Feb. 8, 1872] 



NATURE 



293 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICA * 



'T'HE statement, by Professor J. D. Whitney, of the present 

 ■*■ condition of the geological survey of California, lately 

 presented to the Governor of the State, gives a gratifying 

 picture of the activity and success in accomplishing the objects 

 for which the exploration was authorised. The State Geologist 

 remarks that less has been done than he had hoped, in conse- 

 quence of the suspension of the appropriations by a preceding 

 Legislature. Since the work was resumed, however, as the result 

 of renewed appropriations by the I,egislature of 1S69, the 

 survey has been carried on as rapidly as the nature of the service 

 would allow. Among the points particularly engaging the 

 attention of the State Geologist was the completion of the 

 topographical map of California, it being readily understood that 

 this must be a necessary preliminary to a geological map. The 

 surveyor Central California was considered especially interesting 

 and important, embracing, as it does, that portion of the State 

 from Owen's Lake on the south to Lassen's Peak on the north, 

 or between 36' and 40' 30' north and south, and 117° 30' and 

 123° east and west, the whole area comprising about one-third 

 of the State, with probably ninety-five per cent, of the popula- 

 tion residing in it. Of the portion included within these limits, 

 represented upon four maps, three are entirely drawn and partially 

 engraved, while the fourth is two-thirds drawn, with the field- 

 work of the remaining third yet to be done. A preliminary 

 map, however, of the whole of California, on a scale of 

 eighteen miles to an inch, has been drawn, in compliance with 

 the wish of the community, and will soon be ready for distri- 

 bution. Besides these, other works connected with the same 

 subject are reported by the State Geologist, being the new 

 editions of the Vosemite Guide-book, and the publication of the 

 first volume of the "Ornithology of California," which is 

 characterised as a work exquisitely illustrated and admirably 

 prin'ed. The remaining volumes of the series of reports are so 

 far completed as only to wait the continuance of appropriations 

 to place them in liand and secure their early appearance. 

 Arrangements have also been made with Mr. Lesquereu.\ to 

 work up the fossil plants of California, and with Dr. Leidy 

 and Prof Meek in regard to the fossils. Prof Brewer, of 

 the Survey, is well advanced in the work on the Botany of 

 California, which, when completed, will doubtless be used 

 extensively as a text-book. It is much to be hoped that very 

 liberal appropriations will be made for these important objects, 

 since its chief and his assistants are known to be among the very 

 best specialists in America, and their work has commanded the 

 highest respect among naturalists at home and abroad. The 

 reports themselves are models of perfection in regard to typo- 

 graphy and general execution, and are not to be surpassed by 

 the finest European works, whether published by governments 

 or private parties. It may be stated as a well-known fact that 

 much interest has been excited throughout the scientific circles 

 of Europe by the character of the work done under the auspices 

 of the State, and the utmost admiration expressed in regard to 

 its liberality and enterprise ; this example being commended to 

 European governments as eminently worthy of their imitation, — 

 A letter from Captain Buddington, the sailing-master of Captain 

 Hall's vessel, the Poliiris, dated at Upernavik, reports that the 

 party were in good health and spirits ; and that Mr. Chester, 

 the first mate, had gone up the coast to bring down Hans 

 Christian, Dr. Kane's Esquimaux hunter, who was to join the 

 expedition. — Among the many works published by the United 

 States government, or at its expense, there are few that exceed 

 in intrinsic value, as well as in beauty, the volumes hitherto 

 printed belonging to the series of reports made by Mr. Clarence 

 King, at his geological and other explorations of the region 

 along the fortieth parallel of latitude. This expedition is still 

 occupied in carrying out the work assigned to it by the engineer 

 department of the army, while reports are now being made of 

 such portions of the work as have been completed. It is nearly 

 a year since the volume upon the mining industry of the Sierra 

 Nevada and other mineral regions of the West was published, 

 as prepared mainly by Mr. J. D. Hague (one of Mr. King's 

 assistants), but including articles by Mr. King himself, and other 

 members of the corps. This was accompanied by a large atlas 

 of plates, and contained full details of all the methods of metal- 

 hirgical operations and manipulations, together with drawings of 

 machinery, plans of mines, sketches of mining geology, iStc. 

