BOTANY.

(Structural and physiological.)

A general method for examining vegetable tissues. E. Fremy has contributed much to our knowledge of the cellulose group of organic substances. In a paper lately republished, he has brought together the more important reactions presented by the members of the group, and has followed this by a memoir in which M. Urbain has assisted. From both papers the following results are now summarized. The substances which form the skeleton of plants are principally pectose and its derivatives, cellulose and its isomers, vasculose, and cutose. Pectose acted on by alkaline carbonates is changed into pectates. These are decomposed by hydrochloric acid, which throws down gelatinous, insoluble pectic acid. Cellulose and its isomers agree in being readily soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, but differ in the following points: cellulose dissolves at once in cuprammonia; paracellulose, only after the action of acids; metacellulose, not even then. Vasculose is not easily soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, but, after the action of oxidizing agents, forms resinous acids separable by alkalies from associated cellulose. Cutose, the transparent membrane covering the aërial organs of plants, is dissolved neither by concentrated sulphuric acid nor by cuprammonia; but it dissolves rapidly without change in dilute alkaline liquids.

Following the facts above summarized, the authors give results of their analysis of different organs of plants, a few of which are herewith given:

Root of Paulownia. — 1°. Substances soluble in water and in dilute alkalies: cork 45, soft bast 56, body of root 47. 2°. Vasculose: cork 44, soft bast 34, body of root 17. 3°. Paracellulose: cork 4, soft bast 4, body of root 30.

--

Slems. Vasculose increases in amount with density of the wood. The pith contains of cellulose 37, paracellulose 38, vasculose 25 per cent. Cork contained: matters soluble in acids and alkalies 5, cutose 43, vasculose 29, cellulose and paracellulose 12 (cutose and vasculose forming together the subérine of Chevreul).

Leaves of ivy. - Water and substances soluble in neutral solvents 707.7, parenchyma (formed of cellulose and pectose) 240, fibres and vessels (formed of vasculose and paracellulose) 17.3, epidermis (cutose and paracellulose) 35.

Petals of Dahlia. - Water and soluble matters 961.30, parenchyma (of cellulose and pectose) 31.63, vasculose 1.20, paracellulose 2.27, cutose 3.60.

These interesting results throw considerable light on some obscure micro-chemical reactions, particularly the behavior of tissues with cuprammonia and with alkalies. With the authors' notes relative to the bearing of their results on technical chemistry, this notice cannot deal. —(Ann. sc. nat., bot., 1882, [228 360.) G. L. G. Fertilization of alpine flowers. - During a residence of several years at Grenoble, M. Musset has paid attention to the relative abundance of flowers and insects, finding all orders of insects well represented as high as 2.300 metres. Above this altitude Lepidoptera, Diptera, and certain Hymenoptera preponderate, as Dr. Müller and others have also observed. Flower-frequenting insects are found at all altitudes, in proportion to the abundance of entomophilous flowers; their visits being determined by several causes, the state of the atmosphere being one of the most important. It is stated that the waking hours of nyctitropic flowers and of insects are identical.(Comptes rendus, Aug. 7.)

M. Heckel does not attach much importance to the visits of insects in the evolution of the large flowers characteristic of many alpine plants He believes, in common with Bonnier and Flahault, that the more intense solar radiation is the chief factor in causing the larger size of flowers at high altitudes. - (Ibid., Dec. 4.) W. T. [229

Pollination of Rutaceae. In a paper read before the Linnean society of New South Wales, on plants found about Sydney, Mr. Haviland discusses the protandry of Philotheca australis and Boronia pinnata. The stamens are situated at first so as to bring the anthers over the immature stigma, as in other Rutaceae; this position insuring cross-fertilization with little waste of pollen. It is suggested, that, as they thus prevent the stigma from receiving the maximum of light and heat, their position may aid in retarding its development, and thus cause the protandry.(Nature, Dec. 28.) [230

W. T.

Value of crossing in plants. — For a number of years Prof. W. J. Beal of the Michigan agricultural college has been carrying on the work of experimentally testing the effects of cross and close fertilization so ably begun by Mr. Darwin. Most of his experiments have related to indian corn. As was to be expected, the results of no two years' experiments correspond at all closely; but they all show a marked gain when plants raised from seed grown some distance apart are inter-crossed instead of being allowed to self-fertilize. The average of four years' experiments shows the gain to be 27%. The least gain was a trifle under 10%; the greatest, 51%. One year's experiment with wax beans showed a gain of 136%. (Amer. journ. sc., Dec.) w. T.

