646 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 775 



pens to need it, if a definite system of com- 

 munication and exchange were established 

 between the laboratories. 



Such a system will now be put in operation 

 by the newly formed Association of American 

 Chemical Eesearch Laboratories, of which I 

 have been elected secretary for the academic 

 year 1909-10. A number of the more impor- 

 tant chemical research laboratories, including 

 those of Harvard University, the University 

 of Chicago, the University of Illinois, Colum- 

 bia University, the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, Brown University, the University 

 of Toronto, and others, have already joined 

 the association, and other laboratories are 

 welcome to join at any time. Each laboratory 

 desiring to join the association should send to 

 the undersigned a copy of Kahlbaum's or some 

 similar catalogiie, with marks on the margins 

 showing what chemicals, and roughly what 

 quantities of them, are contained in its stock. 

 If a preparation is needed by any member of 

 the association, inquiry is sent to the secre- 

 tary, who will return information as to where 

 and in what quantities the chemical is to be 

 found. Every member of the association is 

 pledged to loan to any other member any 

 chemical which he does not immediately need 

 himself. On the other hand, a member bor- 

 rowing a preparation is pledged to order it 

 from abroad and to return it without undue 

 delay to the laboratory from which it has been 

 borrowed. 



The warm approval with which the plan 

 met when presented at the Clark University 

 conference would seem to justify all hope for 

 its complete success. 



m. a. eosanoff 



Claek Univebsitt, 

 WoEOESTER, Mass., 

 October 12, 1909 



FAMILY RECORDS 



To THE Editor of Science: Last spring 

 I asked, through Science, for volunteers 

 from among American men of science to 

 furnish records of certain characteristics of 

 their families for three or more genera- 

 tions. The response was unexpectedly large 



and a valuable lot of data was acquired that is 

 now being worked up. Much more data could, 

 however, be used to advantage and so I make 

 this second call for volunteers. Two sets of 

 blanks will be furnished to each person desir- 

 ing them, of which one may be retained for 

 personal use. Information is asked concerning 

 some 35 characteristics of each individual re- 

 corded so that the task of filling the blanks is 

 not inconsiderable. It appears that in many 

 families the data asked for can be obtained by 

 taking a little trouble and the indications, so 

 far, are that the trouble is well worth while. 



It would be a great help if those who have 

 quite or nearly filled out the " Family 

 Records " that they received last spring should 

 return them to me as soon as convenient. 



0. B. Davenport 

 Cold Spbing Haeboe, N. Y. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Plankton of the Illinois River, 1894-1899. 



Part II. Constituent Organisms and their 



Seasonal Distribution. By C. A. Kofoid. 



Bull. lU. State Lab. of Nat. Hist., Vol. 



VIII., Article I., 361 pp., 5 pi.. May, 1908. 



This is the second volume based on the 

 plankton investigations made by Professor 

 Kofoid on the Illinois Eiver. It gives the 

 results of quantitative, numerical and quali- 

 tative studies made on plankton material 

 which was collected in the channel waters, 

 chiefly at weekly intervals, during the years 

 1894 to 1899. 



As a result of the commingling of organ- 

 isms from various and diverse sources, the 

 plankton of this river has a markedly com- 

 posite character, no fewer than 528 forms be- 

 ing represented. Notwithstanding this large 

 number of forms, it still does not show so 

 great a diversity of organisms as marine 

 plankton. Eresh-water plankton is charac- 

 terized by the almost universal absence of 

 larval forms, the exceptions being the glo- 

 chidia of the Unionidse and the larvae of dip- 

 terous insects; by the smaller number of in- 

 vertebrate groups represented; and by the 

 smaller size of the component organisms. In 

 spite of the smaller number of forms in this 



