^'°1908^^1 ^"o'fs ""-^ ^'^"'«- 497 



with the Hterature of African ornithology, however, that his name is most 

 intimately interwoven. 



Francis Huntington Snow, an Associate of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, died at Bellfield, Wise, September 20, 1908, at the age of 

 68 years. He was born in Fitchburg, Mass., June 29, 1840, was grad- 

 uated from Williams College in 1862, and from the Andover Theological 

 Seminary in 1866. He was a member of the faculty of the State Uni- 

 versity of Kansas from the founding of the University in 1866, became 

 president of the faculty in 1899, and was chancellor from 1890 to 1901. 

 He filled the chair of mathematics and natural science from 1870 to 1890, 

 and since 1901 that of organic evolution, systematic entomology and 

 meteorologJ^ He received the degree of Ph. D. from Williams College in 

 1881, and that of LL. D. from Princeton in 1890. The Snow Hall of Nat- 

 ural History at the University of Kansas was named in his honor. He 

 was well known for his contributions to systematic and economic entomol- 

 ogy, and for his interest in Kansas ornithology. He published his first 

 catalogue of Kansas birds in 1872 — the first list of the birds of the State 

 — and revised editions of it at freciuent intervals, the fifth and last appeal- 

 ing in 1903 (reviewed in this Journal, XX, 190.3, p. 317). In this last 

 edition he excluded all species which could not be verified as birds actually 

 captured in Kansas since 1886. the list as thus restricted including 342 

 species and subspecies. The following year, however, he added (in ' The 

 Auk') five others; in 1906, two more; and in 1907 ten more, raising the 

 total to 359. In addition to his own original contributions in various lines 

 of natural history, he did much through his training of students at the 

 University to promote biological research. 



A NEW department has recently been established at the University of 

 California to be known as the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. 

 This has been made possible through the generosity of Miss Annie M. Alex- 

 ander, of Oakland, Cal., who is an alumnus of the University and deeply 

 interested in the vertebrate fauna of North America, and especially in 

 that of California, which is thus far poorly represented in the museums of 

 the State. A feature of the new museum will be the accumulation of 

 material for original research, the collection of ecological data, and the 

 representation of leading types by mounted groups. It is planned to have 

 at least two skilled collectors in the field in the interest of the Museum. 

 The University will provide a suitable building for the reception and in- 

 stallation of the material. Dr. Joseph Grinnell has been selected as Cura- 

 tor, and active field work was begun early in the present year. This 

 undertaking cannot fail to yield results of gi-eat importance in a field as yet 

 very imperfectly developed. 



A PRACTICAL guide for those who wish to protect wild birds and attract 

 them to their grounds has been issued by Witherby & Co., London, under 