 This book has been received with great favour everywhere, and 



* Commuaicalcd by the Scientific Editor of Harper's Weekly. 



has redounded greatly to the credit of the United States, first in 

 authorising the research, and then in publishing the results in so 

 superior a style. We now have to chronicle the appearance of 

 another volume of the series — namely, the Botany, as prepared 

 under the riirection of Mr. Sereno Watson, the botanist of the 

 expedi.ion. This constitutes volume five of Mr. King's reports, 

 and number eighteen of the professional pipers of the engineer 

 department of the army. The work embraces a report upon the 

 geography, meteorology, and physics of the region explored as 

 coimected with the general botany of the country, catalogues of 

 the known plants investigated, descriptions of new genera and 

 species, and various appendices ; these accompanied by forty 

 plates of new or rare species. Another volume of the series is 

 now in press, and will include the zoological portion, as fur- 

 nished by Mr. Robert Ridgway. This will probably appear 

 in the course of a few months. — The scientific tendency of the 

 age, manifested in the continual springing up of new associations 

 in different parts of the country, receives an additional illustration 

 in the establishment of the Natural History Society of Marquette, 

 Michiijan, which was organised during the month of December, 

 under the presidency of Dr. Hewitt. 



ON THE CARPAL AND TARSAL BONES OF 

 BIRDS* 



"T* HE author stated that he had followed with great interest the 

 work of Huxley, Cope, Morse, and others, in tracing out the 

 ornithic characters in the Dinosauria. While following these rela- 

 tions he had noticed a marked difference in the characters of the 

 carpus and tarsus of the two classes. It seemed strange that a 

 group of bones so persistent in the reptiles as well as in the mam- 

 malia should be so obscure or wanting in birds. Owen objects 

 to the term tarso-metatarse, as he believes the existence of a 

 tarsus has not been demonstrated. W. K. Parker, in iS5l, on 

 the osteology of Balceniceps, questions if the lower articular por- 

 tion of the tibia is not the homologue of the mammalian astra- 

 galus and not an epiphysis. Gegenbaur has now shown that in 

 one stage of the young bird there is a proximal tarsal ossicle, and 

 a distal tarsal ossicle, the first one anchylosing with the tibia, the 

 distal one likewise anchylosing with the metatarse. Thus, the 

 term tarso-metatarse is quite proper. While this was a great 

 step toward a proper understanding of these parts, Mr. Morse 

 believed that a nearer relation would be found in the discovery of 

 another proximal tarsal bone. In those reptiles he had examined, 

 whatever the number of tarsal bones, there were always in the 

 proximal series one corresponding to the tibia, and another cor- 

 responding to the fibula. He had found this feature in birds. 

 In studying the embryos of the eave swallow, bank swallow, king 

 bird, sand piper, blackbird, cow blackbird, bluebird, chirping 

 sparrow, yellow warbler, and Wilson's thrush, he had found 

 three distinct tarsal bones, two in the proximal series answering 

 to the tibia and fibula, and one in the distal series. The first two 

 early anchylose, and present an hour-glass-shaped articular surface 

 as Prof. Cope has described in the astragalus of Lrelaps. The 

 final anchylosis of these conjoined ossicles with the tibia, formed 

 the bicondylar trochlea so peculiar to the distal end of a bird's 

 tibia. The distal tarsal ossicle became united with the proximal 

 ends of the metatarse, as has been shown. In the carpus he had 

 found four perfectly distinct ossicles, the distal carpal bones be- 

 coming united to the base of the mid and outer metacarpals, the 

 other two remaining free, though the ulnar carpal in some cases 

 anchylosed with the ulna. In the king bird and yellow warbler, 

 he had found a fifth carpal on the radial side. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The yuunial of Anatomy ami Physiology, Second series. 

 No. ix., November 1871. — The first article in this number is by 

 Prof. Humphry, "On the Anatomy of the Muscles and Nerves of 

 Cryptol'ra>ii/ms Japoniius" an animal which has been only rarely 

 dissected. The muscular system presents no points of great 

 peculiarity or interest, resembling very closely that of other 

 Urodda. With respect to the nerves, no trace of the third, 

 fourth, or sixth cranial could be found in either orbit, though the 

 third and fourth, both of very small size, were found in the 

 cranial cavity ; previous dissectors had described the sixth as a 



* Abstract of paper by Prof. E. S. Morse, read at the Indianapolis meeting 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Reprinted 

 from the American Naturalist. 



