O. MISCELLANEOUS 653 



O. MISCELLANEOUS. 



EXTENSION OP FEEE TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION. 



Some months ago, at the instance of eminent astronomers 

 in America and Europe, Professor Henry secured the priv- 

 ileo'e of free exchano-e over the Atlantic cable of information 

 in reference to astronomical discoveries (as of comets or new 

 planets, etc.), and the Western Union Telegraph Company 

 also agreed to carry such dispatches in the United States 

 without expense. The arrangement was started on this ba- 

 sis, and soon after the French telegraph authorities granted 

 the same privilege. We now learn that during the month 

 of September a letter was received by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution from Mr. A. Wagner, vice-director of the Observatory 

 of Poulkova, announcing that the director of the Imperial 

 Russian Telegraph has also given his consent to the trans- 

 mission, free of cost, within the boundaries of the Russian em- 

 pire, of messages announcing new astronomical discoveries. 



FOURTH CIRCULAR OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION FOR 1873. 



The fourth number of the circulars of the Bureau of Edu- 

 cation for 1873 contains a list of publications by tlie mem- 

 bers of certain colle2:e faculties and institutions of learnino: in 

 the United States from 1867 to 1873, and constitutes quite a 

 valuable record of scientific activity during that time. If the 

 bureau would publish each year such a list, of all American 

 scientific papers for the country at large, it would meet a 

 want that has been loncj ft'lt. 



BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Buifalo Society of Natural Sciences bids fair to become 

 prominent among American institutions for the magnitude 

 and value of its publications. The second number of the first 

 volume of the Bulletin has just appeared, and embraces de- 

 scriptions of new species of fungi by Mr. Charles II. Peck; 

 contributions to a knowledge of North American moths, by 

 Grote ; and a study of North American Noctuidse, also by 

 Grote. One hundred and forty-two new species are described 



