at the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, and the presumption is that the bryozoa are from the same locality. The food records are as follows: Crisia sp., from stomachs of the king eider and of two Pacific eiders, St. Paul I., Alaska, January 29 and 30, 1918. Menipea pribilofi Robertson, from stomach of king eider, St. George I., Alaska, January 30, 1918. Myriozoum subgracile d'Orbigny, from stomach of king eider, St. George I., Alaska, May 3, 1917. Cellepora surcularis Packard, from stomachs of the Pacific eider, St. Paul I., Alaska, Mch. 21, 1915, and from the king eider, St. Paul I., Alaska, December 13, 1914 and January 29, 1918. The amount of material in each case was small. The Crisia colonies were broken scraps and undeterminable as to species because of the lack of ovicells, though the general appearance was that of the common C. denticulata Lamarck. Myriozoum subgracile was represented by a branched portion 9 mm. long by 3 mm. thick, and Cellepora surcularis by irregular nodules 4 to 12 mm. in greatest diameter. In all cases the animal matter seemed to have been digested out, leaving only the chitinous or calcareous matter of the ectocyst. Aside from the fact that they were considerably broken up, the specimens were in good condition for study, being as clean as though they had been treated with Javelle water. As Dr. Nelson suggests in a letter, it is probable that the ducks ate the Crisia and Menipea incidentally with other food, as these small branched species often grow attached to other organisms. The Myriozoum and Cellepora being nodular, may have been swallowed in lieu of pebbles. In general the bryozoa must afford comparatively little nutriment, as the indigestible portion is so large, yet an animal pressed for food might be able to eke out an existence on them. Certain fishes that habitually browse around ledges, rocks, wharves, etc., and which have teeth adapted for cutting off and crushing the shells of their prey, are known to include Bryozoa in their diet with some regularity. Thus, the cunner, Tautogolabrus adspersus, and the blackfish or tautog, Tautoga onitis, feed on bryozoa along with other hardshelled organisms. (See Sumner, Osburn and Cole, "Biological Survey of the Waters of Woods Hole and Vicinity," Bull. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXXI., Part 2, 1911.) The kingfish, Menticirrhus saxatilis, also has been known to feed on bryozoa. The writer has observed Bugula turrita Desor and Lepralia pallasiana Moll among the stomach contents of the puffer or swellfish, Spheroides maculatus. On one occasion a couple of young puffers were placed over night in a finger bowl containing some colonies of the Endoproct, Barentsia major Hincks, and the next morning it was discovered that the puffers had returned my kindness in keeping them alive a few hours longer by eating the heads off of the most of the Barentsia. I have seen a considerable mass of Bugula turrita taken from the stomach of a smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis, and on several occasions have had referred to me for identification, nodules of Smittina trispinosa nitida Verrill and Schizoporella unicornis Johnston, from the stomachs of sharks. In one case the colony was half as large as my fist. Bryozoa often grow in the greatest profusion, covering piles, rocks, shells, seaweed, etc., with growths so dense that they may entirely obscure the objects to which they are attached. At Woods Hole, Mass., during the summer of 1919, observations were made on Bugula turrita, growing on the rock wall of the Bureau of Fisheries dock, and on Lepralia pallasiana, encrusting the piles and timbers under the Coast Guard dock. Though in both cases the substratum was practically covered by the bryozoa and there were many other animals present, very few of the colonies showed injury of any sort. In nearly every case the colony form was perfect. It has been my experience in many years of dredging that bryozoa colonies are usually complete, unless broken during dredging operations. The bryozoan individual is always small, being rarely half as large as a pin head, but the colonial mass is often of sufficient size to render them desirable as food for numerous organisms, were it not for the fact that in nearly all cases they are well protected by heavy chitinous or calcareous walls. Only those animals provided with strong incisorial teeth or which can swallow the colony whole, can utilize them. Predaceous worms and other invertebrates probably are unable to feed on them to any extent, for in addition to its shell, the bryozoan is so highly irritable to tactile stimuli that it retracts into its shell with great rapidity at the slightest touch. Possibly some of the softer-bodied ctenostomes may serve as food for other invertebrates, but observations on this point are apparently lacking. It should be added that the statoblasts of the freshwater bryozoa are often eaten by young fishes. During a survey of the fishes of Ohio, made during the past summer, statoblasts of Pectinatella and Plumatella were found among the stomach contents of the young of the large-mouth black bass, Micropterus salmoides, the crappie, Pomoxis annularis, the blue-gill sunfish, Lepomis pallidus and the gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum. That these were picked up for food among other organisms of the same size there can be little doubt. RAYMOND C. OSBURN OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COPPER IN ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN a recent number of The Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 44, pp. 99-112, Oct., 1920) W. C. Rose and M. Bodansky report the finding of copper in various marine organisms, including Coelenterates, Mollusca, Crustacea, Elasmobranchs, and Teleostomi. As some of the writer's work bears on this subject, the following note is offered. In some recent investigations on the respiration of insects the writer incinerated both the blood and entire specimens of over 30 species of insects, representing the chief orders. The ash was analyzed for copper, on the supposition that the copper present serves as the nucleus of a respiratory pigment, namely hemocyanin. In every case the ash reacted positively for copper with several reagents. The amount of copper present in insect blood is nearly proportionate to that present in crayfish blood, which was used as a control. In