D12 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 235. 



283. Recent excavations for the the Milwaukee 

 water works have made available a large quan- 

 tity of loose rock, which proves to be rich in 

 Devonian fossils. These have been identified 

 and tabulated by the authors. 



H. S. Washington, ' The Petrographical Prov- 

 ince of Essex Co., Mass.,' pp. 284-294. This 

 paper on the basic dikes concludes the series. 



Under ' Reviews ' an excellent summary by 

 T. A. Jagger is given of the recent valuable 

 experiments of Morosewicz in the artificial 

 production of rocks and minerals. 



American Chemical Journal, June, 1899. — ' The 

 Valuation of Saccharin,' by E. Emmet Reid. 

 By boiling for two hours with a hydrochloric 

 acid solution of the proper strength and then 

 distilling with alkali, the ammonia can be col- 

 lected in a standard acid solution and readily 

 determined. It was shown that para sulpha- 

 mine benzoic acid was not acted upon under 

 similar conditions. This, therefore, appears to 

 be a quick, accurate method for determining 

 the amount of the sweetening substance in the 

 commercial saccharine. ' Some Derivations of 

 Camphoroxime,' by G. B. Frankforter and A. 

 D. Mayo. 'Camphoroxime Derivatives,' by 

 G. B. Frankforter and P. M. Glasoe. 'The 

 Laboratory Production of Asphalts from Animal 

 and Vegetable Materials,' by W. C. Day. The 

 author has obtained substances similar to the 

 natural asphalts by distilling animal and vege- 

 table matter, both separately and mixed. ' The 

 Composition of Nitrogen Iodide and the Action 

 of Iodine on the Fatty Amines,' by J. F. Norris 

 and A. I. Franklin. The evidence points to 

 the fact that the compound formed by the ac- 

 tion of iodine on ammonia is not a direct addi- 

 tion-product, nor do the fatty amines form 

 such compounds. ' On the Action of Sodic 

 Ethylate on Tribromdinitro Benzol,' by C. L. 

 Jackson and W. Koch. ' The Action of Sul- 

 pbocarbanilide on certain Acid Anhydrides,' by 

 F. L. Dunlap. ' The Action of Ammonia and 

 Amines on Chlorides of Silicon,' by F. Leng- 

 feld. The chlorine is replaced by the ammonia 

 and amine residues, forming amides of silicon. 



J. E. G. 



Appleton's Popular Science Monthly for July 

 has as a frontispiece an excellent portrait of Pro- 



fessor W. K. Brooks, and the number contains a 

 sketch of his life and scientific work. The num- 

 ber contains articles by President D. S. Jordan, 

 describing the succession of fishes inhabiting a 

 brook ; by Professor W. K. Brooks, entitled 

 ' Thoughts about Universities ;' by Professor 

 Edward Renouf, on ' Acetylene,' and by Dr. C. 

 C. Abbott, on ' The Antiquity of Man in North 

 America.' 



We regret that the Index Medicus has been 

 discontinued. It is unfortunate that the eiforts 

 for its continuation have not been successful, 

 but the mass of medical literature has become 

 so great, and, it must be added, inmost cases so 

 unimportant, that an index would require some 

 form of public support. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — SECTION 



OF BIOLOGY. 



The Section met on May 8th, Professor F. S. 

 Lee presiding. The following program was 

 then offered : 



1. W. A. Rankin : ' The Crustacea of the 

 Bermuda Islands, with Notes on the Collection 

 made by the New York University Expeditions 

 to the Bermudas in 1897 and 1898.' 



2. H. F. Osborn : ' Upon the Structure of the 

 Mule-footed Hog of Texas.' 



' Upon the Structure of Tylosaurus dyspelor, 

 including the Cartilaginous Sternum.' 



Professor Rankin's paper gives a list of 61 

 recorded species of Crustacea from the Ber- 

 muda Islands. During the summers of 1897 

 and 1898 a party from the New York Univer- 

 sity spent a few weeks investigating the fauna 

 of the islands, and the Crustacean collections 

 were studied by the author. 



Of the total number of species 43 were found 

 by the expedition, and notes on their distribu- 

 tion are given. Eight of these species are 'new 

 to the Bermudas, and two, Nika bermudensis and 

 Alpheus lancirostris, are new species described 

 and figured in this paper. The genus Nika is 

 now for the first time recorded from the West 

 Atlantic region. 



The physical conditions of the islands are 

 touched on, and the Crustacea are shown to be 

 in the main similar to those found in the West 



