No. 17] FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 19 



In commenting on Dr. Eastman's bulletin on the Triassic 

 Fishes, reference has been made to the numerous tracks of rep- 

 tiles and amphibians (the so-called bird tracks) which are almost 

 the only other fossils found in the state. Only a very few bones 

 of the creatures that made these tracks have been discovered. 

 Those few finds, however, have thrown much light on the nature 

 of the animals, which was formerly more or less vaguely guessed 

 at from the tracks. Professor R. S. Lull of Yale University, 

 who published some years ago a very valuable study of the fossil 

 footprints of the Connecticut valley, is continuing the study of 

 those interesting fossils, and will present at an early date a bul- 

 letin in regard to them, which will undoubtedly be the most 

 authoritative work on the subject that has been issued. 



77. Botany 



Dr. G. P. Clinton of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, whose paper on the smuts was published as Bulletin 

 No. 5, has nearly completed a paper on another important group 

 of parasitic fungi, viz., the downy mildews. This group includes 

 a number of parasites destructive to important agricultural prod- 

 ucts, and the bulletin will be therefore an important contribution, 

 to the economic botany of the State. 



Professor Conn, whose work on the protozoa and algae of the 

 fresh waters of Connecticut has been published as Bulletins 2 

 and 10, is continuing his study of the microscopic life of the 

 fresh waters by an investigation of the bacteria. The relation 

 of bacteria to public health is so well understood as to make it 

 obvious that a study of the distribution of bacteria in the reser- 

 voirs and other sources of drinking water must be of great im- 

 portance from a practical as well as from a purely scientific point 

 of view. A preliminary report on the bacteria will be presented 

 at an early date. 



777. Zoology 



Probably no work which the Survey has announced as in 

 preparation has been awaited by so many people, in the state,, 

 and out of it, with eager expectation, as the work of Mr. John 

 H. Sage and Dr. Louis B. Bishop on the birds of Connecticut. 

 In their careful studies, continued for many years, a vast amount 

 of information has been recorded in regard to the dates of arrival 

 and departure of our migratory birds, the localities of rare birds* 