addition to insects and crayfish, other Arthropods were incinerated, including several species of plankton Crustacea, spiders, daddy long-legs, and centipeds. In all cases copper was found. As representatives of other phyla Volvox, Lumbricus, Ascaris, snails and slugs, and the blood of garter snakes and human blood were incinerated. Of these all but the vertebrate blood reacted positively to tests for copper. As a matter of fact, the snake blood also appeared to show a minute trace of copper, but as the reaction developed with only one of the reagents used, and then only after several hours under alcohol vapor, this particular experiment is inconclusive. The foregoing results indicate that the element copper has a wider distribution in living organisms than heretofore accepted. Its function has been definitely determined only for mollusks and Crustacea, where it forms the nucleus of a respiratory protein. Its presence in other Arthropods is explained on the same basis, that is, in all Arthropods copper forms the nucleus of hemocyanin. This is all the more probable, since, as already stated, the amounts present in insect blood, spiders and centipeds are proportionate to the amounts present in the crayfish blood used as a control. In considering the source of the copper the writer analyzed the water of a creek from which most of his aquatic material was taken, and found distinct traces of the metal. The water as a source of copper is of importance to aquatic animals. It was shown, however, that terrestrial insects, including such highly specialized families as bees, ants and wasps, contained copper. These and other terrestrial insects, especially the herbivores, could derive their copper only from their plant food. In view of this fact about a dozen species of plants were incinerated. In all cases, whether the portion incinerated was taken from the stem, or the leaves, or fruit, the ash reacted positively. In general, copper was present only in traces in plants, not at all in amounts comparable to that present in insects. It is probable that the copper ion is inactive in plants, that its presence is due to mechanical storage, and that it plays no active rôle in the physiology of the plant. It is evident, however, from the experiments performed, that copper is widely distributed in both the plant and animal world. In the former it is present only in traces, and probably inactive, while in the latter it is present in measurable quantities and its rôle appears to be active. A more detailed account of these investigations will be published in the near future. RICHARD A. MUTTKOWSKI UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, MOSCOW, IDAHO SCIENTIFIC EVENTS DIRECTORS OF RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC QUALIFICATIONS THE RIGHT HON. F. D. ACLAND recently asked in the House of Commons, as we learn from Nature, whether the lord president of the council "is aware that dissatisfaction is being expressed by scientific workers with the appointment of a man without scientific qualifications as director of research to the Glass Research Association; whether, as the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research provides four fifths of the funds of the association, the department was consulted before the appointment was made; and does he approve of the appointment as giving a guarantee that state funds devoted to scientific research will be wisely expended?" Mr. Fisher replied to the question, and his answer included the following statements, which concerned a director for the work called from the United States: (1) The successful candidate has a wide and successful experience of scientific research into the problems of the glass industry, and is considered by the association to be the man best suited for organizing and directing the research needed by it. (2) The responsibility for the selection of a director of research rests in each case with the research association concerned, and not with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which has no power to approve or disapprove the appointment of any individual. (3) The department guarantees three quarters of the expenditure of the research association up to a certain limit, but payment of the grant is conditional, among other things, on the approval by the department of the program of research and of the estimate of expenditure thereon. (4) The advisory council of the department, after considering all the relevant circumstances with great care, recommended the approval of the expenditure involved in this director's appointment. ELECTIONS BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES THE scientific program of the meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, held in Washington on April 25, 26 and 27, has been printed in SCIENCE, and other information concerning the meeting will be published later. At the business session of April 27, the president of the academy, Dr. Charles D. Walcott, presented his resignation, but at the earnest request of the academy, he consented to serve the remaining two years of his term. The resignation of the foreign secretary, Dr. George E. Hale, was accepted with regret, and with the expression of high appreciation of his able work in that office. Dr. R. A. Millikan was elected foreign secretary, to complete the unexpired term of Dr. Hale. Dr. Hale was elected a member of the council, and Dr. Raymond Pearl was reelected. The following were elected to membership: Frank Michler Chapman, American Museum of Natural History. William LeRoy Emmet, General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y. William Draper Harkins, University of Chicago. Ales Hrdlicka, United States National Museum. Arthur Edwin Kennelly, Harvard University. William George MacCallum, Johns Hopkins University. Dayton Clarence Miller, Case School of Applied George Abram Miller, University of Illinois. logical Survey. Donald Dexter Van Slyke, Rockefeller Institute. Henry Stephens Washington, Geophysical Laboratory. Robert Sessions Woodworth, Columbia University. Foreign Associates William Bateson, John Innes Horticultural Institution, Merton Park, Surrey, England. C. Eijkman, University of Utrecht, Holland. THE PRINTERS' STRIKE AND THE PUBLICATION OF "SCIENCE" SCIENCE has been issued weekly from the same press without intermission for over twenty-six years, but it is possible that the present number may be delayed. The widespread