746 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 541. 



by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, presenting ' Ichthy- 

 ologia Miscellanea' as follows: 



1. The proper name for the blue-gill sun- 

 fish. This species is now known as Lepomis 

 pallidus (Mitchill). Dr. Smith showed that 

 Mitchill's name pallidus (1815) can not be 

 appropriated for this fish, as the description 

 does not apply and the. sjiecies is not found 

 near New York City, the type locality of 

 pallidus. The earliest available name for this 

 sun-fish is incisor of Cuvier and Valenciennes 

 (1831), and the species should be known as 

 Lepomis incisor (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



2. Note on a rare flj^ing-fish {Cypselurus 

 liitkeni). The speaker recorded the capture 

 of the second known specimen at Beaufort, 

 N. C, in 1904. The source of the type speci- 

 men, now in the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Sciences, is doubtful, but the indications are 

 that it, too, came from Beaufort about 1871. 



3. The feeding habits of the trigger fish 

 (Balistes vetula). These habits had been ob- 

 served on a captive specimen at the Woods 

 Hole Laboratory. Dr. Smith described in de- 

 tail how this fish attacked, killed and ate its 

 food consisting largely of a certain species of 

 crab. 



This paper was discussed by Dr. Evermann. 



The second paper was by Mr. A. G. Mad- 

 dren, ' Notes on the Occurrence of Mammoth 

 Kemains in Alaska.' 



In introductory remarks an outline was 

 given of a trip the speaker made last summer 

 in the interests of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion to Alaska with the purpose of searching 

 for the remains of large Pleistocene mammals, 

 particularly those of the mammoth, which are 

 popularly supposed to be abundant in that 

 region, but actually do not exist in any great 

 numbers. The entire length of the Yukon 

 River was traversed and one of its largest 

 tributaries, the Porcupine, was ascended to 

 the Old Crow River, in the basin of which 

 stream abundant evidence of Pleistocene mam- 

 mal remains were found. 



Attention was called to the fact that Pleis- 

 tocene mammal remains appear to be no more 

 abundant in Alaska than in the United States, 

 and to find complete remains of the mammoth 

 and associated mammals search must be made 



around the former shore lines of the Pleisto- 

 cene lacustrine deposits that are considerably 

 developed in Alaska. 



A historical summary of the records of the 

 occurrence of mammoth remains in Alaska 

 was given and the statement made that there 

 is no formation of ice in Alaska that may be 

 assigned to the Pleistocene age, as has been 

 stated by some writers, but that all the ice 

 phenomena there occurring are, geologically, 

 comparatively recent. 



The concluding remarks favored the view 

 that Alaska, from a geographical standpoint, 

 was in Pleistocene time part of Asia; that its 

 fauna had closer affinities to that of Asia than 

 to the contemporary fauna of the United 

 States and that if sufficient material were at 

 hand to institute a close study it would be 

 found that Elephas primigenius, the true Si- 

 berian mammoth, never lived in the United 

 States, which was occupied by three distinct 

 species of fossil elephants, the form most 

 closely related to the Siberian mammoth {E. 

 primigenius') being Elephas jacksoni, the 

 others being the more easily distinguished 

 forms Elephas columbi and Elephas imperator. 



The last paper was by Dr. A. D. Hopkins 

 on ' Ornaments and Blemishes in Wood, 

 Caused by Insects and Birds.' 



Dr. Hopkins stated that the object of the 

 paper was to discuss the causes of some of the 

 ornamental conditions and blemishes common- 

 ly seen in the wood of trees and their crude 

 and finished products. 



The blemishes appear in lumber and wood- 

 finish as discolored spots, checks, dark stains, 

 resin deposits, pin holes, worm holes, etc., and 

 in the trees as scars, decayed spots and hollow 

 trunks. 



The ornamental conditions appear in the 

 lumber and inside finish and furniture as so- 

 called bird's-eye, curly, burl and wavy or 

 satined effects, and on the surface of the wood 

 beneath the bark as artistic and curious 

 carved and embossed work. 



It would be difficult to find a recently con- 

 structed public building or private residence 

 which does not show in the natural wood 

 finish one to many blemishes, the results of 

 many causes. Most of them, which are not 



