18 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



gions, with the explorations and track of the Grinnell Expedition ; Amer- 

 ican Nautical Almanac, Lieut. Davis; Annual Report of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution ; Eeport on the Geology of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, by 

 Dr. D. D. Owen, U. S. Geologist, 



The Mechanical volume of the Report of the Patent Office contains a 

 Report on the Great Exhibition, by Edward Riddle, U. S. Commissioner, 

 and is by far the best publication, both as regards contents and typo- 

 graphy that has been issued by the Patent Office. The agricultural volume 

 is also superior to any that has preceeded it, and contains valuable papers 

 on wool and sheep-breeding by P. A. Browne, Esq., and on the American 

 Ruminants, by Prof. S. F. Baird; the remainder of the volume consist of 

 odds and ends, of little or no value, apparently made up by supplying suffi- 

 cient paste to agglutinate scraps of paper taken from all sources, to a 

 substratum of stout grocer's paper. The letter-press of the Conchology of 

 the U. S. Exploring Expedition, by Dr. A. A. Gould, has been published 

 during the past year; the accompanying volume of plates, is also in a 

 state of forwardness. Of the published results of this expedition, twelve 

 volumes quarto and four volumes of plates, have already been issued, leav- 

 ing fifteen yet in the course of preparation. The series already published 

 embraces the Narrative, 5 vols. and atlas ; Zoophites,"! vol. and atlas; 

 Philology ; Races of Men ; Mammals and Birds ; Geology and Mineralogy, 

 1 vol. with atlas ; Meteorology ; Charts ; Conchology. Those yet to ap- 

 pear will embrace the following subjects ; Herpetology , Ichthyology, Crus- 

 tacea, Medusae, Echinoderms, Annelids, Insects, Ferns, Fungi, Algae, 

 Botany, (Phanerogams,) Mosses, Geographical Distribution of Species, 

 Hydrography, Astronomy and Magnetism, Charts. Naturalists, generally, 

 who have been watching the progress of this great national work, will 

 learn with deep regret that all the undistributed copies of the first 

 seven volumes already published were destroyed in the same fire which 

 consumed the library of Congress in December, 1851. This is the more 

 melancholy, since but seventy copies were distributed. 



The first volume of the American Nautical Almanac, for 1855, publish- 

 ed by authority, has been issued. It has been prepared under the super- 

 vision of Lt. C. H. Davis, and is a material improvement on the British 

 Nautical Almanac ; it having more correct lunar tables, which give more 

 accurate predictions, as tested in the case of the solar eclipse of July, 

 1851. At Washington, the British Almanac was in error for the beginning 

 of the eclipse, 78 seconds, and for the end, 62 seconds. The American 

 Almanac was in error for the beginning only 13 seconds, and for the end 

 only one second and a half. The errors exposed in this eclipse may give rise to 

 an error of from 15 to 20 miles in the determination of the longitude at 

 sea by means of lunar distances, and to an uncertainty of twice that 



