226 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 
damaged the wheat crop of the West to the extent of $3,000,000 
to $5,000,000, has been kept out of California. Besides these two 
there are seventeen other papers by which the different bureaus and 
divisions equally justify their existence. One of the most useful . 
items of the work of the department is the wide diffusion of its 
publications. Half a million copies of the present report are dis- 
tributed, and the total number of publications issued during the 
past year was 424, aggregating over 6,500,000 copies. Yet the 
Secretary complains that he cannot nearly meet the growing 
demand, and asks for an increased appropriation. 
Perhaps some day we shall have a Department of Agriculture on 
similar lines. In the meantime we would advise all who are in- 
terested in the application of science in this direction to buy or 
borrow a copy of the United States Year-book. 
RECENT WORK ON THE FORAMINIFERA 
SINCE our note appeared in June last a great number of papers have 
eome to hand. Foremost among these is one by R. M. Bagg, on 
“The Cretaceous Foraminifera of New Jersey” (Bull. U.S. Geol. 
Survey, No. 88). This paper, we believe, may be considered as the 
first serious paper on the group which has appeared in America, and 
is, moreover, well illustrated, and well edited. Bagg lists and 
describes about 110 forms, of which 6 are considered new. The 
work has been done from a zoological, not palaeontological, stand- 
point, and deserves warm praise. On the whole, we prefer Chapman's 
Vitriwebbina to the word Vitrewebbina used by the author. Chap- 
man’s contribution to recent literature deals with a new form from 
Torres Straits, which he calls Haddonia, one of the Lituolidae, 
related possibly to Rupertia. The paper appeared in Journ. Linn. 
Soc. Zool., vol. xxvi. In the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 
1898, pp. 258-269, is a paper by that careful writer, F. W. Millett 
of Marazion, whose work, unfortunately, we so rarely see in print. 
It is, however, one of a series, which the Microscopical Society may 
well be congratulated upon having secured. Mr Millett deals with 
the Foraminifera of the Malay Archipelago, from material from 
thirty stations collected by Mr A. Durrand. At present only the 
Miliolinae have appeared, but there is promise of a series of especial 
value, and one which should be doubly welcome to those investigat- 
ing the structures of Funafuti and Christmas Islands. The region 
from which this rich material comes was practically untouched by 
the “ Challenger.” 
Dr Alfredo Silvestri publishes in the Atti of the Accademie di 
Scienze Acireale, vol. viii., a “ Contribuzione allo studio dei Fora- 
miniferi Adriatici,” part 1 of which appeared in 1895. The work 
is the more valuable as it is the first thoroughly systematic descrip- 