[231

Vegetable fly-trap. - Potonié finds that the feet of small flies that alight on the leaves of the West Indian Desmodium (Pteroloma) triquetrum are caught in the curves of the fine, arched leaf-hairs, so that their most desperate efforts to escape are unavailing. The insects captured belong to the genus Chloria. House-flies, with larger feet, are not captured; while ants and plant-lice have such small feet that they can walk over the leaves with impunity. The plant appears to derive no benefit from the death of its victims, which starve to death in captivity. —(Kosmos, Nov.) W. T. [232

Western grasses.-A list, by F. L. Scribner, of the grasses recently collected by Pringle in Arizona and California, is accompanied by critical notes and descriptions of the rarer species. —(Torr. bot. bull., Oct. and Dec., 1882.) s. w. [234

American conifers. - A popular account, by Dr. George Vasey, of the distribution and characteristics of the coniferae of the United States and Canada. (Amer. journ. for., Dec., 1882, and Jan., 1883.) s. w. 1235

The tonga plant. The drug tonga is shown by N. E. Brown to be the product mainly of a climbing aroid (Epipremum mirabile. Schott), widely distributed through the East-Indian Islands to Australia and Fiji. The plant has been hitherto involved in much confusion botanically; and a full description is given, with detailed synonymy. - (Journ. bot., Dec., 18S2.) s. w.

[236

ZOOLOGY. Coelenterates.

Research on the lower invertebrates, during the years 1876-79.-The many American students who have no means of access to the journals of foreign learned societies, or to the periodical literature of zoology, will find, in Prof. Leuckart's summary of the work done upon the coelenterates during the years 1876-79, a very valuable abstract of the literature of this subject. Even the favored few who are able to consult the original works should be thankful to Prof. Leuckart for his brief but perfectly intelligible digests. (Arch. naturgesch. xlv. ii. 591.)

W. K. B.

[237

Development of the tentacles of Hydra.-The great variability of fresh-water hydras demands that the order of development of the tentacles should be tabulated in a great number of specimens, in order to discover the law of their appearance. Jung has thus studied nearly two hundred and fifty specimens of three species; and he concludes, that, while there is no fixed order, each species does have a typical or average mode of development, which is more or less closely followed by the majority. The law varies with the species, and the results of Jung's researches are shown in the following diagrams:

Hydra grisea.

The vertical line is that axis of the bud which passes through the axis of the parent, and the upper end is the one nearest the body of the parent. The upper series of diagrams shows the typical order of appearance in normal buds of the three species named. This order was followed in 46% of 156 specimens of H. grisea, in 83% of 7 specimens of H. oligactis, and in 55% of 21 specimens of H. viridis. The second line shows the order of re-appearance in specimens after cutting off the oral end of the body with the tentacles. It was followed in 69% of 48 specimens of H. grisea, in 3 specimens of H. oligactis, and in 57% of 12 specimens of H. viridis. - (Morph. jahrb., viii. 339.) W. K. B.

Mollusks.

[238

Trade in Californian invertebrates. - Apart from the trade in oysters, clams, and other ordinary economic mollusks, there are certain specialities peculiar to the Pacific coast which do not appear in the trade-reports of other countries. Among these are abalones' (Haliotis californianus and H. splendens), the Californian pearl-oyster (Meleagrina californica), and several pearly univalves (Trochiscus Norrisii and Pachypoma gibberosum), small shells for ornamental purposes, and dried shrimps and shrimp-shells. The last are prepared by the Chinese, who catch them in large quantities, in nets of extremely fine mesh, by which very many small fish are also destroyed. The shrimps are dried on a mat over an open fire, and when thoroughly desiccated are threshed, the meats separated from the shells, and packed separately. The meats are used as food by the Chinese in all parts of the world. The shells are a particularly energetic fertilizer, superior to

guano, and are packed in bundles of about 100 pounds weight for exportation to China. The various pearlbearing shells are used for ornamental purposes, especially buttons. The export of abalones from San Francisco, by sea, in 1882, according to the annual 'market review,' was 4,638 sacks, valued at $23,455, against 4,522 sacks in 1881. They were exported to Germany (50 sacks), China (1,116 sacks), Hawaiian Islands (65 sacks), England (2,982 sacks), and New York (425 sacks), beside shipments eastward by rail. England received 563 barrels of pearl-oysters, and 49 barrels of other shells. The Chinese in South America received 99 packages of shrimp-meats, and those in the Hawaiian Islands 8 packages; while the enormous quantity of 9,611 packages of shrimps and shrimp-shells were sent to China. - W. H. D. [239

Crustaceans.

