594 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1328 



educational work whicli such, a survey might 

 carry on. To a librarian, his statements are 

 of more than casual interest. He called at- 

 tention to the dearth of popular literature on 

 certain scientific subjects, especially geology. 

 Wiile other branches of nature study, includ- 

 ing plant and animal life, appeal to a wider 

 circle, and have been considered in a large 

 number of interesting and attractive books, 

 the same is not true of geology or of some of 

 the smaller forms of animal life, as, for 

 example, insect and fresh water life. 



May I venture to call the attention of some 

 scientists who read your journal to the 

 desirability of some small, well-illustrated 

 and attractively written books on geology, both 

 descriptive and historical; on some of the 

 mineral products, such as iron and steel; on 

 pond life; on microscopy; and on the lives of 

 American scientists and scientific explorers. 



A book is now in preparation for publica- 

 tion by Scribner's, " The strange adventures 

 of a pebble." From the announcement, this 

 is doubtless the sort of book which has been 

 needed for some time. In the quarterly book- 

 list of the Pratt Institute Library (which 

 library has made a speciality of literature in 

 this field) for January, there is a carefully 

 selected "List of technical and scientific 

 books for boys." Astronomy is pretty well 

 covered. A fairly good boys' book on chem- 

 istry was published in 1918. The two titles 

 on geology are those by Heilprin and 

 Shaler, both rather old; and on physics, 

 nothing better than a reprinted edition of 

 Hopkins, " Experimental science," which could 

 very well be entirely revised or even broken 

 up into two less expensive volumes. Certainly 

 there is need for more books of this sort. 



In the same line, may I call attention to 

 the need of having books lists, to be dis- 

 tributed through schools and libraries and 

 printed in an attractive style with an illus- 

 trated cover, and giving descriptions of the 

 books? The attention of many young i)eople 

 could be called to science as a life career if 

 means like these were adopted. Another de- 

 vice to this same end would be a series of 

 posters or printed reproductions of exhibits, 



showing some of the interesting phases of 

 nature study or science. These could be 

 printed by such a central bureau or by some 

 national scientific society and distributed to 

 be shown in schools and libraries and at Boy 

 Scout and Camp Fire Girls headquarters. 



Joseph L. Wheeler 

 The Youngstown Public Libeaey 



rules of the international commission 

 on zoological nomenclature 



In reference to the applications made to 

 the International Commission on Zoological 

 Nomenclatiure for copies of the rules, the 

 secretary desires to state that the commission 

 has no supply of reprints for distribution. 

 Several years ago, at request of the secretary, 

 Mr. John SmaUwood, 524 Tenth St., IST. W., 

 Washington, D. C, prepared several hundred 

 mimeographed copies and he still has about 

 100 on hand. These are sold at a nominal 

 price to cover expense of mimeographing and 

 postage and zoologists desiring copies can 

 obtain them, as long as the supply lasts, by 

 applying directly to Mr. Smallwood. 



C. W. Stiles, 



Secretary 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



ECHINODERMS IN BIRDS' STOMACHS 



Through the courtesy of Mr. E. W. Nelson, 

 chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 Washington, four vials containing echino- 

 derms taken from birds' stomachs have been 

 sent to me for examination. As I think 

 there are no published records of birds' using 

 echinoderms for food, Mr. Nelson has kindly 

 consented to my stating in Science the facts 

 revealed by this trivial investigation and 

 certain important inferences which may be 

 made. 



Two of the vials contained holothurian-like 

 objects taken from the stomachs of gulls. 

 The appearance and condition of these speci- 

 mens indicate that they were picked up on the 

 beach dead and more or less damaged. As 

 they are now quite decalcified, they are hope- 

 lessly unidentifiable, and it is probable that 

 one at least is not a holothurian. 



