1899] NEWS 379 



malarial germ, and that as these breed in a few stagnant pools a little energy 

 will suffice to get rid of them and the fever at once. 



Science reports the return and the success of an expedition which sailed a 

 year ago, under the scientific direction of R. E. Snodgrass, to the Galapagos 

 Islands and to Cocos and Clipperton Island west of Ecuador. A large collection 

 of animals has been made. 



Prof. Georg Bohm, geologist of Freiburg, has gone on leave for a year and 

 a half on a journey to Asia, Australia, and Central America. 



An association has been formed of collectors for the purpose of exploring 

 the local lepidopterous fauna of Hildesheim and vicinity, under the title of 

 Verein fur Schmetterlingsfreunde. Prof. A. Radcliffe Grote of the Poemer 

 Museum presides. 



We learn from Science that Profs. W. Libbey and C. M'Clure of the Peary 

 Relief Expedition have returned to Princeton with rich collections both of 

 vertebrates and invertebrates. 



The Scientific American of September 23 states that a year ago Cornell 

 University secured 30,000 acres of woodland in the Adirondack Mountains for 

 the exclusive use of her forestry department. The land has been divided into 

 a number of sections and several seed beds have been laid out in which there 

 has been planted over a million small trees of different varieties. The students 

 of forestry will study the theory of the subject from October to April, and from 

 then until Commencement they will study the practical side of forestry. 

 Cornell University is the only college in the United States which has a forestry 

 department. Prof. John Gifford was recently elected to the Chair of Forestry 

 in the University. 



Nature for September 28 notes that Mr. E. R. Waite has identified the 

 " palu " or " oil-fish " of the Central Pacific as the well-known Ruvettus firetiosus, 

 hitherto known only from the North Atlantic. 



The Scientific American reports that by a fall of rock at Niagara Falls the 

 Horseshoe Fall has been restored to the shape from which it derives its name, 

 which it has belied of late years. 



Science reports that the German Government has sent Prof, von Volkens of 

 Berlin to the Caroline Islands to investigate the soil and the flora. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science voted a hundred 

 dollars to Prof. Eigenmann to help in his researches on cave animals. 



The Scientific American refers to an interesting excursion made at the close 

 of the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 A party went to Sandusky, Kelley Island, and Put-in Bay, at which place they 

 explored the unique and marvellous Strontia Cave, the only one of the kind 

 known. The arches are hung with prismatic crystals of " celestite." The 

 place was found by Mr. Gustave Heinemann, in 1897, while opening a well. 

 Besides exhibiting his grotto, he makes money by selling specimens of the 

 sparkling strontia. Commercially this mineral is worth twelve dollars a ton, 

 and is used to clarify beet-sugar, and likewise in pyrotechnics, giving a vivid 

 crimson colour to fireworks. 



At the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 Di\ L. O. Howard discussed " Spider-bite Stories," and noted that he had been 

 unable to verify a single serious or fatal case. He scoffed at the " kissing-bug " 

 craze, which he compared to the tarantula frenzy and as in great part hysterical. 

 He blamed the newspapers for helping to create morbid nervousness. 



