 

 Galton, A. G. Vernon Harcourt, Sir Henry E. Roscoe, 

 Professor Blanford, Professor Moseley, General Le- 

 froy, Sir Richard Temple, Sir Frederick Bramwell, 

 Dr. E. B. Tylor; also upon the president of Toronto 

 university, Professor Daniel Wilson, Professor Asa 

 Gray of Harvard, and Professor James Hall, New 

 York state geologist. 



— At the recent meeting of the British association 

 in Montreal, the general committee appropriated to 

 scientific purposes certain grants of money for the 

 ensuing year, amounting in all to £1,515. In the 

 department of mathematics and physics, the largest 

 sum (£100) is devoted to the calculation of mathe- 

 matical tables; £70 is to be used in the investigations 

 on meteoric dust; synoptic charts of the Indian ocean 

 and meteorological observations on Ben Nevis each 

 receive £50; one-half this sum is devoted to mete- 

 orological observations near Chepster; £20 is given 

 for the study of solar radiation, and £10 for the 

 reduction of tidal observations in the English chan- 

 nel. In chemistry, £25 is devoted to vapor pressures 

 and refractive indices of salt solutions, £20 to physi- 

 cal constants of solutions, and £5 to chemical no- 

 menclature. In geology, for volcanic phenomena of 

 Vesuvius, £25 ; for the Raygill fissure, £15 ; for earth- 

 quake phenomena of Japan, £75; for fossil Phyl- 

 lopoda of the British paleozoic rocks, £25; for fossil 

 plants of British tertiary and secondary beds, £50; 

 for geological record, £50; for erosion of sea-coasts 

 in England, £10; for circulation of underground 

 waters in England, £10. In biology, for a table at 

 the zoological station at Naples, £100; for a record 

 of zoological literature, £100; for observations on 

 the migration of birds, at light-houses and light-ships 

 in England, £30; for an exploration of Kilimanjaro 

 and the adjoining mountains of equatorial Africa, 

 £25; for recent Polyzoa, £10; for the marine biologi- 

 cal station at Granton, Scotland, £100; for marine 

 biological stations on the coast of the United King- 

 dom, £150. In geography, appropriations were made 

 for the exploration of New Guinea by Mr. Forbes to 

 the amount of £200; and the exploration of Mount 

 Roraima, in Guiana, by im Thurn, £100. In the 

 department of mechanics, £5 was devoted to patent 

 legislation. In anthropology, £50 is to be used for 

 the investigation of characteristics, physical and 

 otherwise, of the north-western tribes of Canada; 

 and £10 for the study of the physical characteristics 

 of races in the British isles. 



— The Annuaire of the bureau of longitudes of 

 Paris for 1884 (p. 847) contains M. Jans>en's report 

 on the French expedition to observe the total solar 

 eclipse of 1883, May 6. The text of this report has 

 been previously printed in the Comptes rendu* ; and 

 it is referred to here principally to call attention to 

 the photograph of the corona given on p. 852, which 

 did not accompany the report in the first instance. 

 This photograph was made with a camera, mounted 



