Apeil 8, 1921} 



SCIENCE 



327 



The first fligM in the Dorr Field region 

 suggested clearly the essential relations be- 

 tween pine flatwoods, palmetto scrub, and 

 prairie. These relations would have devel- 

 oped very slowly from field studies alone, as 

 the forms of various areas were often mis- 

 leading when viewed from ground level, 

 and significant differences of contour were 

 matters of inches rather than feet. From the 

 air it seemed obvious that a key to the 

 situation lay in the rainy season water levels. 

 The prairies were observed to form a con- 

 tinuous system — the pathway of broad, shal- 

 low rainy season drainage lines — the pal- 

 metto scrub formed a fringing zone that 

 might be occasionally flooded, while the pine 

 flatwoods marked the true uplands. The truth 

 of these first suggestions was conclusively 

 fixed by subsequent field work and flights in 

 both rainy and dry seasons. Incidentally, 

 combined ground and aerial studies forced 

 serious doubt of the true climax nature of 

 the pine flatwoods, which seemed in a number 

 of places to be suffering invasion by meso- 

 phytic dicotyl forest. It was a matter of 

 some interest to learn later that this inference 

 was borne out by unpublished data of two 

 other botanists working on different parts of 

 the peninsula. 



Paul B. Sears 



UNrvEEsiTY OP Nebraska 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE SYSTEMATIZATION OF PLANKTON 

 INVESTIGATIONS 



The following notice has just been received 

 from Professor L. Joubin (Institut Oceano- 

 graphique, 195 Eue Saint-Jacques, Paris) the 

 secretary of the subsection of biological 

 oceanography of the International Union of 

 Biological Sciences, International Research 

 Council. 



An international meeting of the delegates 

 of the national sections was held at Paris on 

 January 27, 1921, under the presidency of 

 the Prince of Monaco. At this meeting it 

 was agreed that the study of plankton is not 

 progressing as well as might be desired, be- 

 cause the methods of investigation vary and 



therefore can not give comparable results. 

 There is need for standardizing the funda- 

 mentals of these methods by means of the 

 preparation of a manual which will system- 

 atize them while at the same time leaving to 

 each investigator a free hand to perfect and 

 to complete them. These improvements would 

 be taken into consideration in future editions. 

 A circular will be sent to all naturalists 

 (zoologists, botanists, physiologists and chem- 

 ists) and institutions interested and they will 

 be requested to have it reprinted in the scien- 

 tific journals and distributed among those 

 interested in oceanography, as well as to 

 solicit opinions, advice, criticism, and obser- 

 vations of any kind. A committee was named 

 to prepare the manual and to bring the plan 

 before the meeting of the subsection of bio- 

 logical oceanography in December, 1921. 

 Specialists who desire to participate in the 

 commission for plankton studies are requested 

 so to inform the secretary. It is requested 

 that all replies, printed matter, data concern- 

 ing capture, instruments, fabrics, nets, re- 

 agents, preservation, and technical methods of 

 all kinds be addressed to the secretary. 



Austin H. Claek 



madame curie's visit to america 



(From a Correspondent) 



Madame Marie Curie, of Paris, the student 

 of radium, will visit this country in May as a 

 guest of the women of America. She will 

 bring with her her two daughters, the elder of 

 whom is also a scientist. 



Madame Curie, internationally known for 

 her studies on radium and its application as 

 a remedial agent for cancer, is one of three 

 unusually gifted daughters of a Polish educa- 

 tor. One of her sisters is principal of an im- 

 portant young women's school in Warsaw and 

 the other is director of a large sanatorium in 

 the Gialician mountains. Madame Curie went 

 to Paris from Warsaw as a young woman to 

 study in the Sorbonne, and while in Paris mar- 

 ried the brilliant physicist and student of 

 radium. Professor Pierre Curie, who met a 

 tragic death by accident in a Paris street in 

 1906. She is now a teacher in the Sorbonne 



