242 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 164. 



Three explanations may be offered : First, 

 that we are passing through a period of less 

 rainfall than formerly. Second, that the 

 disastrous change is due to disturbing the 

 former balance of natural conditions by removal 

 of the forests. Third, that much of this 

 missing water has been used before it reaches 

 the point or points at which the estimates were 

 made. It is on the second of these explanations 

 that Dr. Rothrock lays the most weight. 



Miss Oemerod, of Torrington-house, St. Al- 

 bans, has published her annual letter on insect 

 pests in Great Britain. She mentions, according 

 to the London Times, the damage done to grass 

 and corn crops by wireworms, leather-jackets, 

 chafer-grubs, and the caterpillars of the small 

 swift moth. Hessian fly and corn sawfly were 

 reported locally. Insect attacks upon orchard 

 and bush fruits are becoming more numerous. 

 The codlin moth, the apple sucker and the mus- 

 sel scale were all troublesome, and there is at 

 least aprobability that the American 'apple grub' 

 has obtained a foothold in English orchards. 

 The wood of plum trees was tunnelled by shot- 

 borer beetles, and the foliage of cherry and 

 pear trees was ravaged by the small slug-like 

 larva of the pear sawfly. The more conspicu- 

 ous pests of timber trees is the ' timber-man ' 

 beetle and the elm-bark beetle. A matter of 

 special interest is the risk incurred by a large 

 importing country like England of bringing 

 within its borders exotic pests which happen to 

 infest produce grown abroad. Several illustra- 

 tions of this are incidently given by Miss Orme- 

 rod. Thus, the larva of the Angoumois moth 

 was brought to England in barley imported from 

 North Africa. The Mediterranean mill moth 

 was found in flour shipped from an Adri- 

 atic port, and this exceedingly troublesome 

 pest is undoubtedly establishing itself — it is 

 to be feared permanently — in flour mills and 

 flour stores. Locusts are present in consider- 

 able numbers in Lucerne hay from Argentina, 

 and a case is mentioned in which three horses 

 fed on such hay fell ill, but recovered when the 

 hay was discontinued. The ' German cock- 

 roach ' is making an apparently successful in- 

 vasion of English kitchens. It is much smaller 

 than the common cockroach, is yellowish or 

 brownish in color, and striped with dark brown. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The report of President Eliot, of Harvard 

 University, with the appended documents, 

 makes a volume of some 376 pages. President 

 Eliot lays special stress on the desirability of 

 granting degrees in the middle as well as at the 

 close of each academic year, urging that this 

 would be of great importance to some classes of 

 students. The votes of the corporation formally 

 inviting the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology to affiliate with Harvard University are 

 given, readiness being expressed to make such 

 modifications in the technical departments of 

 Harvard University as maybe desirable. It is 

 suggested as of pressing importance that the 

 medical school be removed to a new site, and 

 that a hospital be erected as an adjunct to it. 

 The income of the University apart from new 

 endowments was $1,327,360.57, while the pay- 

 ments were $1,228,941.50. 



The regents of the University of California 

 have decided to establish a college of commerce 

 as one of the departments at the University. 

 President Kellogg is directed to make applica- 

 tion to the President of the United States that 

 an engineer officer of the United States Navy 

 be detailed, in accordance with the Act of Con- 

 gress approved in 1879, to act as instructor in 

 the college. 



At the recent meeting of the Board of Trus- 

 tees of the University of Tennessee it was de- 

 cided to erect a new building for the depart- 

 ment of mechanics and two new dormitories. 

 It was also determined to establish, in the 

 near future, a separate school of economics. 



By the death of Miss Sara M. Fletcher, of 

 "Woodstock, Vt., $6,000 is left to Dartmouth 

 College, as provided by the late Richard 

 Fletcher, of Boston. 



The sum collected for Vassar College through 

 the efforts of its alumnae now amounts to 

 $90,000, of which $50,000 will be devoted to 

 the establishment of the Maria Mitchell chair 

 of astronomy. 



Dk. George Santayana, instructor in 

 philosophy at Harvard University, has been 

 appointed to an assistant professorship. 



The name of the Hon. Carroll D. Wright 

 has been added to the faculty of Dartmouth 



