Ascidians, including specimens from the deep sea, collected by the R.V. 'Vema' and now in the American Museum of Natural History

Ascidians collected by the R.V. 'Vema', from the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans, include eight species described as new and one new form. These are: Polycitor fungiforms, Poly-citor crypticus, Corellopsis translucida, Adagnesia bifida, Polyandrocarpa oligocarpa, Cnemido-carpa peruviana, Culeolusparvus, Molgula (Molguloides) sphaeroidea and Ciona intestinalis forma costata. Six of the new species are from depths greater than 3000 m; the remaining two, and the new form are from shallower water. The distribution of the deep-sea species is discussed in relation to the zoogeography of abyssal faunas.
Most of the abyssal species have functional branchial stigmata and appear to be deposit feeders, but the stomach contents of Hexacrobylus indicus confirm that this species takes in a variety of relatively large animals in addition to bottom deposit.     

Vertebral arch defects in the lumbar vertebrae of pre-historic American Eskimos. A study of skeletons in the American Museum of Natural History,chieely from Point Hope,Alaska

The incidence of lumbar vertebral arch defects was studied in 295 Eskimo skeletons now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, which were obtained from adjacent burial grounds at Point Hope, Alaska. One burial ground containing 47 skeletons was used by the Ipiutak at about the start of the Christian era. The other burial ground was used by the Tigara a thousand years later and contained 248 skeletons. The lesion is a separation of the vertebral arch from the vertebral body. It usually involves the fifth lumbar vertebra but may involve others and more than one. The present incidence in the United States is about 7%. Among the Tigara the incidence was 45% and more than twice that of the Ipiutak, 21%. The youngest case was in a child of five and the deformity was uncommon before adult life. The incidence and extent of the lesion increased with age suggesting an hereditary weakness as an etiological factor. No other etiological factor could be determined although several were considered. The clinical disability could not be determined but it seemed to have no effect on longevity.     

Book Review: Body Mass in Cercopithecidae (Primates,Mammalia): Estimation and Scaling in Extinct and Extant Taxa. E. Delson,C. J. Terranova,W. L. Jungers,E. J. Sargis,N. G. Jablonski,and P. C. Dechow,American Museum of Natural History,New York,Anthropological Papers,Number 83

International Journal of Primatology -