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THE AMEBIC AN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



in these times when we have become ac- 

 customed to destruction of life and property 

 on a huge scale. This holocaust was ap- 

 parently the result of negligence on the part 

 of the state legislature, which cut the forest 

 protection appropriation nearly to the van- 

 ishing point. Although the state forester 

 announced the presence of slow bog fires in 

 the northern forests, he was unable to obtain 

 labor for extinguishing them. It is to be 

 hoped that Minnesota public opinion will 

 now force the necessary legislative action 

 to prevent a repetition of such catastrophes 

 — of which the present fire is the third in- 

 stance (Hinckley 1894, Bandette 1910, Du- 

 luth 1918). 



A RECENT issue of the Memoirs of the 

 American Museum i contains a notable series 

 of illustrations of the North American 

 species of the genus Catocala or "underwing 

 moths," by Wm. Beutenmiiller, with addi- 

 tional plates and explanatory text by Dr. 

 Wm. Barnes, of Decatur, Illinois, and his 

 entomological assistant. Dr. J. McDunnough. 

 This memoir is the most elaborate and beau- 

 tifully illustrated work of the kind that the 

 Museum has issued, covering, as it does, the 

 work of many years and the services of 

 several entomologists. It contains more than 

 550 illustrations, of which .381 are colored 

 drawings by Mrs. Beutenmiiller. The whole 

 series is for the most part the material for 

 a monograph on these moths left unfinished 

 by Mr. Beutenmiiller when he withdrew from 

 his curatorship in the American Museum in 

 January, 1912. 



The war has centered attention on what 

 can be gained by cooperation between the 

 scientific men and the government of a 

 country. A noteworthy instance of the will- 

 ingness on the part of men in governmental 

 positions to cooperate with men of science 

 was illustrated in the summer of 1918 in the 

 West Indies, when the nineteen instructors 

 and graduate students composing the Bar- 

 bados-Antigua Expedition of the State Uni- 

 versity of Iowa were entertained in govern- 

 ment buildings and provided with laboratory 

 and field facilities. The scientific results of 



^ "Illustrations of the North American Species of 

 the Genus Catocala by Wm. Beutenmiiller, with 

 Additional Plates and Text," by Wm. Barnes, 

 M.D., and .J. McDunnough, Ph.D., Memoirs of The 

 American Museum of Natural History, New Se- 

 ries, Vol. Ill, Part 1. 



the expedition will be reported upon by Mr. 

 John B. Henderson, of Washington (Mol- 

 lusca). Dr. Barton W. Evermann, California 

 Academy of Sciences and Pacific Fisheries 

 Society (reef fishes). Dr. W. K. Fisher, Hop- 

 kins Marine Station, Stanford University 

 (Asteroidea and llolothuroidea), and Pro- 

 fessor C. C. Nutting, State University of 

 Iowa (Hydroidea and Alcyonaria). 



That disease has not always Ijeen a 

 scourge to animal and i^lant life, but arose 

 some time during the great Coal Period of 

 the earth's geological history is the opinion 

 of Professor Roy L. Moodie, set forth in a 

 recent number of the Scientific Monilily. 

 The evidences for the antiquity of disease 

 are limited to such forms as would leave 

 their marks upon fossilized bones and among 

 these Professor Moodie has found a number 

 of pathological conditions closely resembling 

 those resulting from known maladies. The 

 giant reptilians (dinosaurs, etc.) show tu- 

 berculous and tumorous degeneration of the 

 bones ; among these monsters disease seems 

 to have reached a climax, for after their ex- 

 tinction its evidences are less prominent un- 

 til the appearance of mammals. Nothing 

 new with regard to pathological structure 

 has been learned nor was this to be exi^ected, 

 although, inasmuch as we know from the 

 evidence of medieval history that diseases 

 become extinct, further study may reveal 

 infirmities hitherto unknown to science. 

 Furthermore, no light is thrown on what 

 part, if any, disease may have played in the 

 blotting out of species, so that we are left 

 in this important question to fall back en- 

 tirely on historical analogy. 



In connection with the memorial by Pro- 

 fessor Charles P. Berkey in the present num- 

 ber of the .Journal (page 705), the Editor" 

 wishes to call attention to a portrait of the 

 late Charles R. Van Hise, geologist and 

 president of the University of Wisconsin, in 

 the February, 1918, issue (page 9-1). The 

 rei)roduction is from a photograph of the 

 lironze bust by the sculptor, the late C. S. 

 Pietro, which was executed for the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, and was on view in 

 Memorial Hall of the American Museum for 

 several weeks in the spring of 1918, before 

 being sent to its destination. The bronze 

 well portrays the fine intellectual strength of 

 the man. 



