342 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the author has been led to investigate the effect of its occurrence on fish life. Numer- 

 ous experiments were conducted with various kinds of sawdust in aquaria where the 

 conditions could be controlled, and it was found that strong sawdust solutions at the 

 bottom of an aquarium poisoned fish through the agency of compounds dissolved 

 from the wood cells. The overlying water in such an aquarium did not at first kill 

 tish, but after about a week it would do so, the dissolved oxygen having been 

 exhausted. 



Bacteria were found to multiply enormously through all parts of the aquarium, and 

 through oxidation changed the poisonous extracts to harmless compounds. Subse- 

 quent aeration and sedimentation of sawdust water purifies it so that fish can live 

 in it without injury. It was found that adult fish, as well as black bass fry, refused 

 to be driven into pine extracts in the bottom of the aquarium after they had experi- 

 enced its poisonous effects, and from this it is inferred that fish would desert a river 

 polluted with such sawdust. 



The author states that no stream can be pronounced offhand as poisoned by saw- 

 dust, but each must be studied by itself. The chief things to be considered are the 

 quantity of the sawdust and the volume i >f water into which the sawdust is discharged. 



A fish which attacks cows, A.Miranda (Jour. Agr. Trap., 4 (1904), No. 38, pp. 

 235, 236). — The fish belonging to the species Serrasalmo piraya occurs very abun- 

 dantly in parts of the Amazon, and during flood time is found in great numbers in the 

 shallow overflow water. When cows stand in such water during the heat of the day 

 they are attacked upon the legs and udder by the fish. Great injury is done to 

 these parts, and in many cases cows are rendered useless for dairy purposes or are 

 killed outright. In one instance a dairyman lost 400 cows from this cause in a single 

 season. 



Zoological yearbook for 1903, P.Mayer (Zoo!. Jahresber., 1903, pp. VIII+ 

 596). — This report contains short abstracts of the more important investigations pub- 

 lished during the year on the various groups of the animal kingdom. Extensive 

 bibliographies are given in connection with each group of animals. 



[Monthly bulletin of the division of zoology], H. A. Surface (Pennsylvania 

 State Dept. Agr., Mo. Bui. Div. Zool., 2 (1904), No. 6, pp. 164-192, figs. 4). — Brief notes 

 are given on collecting insects, spraying trees, treatment for peach-tree borers and the 

 San Jose scale, nature study, game laws, and robins. 



Annual report of the division of zoology, H. A. Surface (Pennsylvania State 

 Dept. Agr. Rpt. 1903, pp. 159-191). — Notes are given on the equipment, investi- 

 gations, collections, and publications of this division, together with a brief review of 

 economic zoology in Pennsylvania and a report upon nursery inspection in the State. 



METEOROLOGY -CLIMATOLOGY. 



Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau, 1902-3 ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather 

 Bureau Rpt. 1902-3, pp. XL1II ~ 308). — The first part of this report contains an 

 account of the operations of the Weather Bureau during the year; part 2, a list of 

 observing stations and changes therein during 1902, and hourly averages of atmos- 

 pheric pressure, temperature, and wind from the records of automatic instruments at 

 28 stations; part 3, monthly and annual meteorological summaries for 165 Weather 

 Bureau stations; part 4, monthly and annual means and extremes of temperature 

 and dates of first and last killing frosts, 1902; part 5, monthly and annual precipita- 

 tion, 1902; and part 6, miscellaneous meteorological tables and reports. 



Observations and investigations made at the Blue Hill Meteorological 

 Observatory, Massachusetts, U. S. A., in the years 1901 and 1902, A. L. 

 Rotch {Ann. Astron. Obs. Han-ant College, 4-> (1903), pt. ■>', pp. 115-239] pis. 4: rev. 

 in Science, n. ser., 20 (1904), No. 503, pp. 240, 241). — This is a report dealing with addi- 



