178 



NA TURE 



[December 26, 1901 



primarily upon their relative fixity, and not upon their 

 supposed importance in the individual economy of the 

 organism. Generic characters to be of taxonomic value 

 must be distinguished from varietal and specific charac- 

 ters by their greater fixity, or what may be defined as 

 their more exact reproduction or transmission in genera- 

 tion. He further remarks that the attempt closely to 

 correlate specimens with some particular species diverts 

 the attention from the evolutional laws which the evi- 

 dence contains and illustrates. The study of a single 

 group of species demonstrates the fact that the evolu- 

 tional stage of the group is indicated with precision, 

 independent of the names of the species, and independent 

 of the fact that the specimens actually present in the 

 Maine fauna agree precisely in scarcely a single case 

 with those of any fauna in New York. 



Mr. Gregory reports on the geology of the Aroostook 

 volcanic area. North-eastern Maine is essentially a 

 region of sedimentary rocks, with prominent exposures 

 of igneous rocks in Castle Hill and Mapleton townships. 

 This area appears to have been a distinct centre of vol- 

 canic activity. Khyolites, trachytes and andesites are 

 described. Elsew-here there are tracts of granite and 

 other igneous rocks. 



Of purely pakpontological papers there is an account 

 of the flora of the .Montana formation (No. 163) by Mr. 

 F. H. Knowlton. The formation is approximately of 

 Laramie (late Cretaceous) age. There is also an elaborate 

 synopsis of American fossil Bryozoa (No. 173) by Mr. 

 J. M. Nickles and Mr. Ray S. Bassler. 



Contributions to chemistry and mineralogy, with 

 analyses of rocks, are given (in Nos. 167 and 168) by 

 Mr. F. M. Clarke. Various crystalline and sedimentary 

 rocks, soils, and meteorites, are dealt with. Mr. W. F. 

 Hillebrand treats of some principles and methods of rock 

 analysis (in No. 176). Of miscellaneous reports we have 

 a gazetteer of Utah (No. 166), altitudes in Alaska (No. 

 i6g), and other topographical papers (Nos. 170, 171, 174 

 and 175). 



Several Monographs published by the U.S. Geological 

 Survey have also been received. Monograph No. 39 

 (1900) contains an account of the Eocene and Lower 

 Oligocene Coral Faunas of the United States with 

 descriptions of a few doubtfully Cretaceous species, by 

 Mr. T. Wayland Vaughan. The author laments that 

 the classification of corals is in a most unsatisfactory 

 condition, but he has described his material with all 

 possible care in the hope that ere long some one may 

 be able to give a classification based on the actual phylo- 

 genetic groupmg of the various genera. The larger the 

 number of specimens the more difficult it is to define 

 species : Mr. X'aughan has tried to be conservative, and 

 when a form in one horizon grades into a form in the 

 horizon next above, he has named them varieties of the 

 same species, even when the variety possesses an 

 Individuality that makes it easily recognisable. 



In Monograph No. 40 (1900) Mr. S. H. .Scudder deals 

 with certain Coleoptera from the Tertiary deposits at 

 Florissant, Colorado, and gives a systematic list of the 

 non-rhynchophorous Tertiary Coleoptera of North 

 America, 



NOTES. 

 II.R.H. THE Prin'CEOf Walks has accepted the presidency 

 of the Society of Arts, which was vacated by His Majesty the 

 King on his accession. 



Dr. William Somerville, late professor of agriculture at 

 the University of Cambridge, has been appointed to be an 

 assistant secretary' to the Board of Agriculture in succession to 

 'Sir Jacob Wilson, who has retired. 

 NO. 1678, VOL. 65] 



Dr. Arthur S.mith Woodward, F. R.S., has been ap- 

 pointed keeper of the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum (Natural History), South Kensington, in succession to 

 Dr. Henry Woodward, who retired on November 23 after a 

 service of nearly forty-four years. Curiously enough, there is no 

 family relationship between the present and past keepers. 



Major A. W. Alcock, F.R.S., Superintendent of the 

 Indian Museum, Calcutta, informs us, that Mr. L. de Niceville 

 died at Calcutta of fever contracted in the Darjeeling Terai, 

 on December 3. 



It is announced by Dr. D. Morris that the fourth annual 

 West Indian Agricultural Conference will be held at Barbados on 

 January 4 and 6, 1902. The object of the conference, as laid 

 down by the Secretary of State, is the reading of papers and 

 discussion on the scientific and economic aspects of the sugar- 

 cane and other industries. It is hoped that the subjects brought 

 forward will be dealt with from a thoroughly practical point of 

 view and with a full knowledge of the requirements and circum- 

 stances of each colony concerned. 



The death of Mr. James G, Shipman, F.G.S., deprives 

 geological science of an ardent local worker, who did much 

 to enlarge our knowledge of the rocks and fossils of the 

 neighbourhood of Nottingham. He commenced life in com- 

 paratively humble circumstances ; he was apprenticed to the 

 printing trade, and was finally given a post on the sub-editorial 

 staff of the Nottingham Daily Express. His interest in geology 

 was aroused by lectures given more than thirty years ago by the 

 late Edward Wilson. Thereafter he devoted himself to the 

 subject with remarkable assiduity. His lei.sure hours were spent 

 in studying all sections within reach of Nottingham, and he 

 contributed a number of papers, chiefly on the Drift and Triassic 

 deposits, to the Annual Report and Transactions ol the Not- 

 tingham Naturalists' Society, Latterly he had paid much 

 attention to the structure of the Nottingham and Derbyshire 

 Coal-field, and had qualified himself to give expert advice on 

 water-supply. He died on November 21, aged fifty,three. 



A Reuter's telegram states that Mr. William Bruce, the 

 leader of the Scottish Antarctic expedition, has purchased the 

 Norwegian steam whaler Heila for his forthcoming expedition 

 to South Polar regions. The Antarctic, with Prof. Nordenskjold's 

 South Polar expedition on board, left Buenos -Ayres on Friday 

 for the Falkland Islands. The Discovery left Lyttelton for 

 Dunedin on Saturday afternoon, and has by now sailed for the 

 Antarctic. 



Prof. H, Hergesell, president of the International 

 Aeronautical Committee, informs us that arrangements are being 

 made to continue the manned and unmanned balloon ascents 

 during 1902, the dates proposed being the first Thursday in 

 each month, e.xcept January, when the second Thursday is 

 selected. Since November 7, 1900, 120 ascents have been 

 made ; the observations are now being discussed and will throw- 

 much light on the physics of the upper air. It is proposed to 

 hold a meeting of the Committee next year in Berlin, when 

 questions relating to new thermometers, observations of atmo- 

 spheric electricity and magnetism will be discussed. 



In connection with the valuable series of forty years' obser- 

 vations taken at Camden Square (N.W. London), Symons's 

 Meteorological Magazine for December contains the monthly 

 results and extremes of solar temperatures for twenty-eight 

 years commencing with 1870, made by both black and bright 

 bulb radiation thermometers. The following are some of the 

 values obtained by the black bulb in vacuo : — Highest monthly 

 average, 123° -4, absolute maximum, I37°7, both in July. Lowest 

 monthly mean, 36''9, absolute minimum, 24 'S, both in Decern- 



