12 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
Smithsonian Mathematical Tables. Each of these works has been 
published in revised editions, with such corrections and additions 
as became necessary by the advance of scientific knowledge. ; 
The years that had elapsed since the publication of the first edi- 
tion of the Physical Tables in 1896 had brought such changes in the 
material upon which these tables must be based that it became 
necessary to almost wholly recast the work for the fifth revised 
edition, which was published during the past year. Recent data and 
many new tables have been added, including several mathematical 
tables especially computed for this work, which forms a volume of 
about 850 pages. 
Opinions on Zoological Nomenclature.—As stated with some detail 
in my last report, the Institution cooperates with the International 
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature by providing clerical assist- 
ance for its secretary and by the publication of the commission’s 
opinions. During the past year two pamphlets were issued contain- 
ing opinions 1 to 25 and 26 to 29, covering important questions of 
nomenclature that had been matters of discussion among zoologists. 
In connection with the summary of each opinion there is printed a 
statement of the case and the discussion thereon by members of the 
commission. The rules to be followed in submitting cases for 
opinion 'as laid down by the commission are as follows: 
(1) The commission does not undertake to act as a bibliographic or nomen- 
clatural bureau, but rather as an adviser in connection with the more difficult 
and disputed cases of nomenclature. 
(2) All cases submitted should be accompanied by (@) a concise statement 
of the point at issue, (0) the full arguments on both sides in case a disputed 
point is involved, and (c) complete and exact bibliographic references to every 
book or article bearing on the point at issue. 
The more complete the data when the case is submitted the more promptly 
ean it be acted upon. 
(8) Of necessity, cases: submitted with incomplete bibliographic references 
can not be studied and must be returned by the commission to the sender. 
(4) Cases upon which an opinion is desired may be sent to any member of 
the commission, but— 
(5) In order that the work of the commission may be confined as much as 
possible to the more difficult and the disputed cases, it is urged that zoologists 
study the code and settle for themselves as many cases as possible. 
Harriman Alaska series —The Institution has received from Mrs. 
Edward H. Harriman several thousand copies of volumes descrip- 
tive of the results of the Harriman expedition to Alaska in 1899. 
The expedition was organized in cooperation with the Washingtor 
Academy of Sciences, but entirely at the expense of Mr. Harriman. 
He invited as his guests 3 artists and 25 men of science represent- 
ing various branches of research. The expedition sailed from Seattle 
1 Cases should be forwarded to the secretary of the commission, Dr. Ch. Wardell Stiles, 
U. S. Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D. C. 
