Editorial. gs 



Richard Chenevix Trench D. D. — English Past and Pres- 

 ent. Humboldt Pub. Co. , 28 Lafayette Place, New York. Nos. 

 108 and 109 of the Humboldt Library. This is another standard 

 work added to the Humboldt Library Series — a work that has 

 had a sale second only to 'The Study of Words" by the same 

 distinguished author. Twenty editions of the latter and thirteen 

 of the former, are the best evidences of the popularity of the 

 works. The English language is spoken in almost every country 

 of the globe, and seems destined to be the universal language of 

 the next century It was the language used at the late conference 

 in Berlin, supplanting French, until now the language of di- 

 plomacy. A most interesting study, therefore, is the history of 

 the English language past and present. 



The English Sparrow (Passer domesticus) — Bull, i, Divi- 

 sion of economic ornithology and mammalogy, U. S. Dept. 

 Agric. Prepared by W. B. Barrows, 1889. This work of over 

 400 pages shows how rapidly this bird has spread throughout the 

 Eastern United States, and presents the larger portion of the lit- 

 erature written from difterent stand points relative to its introduc- 

 tion. It as yet has gained but a small foothold on this coast, 

 where it is confined mainly to the vicinity of San Francisco. 



C. H. EiGENMANN — On the development of California food 

 fishes. Amer. Naturalist, XXIII, 107-110. 



H. R. Taylor — Nesting of the white-tailed kite. Ornith and 

 Oologist, xiv, 90. 



E. D. Cope — On the mammalia obtained by the Naturalist ex- 

 ploring expedition to Southern Brazil. Extracted from the 

 Amen'caji Naturalist, February. 1889. 



The vertebrate fauna of the Equus beds. Extract from the same. 

 Gives a list of the species found in the Oregon Desert, (2) in the 

 country of the Nueces, S. W. Texas, and (3) in the valley of 

 Mexico. 



EDITORIAL. 



The tin mines of the Lhiited States are beginning to attract the 

 attention of both American and foreign capital. The annual im- 

 portation of tin in the United States exceeds $21,000,000 ; while 

 vast deposits of ore exist in California, Nevada, Dakota and 

 Texas, awaiting development. Several large English syndicates, 

 and also a heavy Chicago company, are now preparing to make 

 these mines produce the tin consumed in this country. 



The editorial association of Southern California held its mid- 

 summer con\xiition in San Diego on the 9th, loth and nth of 

 July, devoting the days to excursions in the vicinity of San 

 Diego and the evenings to business sessions. The 9th we par- 

 ticipated in a pleasant excursion from Hotel del Coronado over 