Paleozoic allies of Nebalia. - Having discussed its anatomy and development in a previous article, Prof. Packard compares Nebalia with the published figures of some of the paleozoic Ceratiocaridae, and concludes that the fossil forms should be separated from the Nebalidae as a distinct sub-order of Phyllocarida. Diagnostic characters are given for the order, and differential characters separating them from other crustacea. The memoir is to appear in full in Hayden's Twelfth report of the survey of the territories. — (Amer. nat., Dec., 1882.) S. I. S. [240

New Devonian Crustacea.-J. M. Clarke describes and figures a new genus (Dipterocaris), and three new species of Ceratiocaridae from the Devonian, and remarks upon the characters of Spathiocaris and Lisgocaris, and on the wide range of S. Emersonii.(Amer. journ. sc., Feb., 1883.) [241

Shrimp and prawn fisheries. In an article on the shrimp and prawn fisheries of the U. S., Richard Rathbun enumerates and remarks upon the edible species, makes suggestions in regard to the capture of some New-England species not now used for food, and then gives a general account of the fisheries of the Atlantic and Gulf, and the Pacific coasts. (Bull. U.S. fish comm., 1882, 139.) s. I. s.

[242

Crustacean allied to Willemoesia.-C. Spence Bate describes a new genus and species (Eryoneicus caecus), taken in 1,675 fath., off the Canaries, by the 'Challenger.' It "approximates closely to Pentacheles, and adds another link between that and Eryon." - (Ann. mag. nat. hist., Dec., 1882.) s. 1. s. [244 Terrestrial Isopoda.-A. E. Eaton states, that Platyarthus Hoffmanseggii, which is found in ants' nests, and is reputed to be blind, is provided with eyes, and is as sensitive to light as other Oniscidae. (Ann. mag. nat. hist., Dec., 1882.) s. I. S. [245

Fauna of mountain lakes. - A. Wierzejski gives an account (in Polish) of the fauna of the lakes of the Tatra mountains, enumerating eighty species, of which forty-three are crustacea. Eight species of Cladocera and Copepoda are figured, but no new species are named. (Spraw. kom. fizyjogr. akad. umiej., Krakow, xvi., 1882.)

The same author figures and describes the anatomy of Branchinecta paludosa, from the same region, and discusses its geographical distribution. (Rozpr. akad. umiej. wydz. matem-przyr., Krakow, x., 1882.)

S. I. S.

1246

Insects.

Histology of insect wing-muscles.—The memoir of G. V. Ciaccio, to appear shortly in the Memorie dell' accademia di Bologna, may be thus summarized: In most insects the wing-muscles may be decomposed into fibrillae (in others, into striated fibres: Sphinx, Libellula, etc.). In the former case the fibrillae are united into bundles of various sizes by a cementing substance, in which the nuclei lie either both in the interior and upon the surface of the bundle (Hydrophilus, Dytiscus), or upon the surface only (flies). The bundles are held together by tracheae, and sometimes also by fat-cells. In the cement are further always found distinct particles (Aubert's masse grumeleuse interfibrillaire), which do not occur in the other muscles. The fibres are composed of fibrillae, and have nuclei either upon the surface (Cicada) or in the middle (Libellula). In some insects the fibrillae are arranged as in a folded lamella, the leaves of the folds running out from the centre of the fibre towards the surface, seen in cross-sections. The nerve-fibres terminate in motor plates (probably several for each fibre), consisting of a granular basal substance, in which are embedded the ramifications of the axiscylinder. The wing-muscles are more readily dissociated into fibrillae than those of the rest of the body, from which they are further differentiated by the absence of a true sarcolemma. -(Arch. ital. biol., ii. 131.) C. s. M. [247

Curious gall of a Trypeta.- Weyenbergh found in the Argentine Republic, on the terminal bud of a Heterothalamus, what resembled the froth which is secreted by the frog-spittle' insect, Cercopis spumaria L., but which, on touch, proved to be more substantial, or like a raspberry in texture, and on drying became tough like paper. Concealed by the froth was found a larva, which underwent its transformations within the same covert, and finally issued as a fly, which he names Trypeta (Icaria) Scudderi. formation of the froth was observed in a larva placed on paper; it pressed its terminal segments together with nearly rhythmical movements, and so repeatedly squeezed little drops of clear fluid from the anus, which collected by and by into a frothy mass. - (Verhandl. zool.-bot. gesellsch. Wien, 1882, 363.) [248

(Economic entomology.)

