30 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1280 



witli tliis training have found place in govern- 

 ment service along lines related to their spe- 

 cialty but how many I could not say. 



Teachers may very profitably em.phasize the 

 features of parasitism that afford examples of 

 biologic adaptation and in medical and agri- 

 cultural applications and this should serve to 

 aid in the application of the bureau results. 



I believe a very useful aid in this work would 

 be for the bureau to furnish to the laboratories, 

 willing to cooperate, a condensed manual for 

 the more essential technique in the preparation 

 of material for study and keys for identifica- 

 tion of species most commonly met with in 

 laboratory work. 



The laboratory guides of Braun & Liihe: 

 Stitts; and Herms, and Pratt's indispensable 

 "Manual of Invertebrates " are of course avail- 

 able and are no doubt very generally used but 

 they are more likely to fit into special or ad- 

 vanced courses and a simple hand-book, in 

 mimeograph form if desired, available for use 

 in some of the more general courses would, 

 I believe, help to stimulate interest. 



Possibly an outline of a course in parasitol- 

 ogy arranged by a conference between repre- 

 sentatives of bureau and university teachers 

 might help especially if such outline indicated 

 what special problems could be worked to ad- 

 vantage in any particular locality. Also the 

 employment of advanced students in the rou- 

 tine duty of collecting or preparing material 

 for bureau use might be possible. A circular 

 letter from the bureau to university depart- 

 ments suggesting work that might be done 

 would be helpful, and I believe that sugges- 

 tions to teachers as to the matter and form for 

 best presenting to students and thereby to a 

 larger public, the results of the bureau work 

 might be of advantage. 



Specific training of specialists for the bureau 

 service might be facilitated by an understand- 

 ing as to probable employment of men willing 

 to enter the field as their life work. 



I do not understand that the demand is wide 

 enough, for the immediate future at least, to 

 warrant many schools making a specialty of 

 the subject but certainly a few schools with 

 proper facilities might very profitably offer dis- 



tinct courses preparing for such work and 

 prospective students in this line could then be 

 steered to such schools from other departments 

 not emphasizing this phase of zoology. 



Another thing which, speaking from the uni- 

 versity side, seems to me worth considering 

 would be the preparation of a moderate number 

 of representative species of parasites for dem- 

 onstration purposes in classrooms or labora- 

 tories or even the accumulation of certain 

 abundant forms sufiicient for laboratory dis- 

 sections or study. The bureau doubtless has a 

 large accumulation of duplicate material from 

 which it would be possible to supply material 

 where desired with perhaps the agreement that 

 the department so supplied should contribute 

 other material as it might become available. 



While it often happens that a quantity of 

 specimens of some particular species is found 

 in great abundance I beUeve we will all agree 

 that the securing of such material in condition 

 and quantity for laboratory purpose is more 

 difficult than for most other groups. 



Perhaps my suggestions naay seem to be 

 rather one-sided, involving mostly assistance 

 from the bureau to the university laboratories, 

 but I believe that the bureau will find the imi- 

 versity men ready and willing to cooperate and 

 that they will welcome definite suggestions as 

 to ways and means by which such cooperation 

 may be established. 



Herbert Osborn 



Ohio State Univeesitt 



THE THREATENED EXTINCTION OF 



THE BOX HUCKLEBERRY, GAY- 



LUSSACIA BRACHYCERA 



The box huckleberry {Gaylussacia hrachy- 

 cera) is a rare and beautiful American shrub 

 which is in process of extinction. It is de- 

 clared by Mr. Harlan P. Kelsey, the well- 

 Isnown landscape architect, of Salem, Massa- 

 chusetts, that for many woodland situations it 

 is the most beautiful native evergreen ground 

 cover known to him. The biological problem 

 is to preserve the wild plant from extinction 

 and at the same time to bring it into horti- 

 cultural use. 

 , Two years ago the writer, desiring to ex- 



