886 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 234; 



in the field, investigating the flora of the White 

 Mouutaiu region of New Mexico, which has al- 

 ready yielded him so many interesting novelties. 

 Professor C. H. T. Townsend and Mr. C. M. 

 Barber are collecting in the region of the Sierra 

 Madre Mountains, in northern Mexico. 



Peofessoe W. a. Setchell, of the Univer- 

 sity of California, and other botanists of the 

 University, are about to leave on an expedition 

 to study the flora of the Aleutian Islands. 

 '• Two French explorers have returned to 

 Paris, Dr. Maclaud, who had been in French 

 Guinea, and M. Peroy, who has been for three 

 years in Gen-The and CaiBinh. 



Mr. Charles H. Senff has given S5,000 to 

 the zoological department of Columbia Univer- 

 sity for purposes of exploration and publication. 

 Mr. Harrington and Mr. Sumner expect, with 

 the assistance of this fund, to make a second ex- 

 pedition to the Nile in search of rolypteriis, if 

 the unsettled political conditions make this 

 possible. The fund will also be used for the 

 publication of a memoir on the anatomy of 

 Polypteriis, to be undertaken conjointly bj^ 

 Messrs. Dean, Harrington, McGregor, Strong, 

 Herrick and Profe.ssor Wheeler, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago. Professor E. B. Wilson, 

 after ascertaining last spring that the trip to 

 Khartoum was impracticable, established a 

 temporary laboratory at Mansourah, upon the 

 lower Nile, the point visited by Messrs. Har- 

 rington and Hunt last summer. The fishermen 

 assured -him that Polypterm would return in 

 quantity, and raised his hopes greatly ; but, 

 when after a long period, the flsh began to ap- 

 pear it was ascertained that all the females had 

 spawned, so that further efforts to obtain the 

 eggs would be futile during the remainder of 

 the season. Professor Wilson is now occupying 

 the Columbia University table at Naples and is 

 engaged in the revision for the third edition 

 of his volume, ' The Cell,' which is to be trans- 

 lated into Italian and French. 



The Peabody Museum, of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, has received from the heirs of the late 

 Moses D. Kimball a valuable collection of ar- 

 chfeological and ethnological specimens. 



At a meeting of the British Astronomical 

 Association on May 31st Mr. E. Walter Maun- 



der announced that the report of the eclipse 

 expeditions of last year were now far advanced 

 and were expected to be issued before the next 

 meeting. With regard to the arrangements of 

 the expeditions for next year, they had not yet 

 entered into a contract with any steamship 

 company, but they were carrying on negotia- 

 tions in that direction. They expected to ar- 

 range without difficulty for a steamship to take 

 a party out from England, leaving approxi- 

 mately a fortnight before the eclipse, and reach- 

 ing England again about a week after it. It 

 would probably call at some port in Portugal — 

 either Oporto or Lisbon — then, perhaps, at 

 Cadiz and Alicante, finally going to Algiers, 

 where the steamer could be used as a hotel by 

 those members of the party who went the full 

 journey. They had received 109 names so far 

 for the European and Algerian expedition, and 

 additions to that number were expected. 



The University of the State of New York has 

 just issued a museum bulletin by the State 

 Entomologist, Dr. Felt, on Shade Tree Pests. 

 Those likely to prove most destructive this 

 season are described and depicted in various 

 stages, and directions for the most effective 

 means of exterminating them are given. This 

 bulletin. No. 27, will be sent to any address for 

 five cents. State Paleontologist Dr. John M. 

 Clarke has prepared a Guide to excursions in 

 the fossiliferous rocks of New York (University 

 Hand-book 15), which will be of special interest 

 to teachers and students wishing to acquaint 

 themselves more intimately with the classic 

 rocks of this State. Itineraries of 32 trips are 

 given, covering nearly the entire series of 

 paleozoic rocks, with careful details as to typ- 

 ical localities, how to get to them without loss 

 of time and comfort, what strata and fossils to 

 look for and where to find them. It is hoped 

 to send this hand-book to all the schools in the 

 University before the end of the school year. 



Among important American scientific books 

 announced for early publication are the ' Races 

 of Europe,' by Professor W. Z. Eipley (Apple- 

 tons) based on the series of articles published 

 in the Popular Science Monthly ; and ' Statistical 

 Methods with Special Reference to Biological 

 Variation,' by Dr. C. B. Davenport (Wiley), de- 



