January 13, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



55 



eral qnawks were fascinated by the lantern, 

 and we pushed up close to them before they 

 started off with owl-like motion and dis- 

 cordant cries. 



The writer is now able, from personal 

 studies, to report 163 species of fishes in 

 waters extending from Gravesend Bay east- 

 ward to Mecox bay, and refers to his ar- 

 ticles published in the Nineteenth Annual 

 Eeport of the New York Fish Commission 

 (1890) and the Bulletin for 1897 of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City. 



The marine fishes now certainly known 

 in the New York fauna represent 200 spe- 

 cies. The fresh waters contain 116 species, 

 and there are, besides, 13 anadromous 

 forms. The list might be further increased 

 by the addition of the following fishes con- 

 cerning whoso pertinence to the fauna there 

 is more or less doubt : Lucius vermiculatus, 

 Seriola lalandi, Coryphoina equisetis, Boleosoma 

 nigrum, Polyprion americanus, JEpinephelus 

 niveatus, Dules auriga, Zenopsis ocellatus, Sphe- 

 roides trichocephcdus, Aspidophoroides monop- 

 terygius, Ulvaria subbifurcata, Stichceus piwic- 

 tatus, Leptoblennius serpentiniis, Cryptacan- 

 thodes maculatus, Anarhichas lupus, Trigla 

 cucidus, Brosmius brosme, Hippoglossoides pla- 

 tessoides, Ogcocephalus vespertilio .'^ 



Thus, a catalogue of the New York 

 fishes, based upon our present knowledge 

 and including the foregoing 19 forms doubt- 

 fully assigned to the fauna, will contain 348 

 species. It should be remembei-ed that no 

 systematic account of the fishes has been 

 published since 1842, and many large re- 

 gions of the State are almost, or altogether, 

 unknown to the ichthyologist. 



Tarleton H. Bean. 



* The bat-fish must be transferred to the list of 

 species known to occur in New York. Dr. Theodore 

 Gill, in the mid-summer of ]854 or 1855, saw a re- 

 cently-caught example of it at a whaif at the foot of 

 27th Street, East River, New York. No record of its 

 occurrence was published. 



SUPPRESSION OF S3I0KE. 



The devising of practicable methods of 

 reduction of the ' smoke nuisance ' has be- 

 come one of the most important problems 

 in applied science for our time, and has 

 been a subject of experiment and of legis- 

 lation for many years past. Of late, some 

 success has been met with on both sides the 

 Atlantic. In St. Louis, perhaps, as great 

 success has been attained as in any city in 

 the United States, through the public-spir- 

 ited cooperation of the city government, 

 the Board of Trade and the scientific men 

 and leading engineers of the place ; but 

 there remains much to be done and inves- 

 tigations are still in progress, some of which 

 are important. Recent discussions at Phil- 

 adelphia, under the auspices of the Frank- 

 lin Institute,* have thrown much light upon 

 the subject and have afforded many valu- 

 able facts and data. 



We have now the published results of 

 another and formal investigation by a com- 

 mission, organized at Paris, composed of 

 MM. Huet, Brull, Hirsch, Humblot, Lam- 

 ouroux, Michel-Levy and DeTavernier, all 

 holding important positions in the municipal 

 administration, or in the great schools of 

 mines and engineering, or as leading mem- 

 bers of the Society of Civil Engineers. The 

 commission was in session, at intervals, 

 from June, 1894, to October, 1897. It made 

 a study of reports and documents bearing 

 upon the subject, conducted important ex- 

 periments, reduced them to order and stud- 

 ied out definite conclusions, and also inves- 

 tigated the origin, state and the progress of 

 the art, completing its report at the last- 

 named date. This document of over 150 

 pages, large 8vo, with 25 plates, is now in 

 process of distribution. f 



Although more or less attention had been 



* Journal Franklin Institute, June, 1897. 



t " Coneours pour la suppression des fumees pro- 

 duites par les foyers de chaudicires a vapeur. Rapport 

 de la Commission technique. Prefecture du Depart- 