The

Wheat-stalk Isosoma. - Professor French observed, that in two wheat-fields which were in wheat last year ninety-three per cent of the stalks were infested by this insect; in one field which was in clover last year, not more than five per cent were infested. — (Amer. nat., Jan., 1883.) J. H. C. [251 Promoting locust ravages. It is estimated by Mr. J. P. Brown, that during the winter of 1874 one thousand car-loads of birds were destroyed and shipped to eastern markets from points west of St. Louis, Mo. —(Psyche, iii. 380.) J. H. C. (252

Buckeye leaf-stalk borer. - Mr. E. W. Claypole describes the habits of a new tortricid which Fernald

(Psyche, iii. [253

names Steganoptycha claypoleana. 364.) J. H. C. Habits of Thrips. - A species of Phloeothrips observed by Mr. Herbert Osborn in fruit-blossoms were doing much damage by injuring the styles, and thus preventing fertilization. (Psyche, iii. 364.)

Although the species of Thrips are doubtless to a certain extent injurious to plants, Mr. Pergande believes that they feed chiefly upon nectar, and that they assist in fertilizing the plants they infest by carrying pollen. One species of Thrips preys upon the red spider. (Psyche, iii. 381.) J. H. C. [254

VERTEBRATES.

The theory of the opening-twitch (Oeffnungszuckung). An extended study of the openingtwitch leads Tigerstedt to the conclusion that the cause of it, and of the phenomena accompanying it in the nerve, lies in the polarization current, and, with some exceptions, in changes in the normal nerve current. The twitch due to a sudden decrease in the intensity of the polarizing current was not examined, so the above conclusion only applies to cases in which that current was completely broken.- (Mitth. physiol. lab. Carol. inst. Stockh., ii. heft.) H. N. M. [255

Fish.

The development of the hypophysis in Petromyzon planeri. Recent investigations by Prof. A. Dohrn have led to a different interpretation of the development of the hypophysis of Cyclostomes from that given by W. B. Scott or that of Balfour. The former stated in effect (Morphol. jahrb., vii. 158) that the rudiment of the organ in question was unpaired. Its first appearance is marked by a slight depression above the mouth, which we may regard as the common invagination from which the nasal pit and hypophysis arise. Balfour states (Comp. embryol., ii. 358), "I have observed a slight diverticulum of the stomodaeum, which I believe gives origin to it."

Dohrn holds, that his own more recent observations of the past summer show that the hypophysis arises as an independent invagination of the ectoderm between the nasal and oral invaginations. It has no connection with the latter, in that the upper lip is developed between the oral invagination and hypophysis.(Zoolog. anzeiger, Nov. 6, 1882.) J. a. r. [256

Mammals.

Muscles of the raccoon's limbs. - Dr. H. Allen compares them with those of Felis domesticus. Triceps and some others undergo imperfect planal cleavage, showing imperfect differentiation; the number of nerves is variable, being most abundant in the less specialized muscles; the latter have more nerves in Felis than in Procyon; triceps and some others when normal in Procyon represent abnormalities in man; some are identical in both; others seem to be beyond the limits of variability in man. (Proc. acad. nat. sc. Philad., 1882, 115.) F. W. T. [257

Myology of Proteles.-M. Watson points out the characteristics of the muscles of Proteles cristatus, and agrees with Prof. Flower that the species should be placed in a separate family, allied to Hyaenidae and Viveridae but more closely to the former.(Proc. zool. soc. Lond., 1882, 579.) F. W. T. [258

Singing mice. - Herr Struck gives some notes upon a singing mouse which lived in captivity ten months. He inclines to doubt Cohen's opinion, that the musical tone is due to disease of the throat, and thinks that the mice may die in consequence of eating too rich food. (Arch. ver. freunde nat. Meckl., xxxv. 117.) — F. w. T. [259

Geological survey.

Rocky-mountain division. — This includes the territories of Montana, Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, and the state of Colorado, with headquarters at Denver. The corps consists of Messrs. S. F. Emmons, geologist in charge; Ernest Jacal and Whitman Cross, assistant geologists; and W. F. Hillebrand, chemist. This division forms part of the general subdivision of survey-work on mining-geology; i.e., its investigations are devoted more particularly to questions of direct economical importance.

