November 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



175 



Correspondence. 



Editor of O. <6 O..- The following extract 

 from a letter just received from a tlistinguisliecl 

 member of the A. O. U. needs little explana- 

 tion and less comment. It was called forth by 

 a single request for information as to the com- 

 parative (probable) helpfulness of the A. O. U. 

 and the newly organized O. & O. Association 

 centered at Washington. 



" DE.\ii Silt: Vonr letter received and con- 

 tents noted. Respecting your question about 

 the A. O. U. or the new association, as you style 

 it, I cannot give you an unbiased answer. I am 

 one of the founders of the A. O. U., and its 

 w >rk spe:iks for itself. The A. O. U. will 

 keep on just the same no matter if, as you 

 put it, yon consent to have your name brought 

 forward for an associate member or not." 



The writer of the above mistakes alike my 

 meaning and iny spirit, .lust this sort of pat- 

 ronizing talk it is that is widening the gulf 

 between an innumerable multitude of intelli- 

 gent field workers and the select, exclusive 

 circle of the ornitliological union. 



P. B. Peabnih/. 



New Books. 



Xaturalists, as a rule, are proverbially lack- 

 ing in a superabundance of this world's goods, 

 and when a man of extensive means selects 

 the study of science as a hobby, and while 

 exercising it for his personal gratification also 

 makes use of his wealth to advance the cause 

 of scientific knowledge, he becomes a true 

 public benefactor of which, pitiful it is to say 

 it, we have but few. Among these few Mr. 

 Frederick Stearns, a prominent manufacturing 

 druggist of Detroit, Mich., stands in the front 

 rank. During the years 18ST and 18SS he 

 made extensive explorations for marine life in 

 the Bahama Islands and from the material 

 thus obtained, Mr-. .1. E. Ives of the Philadel- 

 phia Academy of tSciencc has prepared a paper 

 on some specis of Echinoderms, including a 

 new species of Amphinra from Andros Bank, 

 and named Stearnii in lumor of the discoverer. 

 Tlie pamphlet, whicli with others is before us, 

 is illustrated by a full-page plate, which is due 

 to Mr. Steam's liberality. 



In 1889-90 Mr. Stearns visited .Tapan, and as 

 in the other case, Mr. Ives was so fortunate 



as to come into possession of the material, 

 from which emanates a pamphlet of fourteen 

 pages of description with six full-page plates 

 on "Echinoderms and Arthopods from Japan," 

 containing descriptions of several new species 

 and plates of others never before figured. 



It is to be hoped that Mr. Stearns will be 

 long spared to carry out the work so well 

 begun. 



Mr. Montague Chamberlain, known to most 

 of our readers through the medium of several 

 articles published in our columns, and from 

 his authorship of "The Catalogue of Canadian 

 Birds" and various other ornithological pub- 

 lications, now announces a new "Popular 

 handbook of ornithology of the United States 

 and Canada, based on Xuttall's Manual." 



While Xuttall was never the peer of Audu- 

 bon nor Wilson, his works are deservedly 

 valued to a certain degree; and that bis man- 

 ual should be modernized and enlarged is 

 certainly commendable. 



Mr. Chamberlain's work as a compiler and 

 tran.slator is of the best, and being a firm 

 admirer of Xuttall he will surely present to 

 his readers a faithful reproduction, and no 

 doubt will add much of value to the original 

 compilations, if we can judge from the speci- 

 men pages now before us. 



The illustrations in a great measure will be 

 taken from drawings executed especially for 

 this book by Ernest Thompson, whose work, 

 although crude, is very true to nature. Two 

 volumes with colored frontispiece will be 

 furnished in brown 8vo., cloth, at .$8.00, from 

 the press of Little, Brown ife Co. 



Vol. XII of the Tranftactions of Kansnn 

 Acddemy of Sciences contains a correction by 

 the author of the description of nests and 

 eggs given in Goss' Cataloyue of the Birds of 

 Kansas, deeming bis authority as unreliable, 

 and a note of second occurrence of the White- 

 faced Glossy Ibis in that state. 



B. B. Smyth, of Topeka, presents a list of 

 flowers, which form a floral clock by their 

 hours of blooming. Among the interesting 

 points introduced is the theory that many 

 plants have preferences among insects, as 

 furnishing honey for them, and in this way 

 playing an important i)art in the fertilization 

 of the flower. An old subject, but finely 

 adapted to the circumstances. Vernon L. 

 Kellogg gives a list of seventy-six birds ob- 

 served at Estes Park, Colorado. 