strike of compositors for a forty-four hour week affects the offices at Lancaster, Easton and Baltimore, in which a large part of the scientific journals of the United States are printed. The printing office will do all in its power to bring out the number at the regular time, and at present the pressmen are at work. In order to get the number through the press articles in type are being used with the exception of a few news notes. This unfortunately requires the postponement of the publication of accounts of the recent meetings of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Chemical Society, the Executive Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Joint Committee on Conservation and other material of current interest. It may be noted that the advertisements are in type, and advertisers have been requested to continue to use the same copy, so that no sacrifice of reading matter is made for the advertisements. The number is, however, reduced by eight pages to facilitate its publication. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS Ar the recent meeting of the American Chemical Society at Rochester, Professor Charles F. Chandler and Dr. William H. Nichols were unanimously elected honorary members of the society. DR. SIMON FLEXNER, director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, has been elected an honorary fellow of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene of London at a meeting of the council of that society, held on April 8, 1921. THE William H. Nichols medal of the New York section of the American Chemical Society was presented to Professor Gilbert M. Lewis, dean of the department of chemistry of the University of California on May 6. The program was: The man and his work," remarks by Arthur B. Lamb, John Johnston; presentation of medal by John E. Teeple; acceptance and address, "Color and molecular structure," by Professor Lewis. 66 THE Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, with the approval of the King, has awarded to Vilhjalmur Stefansson their Founder's Medal for his "distinguished services to the Dominion of Canada in the exploration of the Arctic ocean.' The medal is to be presented at the anniversary meeting of the society in London on May 30. Mr. Stefansson will then be on a lecture tour in the western United States and consequently unable to attend, and it is expected that the High Commissioner for Canada will receive the medal on his behalf, as the Stefansson Arctic expedition of 1913-1918, of which this award is a recognition, was a Canadian naval expedition. THE meeting of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba on March 26 was a special session in honor of the return of Dr. Juan Guiteras from his mission to Africa to study yellow fever and other tropical diseases on behalf of the Rockefeller Foundation. It will be remembered that General Gorgas started with him, died in London. UNDER the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation Major-Gen. Sir Wilmot Herringham, consulting physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, vice-chancellor of the University of London, and Sir Walter Fletcher, senior demonstrator in physiology, Cambridge University, are traveling over the United States to study medical and scientific institutions for the British government. THE biological expedition to Spitzbergen, organized in Oxford University, is to set out in June, under the leadership of the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, and will devote its attention principally to ornithological work. PROFESSOR ARTHUR H. GRAVES, collaborator, Office of Investigations in Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and formerly assistant professor of botany in the Sheffield Scientific School and Yale School of Forestry, has accepted the appointment as curator of public instruction at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to begin September 1, 1921. DR. R. A. MILLIKAN, of the University of Chicago, delivered the first annual address before the Crowell Scientific Society of Trinity College, Durham, N. C., April 28. This society is a reorganization of the general scientific society which had been in existence for the past thirty years. Physicists and students from various parts of the state were in attendance. DR. DAVID WHITE, chief geologist of the United States Geological Survey, delivered a lecture on the "Deposition of oil shales and cannels," at the School of Mines of Pennsylvania State College on April 29. PROFESSOR ALBERT EINSTEIN, lectured at the University of Chicago on May 3, 4, and 5. The general subject of his lectures was The Theory of Relativity." WILLIAM ROBERT BROOKS, director of the Smith Observatory since 1888, and professor of astronomy at Hobart College since 1900, died at his home in Geneva, N. Y., on May 3, at the age of eighty-five years. DR. ALBERT C. HALE, formerly for twentynine years head teacher in the department of physical science at the Boys' High School, Brooklyn, secretary of the American Chemical Society for thirteen years, died on April 22 at the age of seventy-five years. CAPTAIN E. W. CREAK, C.B., F.R.S., formerly superintendent of compasses in the British Admiralty, died on April 3 at the age of eighty-four years. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL THE State Legislature of Texas passed an act which has now been approved by the governor appropriating one million, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be used in buying property adjacent to the present campus of the University of Texas. It is expected that about 120 acres, a considerable part of which is residence property, will be purchased. MRS. RANSOHOFF, the widow of Dr. Joseph Ransohoff, former professor of surgery at the medical college, has given $25,000 to the medical college of Cornell University toward an endowment fund for the establishment of a chair of surgery and anatomy. The money will be used as a nucleus for such an endowment, the minimum of which is estimated at $150,000. DR. PAUL H. M.-P. BRINTON, of the chemical department of the University of Arizona, has been appointed professor of analytical chemistry in the University of Minnesota. DR. R. W. SHUFELDT has been elected professor in nature study in the summer school of the George Washington University. DR. JOHN EDWARD ANDERSON, instructor in psychology at Yale University, has been promoted to an assistant professorship. |