The work already more or less completely accomplished by this division is as follows:

10. Monograph on the geology and mining industry of Leadville, which, owing to delays in the government printing-office, is not yet published, but of which an abstract appeared in the Annual report of the director for 1881. 20. Bulletin on hypersthene andesite, now in press. 3°. Monograph on the geology and mining industry of Ten-mile district. 40. Monograph on the basaltic mesas near Golden, Col., and their relations to the contiguous tertiary and cretaceous beds. The two latter are expected to be ready for the printer during the spring. 5°. Monograph on the geology and mining-industry of Silver Cliff. The topographic basis for this work is completed, and the geological work will be carried on during the coming summer. 6o. A study of the Denver coal-field. This work is designed to be carried on at intervals when the mountain regions are unapproachable on account of snow. The map, on a scale of one mile to the inch, covering an area of thirty square miles, was commenced in November.

As accessories a number of new and interesting minerals have been discovered in Pike's-Peak region. Under the orders of the director, collections of typical crystalline rocks are being made, two hundred of each. The plan is, to obtain in time two hundred full suites of typical rocks which have been carefully studied both microscopically and chemically, and which will be distributed to various institutions of learning in the country to serve as a guide for students.

National museum.

Alaskan Fishes. - An important collection of fortythree species of marine fishes from south-eastern Alaska, including a new Triglops, has been recently received from Capt. H. E. Nichols. The collection is a noteworthy one, in that it furnishes proof that the range of the genus Sebastichthys extends far toward the north-west.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS.

Museum of comparative zoology, Cambridge, Mass. The 'Blake' collections. The publication of the preliminary reports has made excellent progress during the past year. There now remain unfinished of these, only those upon the fishes, halcyonoids, foraminifera, ostracoids, nemerteans, and some minor groups, as well as the report on the bottoms. It has been decided to publish only the final reports of the fishes of the east coast and of the holothurians. That on the fishes will be published in connection with the U.S. fish-commission, and include many species of shallower waters, first brought to light by the dredgings of the 'Fish-hawk.' Prof. G. B. Goode and Dr. Bean have already prepared the greater part of this report. Dr. H. Theel of Stockholm, who has

undertaken to work up the holothurians, hopes next spring to transmit his final report to the Swedish academy of Stockholm, where it is to be published. Prof. Verrill has completed the examination of the east coast Halcyonariae and Actinariae, and is preparing a report of these and of those of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico for the museum bulletin. Work is progressing favorably on the other reports. Mr. Agassiz has nearly completed the first part of the final report on the Echini: twenty plates are already on stone, and the remaining plates are well advanced. Mr. W. H. Dall is engaged in preparing the final report on the mollusks. His preliminary reports have already been issued. Mr. P. H. Carpenter has concluded his preliminary report on the Comatulae; and it was published in October, 1881. The crinoids, which had been placed in the hands of the late Sir Wyville Thomson for determination, to be worked up in connection with the Challenger' material, have been transferred by Mr. John Murray, of the 'Challenger' office, to Mr. Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter proposes in connection with his father, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, to work out as fully as practicable the minute anatomy of Pentacrinus, for which the material collected by the Blake' is quite extensive. In addition to the Pentacrinus material, the museum specimens of Holopus were also placed in his hands. Mr. Carpenter is now preparing a preliminary report on this part of the collection. During the spring, Prof. S. I. Smith completed the report on the Crustacea, collected off the Atlantic coast of the United States during the summer of 1880. The reports already published in the museum bulletin aggregate 465 pp., and 63 pl.; and the collections have also served as the basis of several papers published elsewhere.

Peabody museum of American archaeology, Cambridge, Mass.

Indian portraits. - The museum has received the originals of sixty-eight of the plates given in McKenny and Hall's folio volumes on the Indian tribes of North America,' published in 1836, together with thirty-seven other portraits of Indians. These portraits are of life-size, and with few exceptions were painted by Mr. C. B. King, an artist of considerable merit. They were presented to the museum by the heirs of the late E. P. Tileston and Amos Hollingsworth of Boston, and are unquestionably of great ethnological value.

NOTES AND NEWS.

The editor of SCIENCE will be glad to receive and acknowledge subscriptions to the Balfour memorial fund, mentioned in the leading article of this week's issue: they may also be sent to Prof. H. Newell Martin, of the Johns Hopkins university, Baltimore, who is secretary and treasurer of the American committee.

