310 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ler, gives an account of the arrangements made temporarily 

 to supply his place, and presents the special reports of the va- 

 rious assistants upon the work accomplished in 1871, and to 

 be continued during the year 1872. 



"the lens," a new scientific journal. 



An excellent illustration of the enterprise of Chicago is 

 shown in the fact of its having commenced the publication, 

 on the 1st of January last, of a quarterly journal of microsco- 

 py and the allied natural sciences, under the title of The Lens, 

 and edited by Mr. S. A. Briggs, a well-known microscopist of 

 that city. This first number is well written, embracing a 

 number of excellent articles, and, if continued for any length 

 of time in the same spirit, will undoubtedly prove a success. 

 The most valuable article is a conspectus of the families and 

 genera of the Diatomacece, by Professor Hamilton S. Smith. 

 This is a subject to which much attention has been paid, on 

 account of the variety of forms, and the interest attaching to 

 their examination under the microscope ; and we are glad to 

 see that, after the many years of labor in this field, Professor 

 Smith has at last commenced to publish his results. We hope 

 now that, not satisfied with this conspectus, which embraces 

 a diagnosis of the tribes, families, and genera, he will favor us 

 with synopses and descriptions of the species, and with fig- 

 ures of the more interesting and important forms. 



The journal also contains valuable suggestions by Dr. 

 Woodward, of the Army Medical Museum, and others, on sub- 

 jects mainly connected with microscopy. 



COUES'S WORK ON AMERICAN BIRDS. 



A work, entitled "A Key to North American Birds," pre- 

 pared by Dr. Elliott Coues, one of our most accomplished or- 

 nithologists, has been published by the Naturalists' Agency 

 at Salem. The plan of this manual is somewhat peculiar, in 

 being prepared with special reference to use by persons en- 

 tirely ignorant of the technicalities of the science. An analytic- 

 al key is introduced, by which any one of ordinary intelligence 

 can determine, in a comparatively little while, the genus of any 

 North American bird, the labor of determining the species 

 being much facilitated by the conciseness and simplicity of 

 the descriptions. Figures are introduced of heads, bills, feet, 



