September 3, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



225 



standard periodicals, of whicli complete sets 

 are suijposedly available in these libraries 

 does not cover the case. The United States 

 at least is aiflicted with several scientific 

 periodicals of avowedly general nature, and 

 some of the special journals have a none too 

 stable editorial policy. Some of these special 

 journals moreover stiU further complicate 

 bibliographical work by permitting the pub- 

 lication of abstracts of work which at some 

 time may be judged worthy of adequate pub- 

 lication, thus cluttering their indices beyond 

 the pK)int of convenience if not utility. 



If then our libraries, even our special 

 libraries, are to approximate completeness in 

 their indices of current published scientific 

 material they should have the assistance of 

 the, investigators themselves, at least to the 

 extent of supplying them with such articles 

 as are reprinted for private circiilation. It is 

 an almost imiversal custom for investigators 

 to distribute reprints of their own pai)ers 

 among their colleagues. To add to these 

 private mailing lists the names of the fifty 

 leading libraries of this and other countries 

 would mean some trouble and some slight 

 expense. The time and cost thus involved 

 would however be a very small fraction 

 indeed of that expended in the prosecution 

 and publication of the work and the in- 

 surance thus purchased that the papers would 

 be cared for and made more available to this 

 and succeeding generations would be well 

 worth the investment. 



ISTeil E. Stevens 



BuKEAU OP Plant Industry, 

 Washington, D. C. 



the fur seals 

 To THE Editor ob' Science : In an interesting 

 and suggestive article on the " Rescued Eur 

 Seal Industry" in Science for July 23, Mr. 

 W. T. Hornaday states that " man's so-called 

 management (of the herd) lies solely in the 

 use of the seal killer's club and the skinning 

 knife." This is not quite the whole truth, for 

 while the behavior of individual animals in 

 feeding, breeding, or migration is beyond hu- 

 man control, man can do something to in- 



crease the nimibers. In the nineties, most of 

 the yoimg seals lying on sandy " rookeries " 

 were killed by the hookworm (JJncinaria 

 lucasi). Those on the rocks were virtually 

 immune and as the shrinkage of the herd, 

 before its rescue took them practically all oS 

 the sands, no " wormy pups " are lately re- 

 ported. In 1897, the Commission of that year 

 gather up — and mostly burned — 12,000 " pups " 

 that had been weakened by the hookworm and 

 then trampled by the bulls. In that year we 

 had several sandy patches in Zapadni rookery 

 covered by rocks, and we suggested fencing 

 the animals away from the great sand flat of 

 Tolstoi. To cover or fence up sandy areas is 

 a possible factor of " management." 



Another is the extirpation of the " idle 

 bulls " which surround the rookeries and raid 

 the harems, killing many females and young. 

 ^Ninety per cent, or more of the males of this 

 jwlygamous species are wholly superfluous. 

 In the recent absurdly needless " five years 

 closed season " these have accumulated to the 

 danger point. I am told that an order has 

 now been given for the shooting of 7,000 of 

 them. 



The protection of the females from killing 

 on land and sea may be also regarded as a 

 phase of " management." 



Whether other islands could be stocked 

 from the Pribilofs has never been tested. On 

 these islands there is ample breeding space 

 for millions more, and there is no evidence of 

 food shortage outside. 



David Starr Jordan 



a preliminary note on the germination 



OF UROPHLYCTIS ALFALF.ffi 



Resting spores from decaying galls of 

 alfalfa crown-wart have been observed to 

 germinate in water cultures. The globose 

 resting spores, depressed on one side, are 

 38—42 by 30 microns in diameter. They pro- 

 duce from one to fifteen or more zoosporangia 

 which escape through irregular fissures in the 

 brown walls. The zoosporangia vary in diam- 

 eter from 10 to 40 microns. Zoospores leave 

 the sporangia through short tubes projecting 

 about 2 microns from the hyaline wall, with 



