296 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 



we suffer from a superabundance of names. But it is to be hoped 

 that the promulgation of these rules will not call into existence an 

 army of nomenclaturists, whose delight it will be to search antique 

 literature for forgotten appellations, or to puzzle their brains with 

 lexicons in the attempt to make all names pass the same etymo- 

 logical standard. We have enough of this sort of thing in system- 

 atic biology, and we don't want any more of it. 



After the Congress about half the members took part in the 

 various excursions that culminated in the Caucasus and the Crimea. 

 The Carboniferous rocks of the Moscow neighbourhood, the Permian 

 of Nijni-Novgorod, the' Mesozoic and Cainozoic strata of the Volga 

 and Donetz basins were introduced to the foreign geologists by such 

 able students of them as S. Nikitin, A. Pavlov, W. Amalitzky, 

 T. Tschernyschev, and N. Sokolov. The difficulties of transporting 

 and personally conducting such large numbers were successfully 

 overcome, but necessitated the compression of the passage of the 

 Caucasus into far less time than was desirable or was originally 

 intended. Side excursions to Elbruz, Grozny, Astrakhan, the Tsei 

 and Devdorak glaciers, and other points of interest compensated 

 for this in some measure, and usually proved to be the most 

 enjoyable parts of the excursion. After ridding themselves of 

 superfluous roubles in the bazaars of Tiflis, the visitors explored 

 Baku, the city of petroleum, and then crossed the Black Sea to 

 study the Jurassic, Cretaceous and igneous rocks of the Crimea 

 under the leadership of A. de Lagorio, N. Andrussov, C. de Vogt, 

 and others. F. Loewinson-Lessing, after his arduous Caucasus 

 campaign, engaged in the no less difficult enterprise of transporting 

 some forty persons, of both sexes, to Ararat. With the rough way 

 made plain for them and the crooked straight, those who took part 

 in this excursion declared that in beauty and interest it was worth 

 all the rest put together. Its close was unfortunately saddened 

 by the loss of Mr Stoeber, a lecturer on pharmacy at Vladikavkaz, 

 who was helping Professor Lessing. Joining in an unsuccessful 

 attempt to ascend Great Ararat, he was more rash than his com- 

 panions, who subsequently found him frozen to death. 



The pleasure of many of these excursions was seriously marred 

 by the great numbers that availed themselves of the exceptional 

 opportunity. Worse still, it appeared that many of the members 

 were hardly geologists. An attempt will probably be made in 

 future to restrict the membership of the International Geological 

 Congress to recognised workers. There is no reason why such a 

 body as this should have its dignity and usefulness marred by all 

 the tag-rag-and-bobtail that choose to rush for railway passes and 

 free champagne, and we shall warmly support any movement for 

 the more sparing distribution of its privileges. 



