874 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The effect of the repression of certain bacteria through the continued cul- 

 tivation of legumes, A. Hill (Ztschr. landic. Ver. Hessen, 1895, No. 11, pp. 81, 82).-- 

 The author claims that the continued cropping of legumes will fill the soil with only 

 those bacteria concerned in the assimilation of free nitrogen to the entire displace- 

 ment of all neutral forms. 



Experimental evolution amongst plants, L. H. Bailey {Amer. Nat., 29 (1895), 

 pp. S 18-325). — An abstract of an address before the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, February 23, 1895. 



Flowers and insects, XIV, C. Robertson (Bot. Gaz., 20 (1895), No. 4, pp. 

 139-149). — A continuation of the observations of the author on the mutual adapta- 

 tions of flowers and their insect visitors, with lists of insects observed to visit 

 certain flowers. 



Guide to the study of common plants, an introduction to botany, V. M. 

 Spalding (Boston: D. C. Heath c^- Co., pp. 294). 



METEOROLOGY. 



The needs of meteorology, C. Abbe {Science., 1895, Feb. 15, pp. 

 ISl, 182). — Considered as a source of climatological statistics and as a 

 system for the prediction of tlie weather for a day or two in advance, 

 meteorology has received entliusiastic supjiort. About all that can be 

 done by the utilization of the telegraph and weather map and the 

 apphcation of general average rules is now being done; but we are 

 still powerless in the presence of any unusual movement of the atmos- 

 phere. Meteorologists must have a deeper insight into the mechanics 

 of the atmosphere. It is not enough to know what the conditions 

 have been and are, but we must know what they will be and why. A 

 complete and rigorous deductive treatise on the laws governing the 

 atmosphere is needed — a treatise on the application to the atmosphere 

 of the dynamics and thermodynamics of gases and vapors. The prep- 

 aration of such a work demands appropriate laboratory arrange- 

 ments. Hence the great need of meteorology at present is the estab- 

 lishment of laboratories and the consecration of physicists and mathe- 

 maticians to the science. The applications of climatology to geology, 

 physiography, hygiene, irrigation, and other matters have been devel- 

 oped, but meteorology itself still remains to be provided for. Our 

 universities should recognize the science to a greater extent in their 

 courses of study and provide for meteorological laboratories. — o. L. 

 FASSIG. 



Rainfall and snow of the United States compiled to the end 



of 1891, M. W. Harrington ( U. S. Bept. Agr., Weather Bureau Bui. 

 C, pp. 80, Jig. 1, charts 23). — Tables give the annual precipitation in the 

 United States (1738 to 1891) ; annual and seasonal averages, seasonal 

 variation, and cubic miles for each State; mean daily rainfall for 18 to 

 28 years at 12 selected stations expressed as a percentage of days on 

 which rain fell; combined averages of hourly occurrences of precipita- 

 tion at Blue Hill Observatory, near Boston, Massachusetts, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, and Central Park, New York, ITew York; details of precipi- 

 tation, and heaviest rainfalls at selected representative stations. Ool- 