-Prof. William L. Dudley of Cincinnati has recently succeeded in obtaining a good electro-deposit of iridium, which is susceptible of high polish. The bath is kept of constant strength, by continuous solution of the metal. Thin platinum foil, coated with iridium, retains its flexibility, while the coating does not readily scale. It has been proposed to use this process to give a hard face to copper-plate engravings.

As the iridium does not rust, its advantage over steel plates is obvious. The composition of the bath has not yet been announced.

-Lewis Boss of Dudley observatory, Miles Rock of the national observatory at Washington, and Charles S. Cudlip, photographer, who were sent by the U. S. transit of Venus commission to Santiago, Chili, have just returned home by way of Panama. They had a very clear day, and obtained good observations of all four contacts, and a complete set of photographs (204). Boss observed with a 5-in. Clark refractor, power 200; Rock, with a 3-in. Clark refractor, power 200; and the photographs were taken with a horizontal photoheliograph, of 40 feet focal length, forming an image on the photograph-plate about four and one-half inches in diameter. In the contact observations the images were almost steady, the definition sharp, and no atmospheric and other phenomena like black drop, etc., were observed, but simple geometrical contacts. The narrow ribbon of twilight around Venus was very silvery, and might be mistaken by inexperienced observers for direct sunlight. This twilight ribbon entirely surrounded Venus more than three minutes before second and after third contact.

— The annual meeting of the trustees of the Peabody museum of American archaeology and ethnology, at Cambridge, was held on the 17th inst., under the chairmanship of the Hon. R. C. Winthrop. The treasurer announced that he had received $900 from subscribers in aid of American research, in addition to the $2,550 mentioned in the last annual report; and the curator was authorized to expend the same for the continuation of explorations under his direction. The curator, in presenting his report, stated that he had also received $775 for special purposes, of which $550 were for Miss Fletcher's researches among the Indians. Twenty-five free lectures were given at the museum during the past year. Numerous gifts were made to the library, and the additions to the museum had been larger than in any preceding year; the large increase being chiefly due to the special explorations made either by the curator or under his immediate direction through the liberality of patrons of American research. The great importance of systematic explorations was insisted upon; and the curator showed, by his résumé of what the limited expenditure had permitted, what might be done were the museum provided with sufficient means for more extended work. He also called attention to the necessity of prompt action on the part of those who were willing to aid the museum in its work if thorough and systematic explorations were to be made in our country; as every year hundreds of mounds, earth-works, and ancient burial-places were destroyed. In concluding his report, he expressed the hope that some liberal patron of science would provide for an increase of the regular income of the

museum; and also for an addition to the building, since the present accommodations would not permit of the exhibition of more than two-thirds of the collections.

-'Parish botany' was the subject of a lecture which Dr. G. L. Goodale gave last Wednesday evening before the Divinity school at Cambridge, being one of a course addressed to students of theology by officers of other departments of Harvard university. 'The boundary-line between science and religion was the topic discussed by Prof. John Trowbridge a fortnight ago.

- On the 8th of January was held the first meeting of the Colorado scientific society, an association organized for the promotion of scientific intercourse, observation, and record, in the State of Colorado. Its officers for the first year are S. F. Emmons, president; Richard Pearce, vice-president; Whitman Cross, secretary and treasurer; Richard Pearce, Hermann Beeger, A. Eilers, and W. F. Hillebrand, standing committee. The especial attention of the members will be devoted to geology, mineralogy, and chemistry, and their application to the industrial arts. The society certainly has in Colorado a most interesting field for investigation.

At the meeting of the Biological society of Washington, Dec. 22, Prof. C. V. Riley pointed out the real nature of the so-called 'lignified snake of Brazil,' found beneath the bark of a tree: it is, in brief, probably nothing but the excrementitious filling of the burrow of a beetle larva, one of the Buprestidae. The head of the supposed serpent is a knot, which has been manipulated to increase the deception its natural form would give; and the tapering and tortuous form of the burrow would be impossible in a snake. Mr. Riley invites the owner to submit his specimen to a crucial test dissection. Of course the owner declined: his idol would then have perished.

-Capt. Abney has lately delivered four very interesting lectures on recent advances in photography, before the London society of arts. The text is given in full in the last few numbers of the British journal of photography; but an excellent résumé may be found in the Popular science monthly for January 1883.

-The first part of Vogt and Specht's Natural, history of mammals has appeared (Munich F. Bruckmann), with many well-executed drawings by the last-named author. The work is popular in tone.. The British admiralty surveys in 1881, mostly in Asiatic waters, are summarized in the Nautical magazine (November, 1882, 819-828).