226 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 



damaged the wheat crop of the West to the extent of $3,000,000 

 to $5,000,000, has been kept out of California. Besides these two 

 there are seventeen other papers by which the different bureaus and 

 divisions equally justify their existence. One of the most useful 

 items of the work of the department is the wide diffusion of its 

 publications. Half a million copies of the present report are dis- 

 tributed, and the total number of publications issued during the 

 past year was 424, aggregating over 0,500,000 copies. Yet the 

 Secretary complains that he cannot nearly meet the growing 

 demand, and asks for an increased appropriation. 



Perhaps some day we shall have a Department of Agriculture on 

 similar lines. In the meantime we would advise all who are in- 

 terested in the application of science in this direction to buy or 

 borrow a copy of the United States Year-book. 



Recent Work on the Foraminifera 



Since our note appeared in June last a great number of papers have 

 come to hand. Foremost among these is one by R. M. Bagg, on 

 " The Cretaceous Foraminifera of New Jersey " (Bull. U.S. Geol. 

 Survey, No. 88). This paper, we believe, may be considered as the 

 first serious paper on the group which has appeared in America, and 

 is, moreover, well illustrated, and well edited. Bagg lists and 

 describes about 110 forms, of which 6 are considered new. The 

 work has been done from a zoological, not palaeontological, stand- 

 point, and deserves warm praise. On the whole, we prefer Chapman's 

 Vitriwebbina to the word Vitrewebbina used by the author. Chap- 

 man's contribution to recent literature deals with a new form from 

 Torres Straits, which he calls Hacldonia, one of the Lituolidae, 

 related possibly to Rupertia. The paper appeared in Journ. Linn. 

 Soc. Zool., vol. xxvi. In the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 

 1898, pp. 258-260, is a paper by that careful writer, F. W. Millett 

 of Marazion, whose work, unfortunately, we so rarely see in print. 

 It is, however, one of a series, which the Microscopical Society may 

 well be congratulated upon having secured. Mr Millett deals with 

 the Foraminifera of the Malay Archipelago, from material from 

 thirty stations collected by Mr A. Durrand. At present only the 

 Miliolinac have appeared, but there is promise of a series of especial 

 value, and one which should be doubly welcome to those investigat- 

 ing the structures of Funafuti and Christmas Islands. The region 

 from which this rich material comes was practically untouched by 

 the " Challenger." 



Dr Alfredo Silvestri publishes in the Atti of the Accaclcmie di 

 Scienze Acireale, vol. viii., a " Contribuzione alio studio dei Fora- 

 miniferi Adriatici," part 1 of which appeared in 1895. The work 

 is the more valuable as it is the first thoroughly systematic descrip- 



