568 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 173. 



laboratory by him and his students during the 

 ten years fj-om 1886 to 1.896. The four large 

 volumes resulting are published by HerrEugel- 

 mann, Leipzig. 



The long-looked-for first volume of the 

 ' Phytogeography of Nebraska,' by Messrs. 

 Pound and Clements, was received from the 

 printer by the authorities of the University of 

 Nebraska on the 7th of the current month. 



The April number of The Auk contains the 

 programs of the annual meetings of the Del- 

 aware Valley Ornithological Club and of the 

 United Ornithologists of Maine. The former 

 Club met at the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 in Philadelphia, with 34 members in attendance. 

 Mr. I. Norris DeHaven and Mr. Charles J. 

 Rhodes, Secretary. The United Ornitholo- 

 gists of Maine held their second annual meet- 

 ing in the rooms of the Portland Society of 

 Natural History on December 31st and Jan- 

 uary 1st. Mr. Ora W. Knight was elected 

 President and Mr. L. "W. Bobbins Secretary. 

 The Maine Sportsman is the official organ of 

 the Society and publishes full accounts of the 

 the meetings and many of the papers. 



The following bill, introduced by Senator 

 George F. Hoar, has already passed the United 

 States Senate, though it is rumored that certain 

 importers and milliners have held a meeting in 

 New York, and propose to send a powerful 

 lobby to Washington to defeat the bill in the 

 House. There is, however, some probability 

 that the bill will pass the House if humane 

 persons and those interested in the protection 

 of our native animals will immediately call 

 the matter to the attention of their Representa- 

 tives. 



" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives of the United States of America in Con- 

 gress assembled. That the importation into the United 

 States of birds, feathers, or parts of birds for orna- 

 mental purposes, be, and the same is hereby pro- 

 hibited ; Provided, however. That nothing herein 

 contained shall be construed as prohibiting the im- 

 portation of birds for museums, zoological gardens, 

 or scientific collections, or the importation of living 

 birds or of feathers taken from living birds without 

 injury to the bird. The Secretary of the Treasury is 

 hereby authorized to make regulations for carrying 

 into effect the provisions of this section. 



" Sec. 2. That the transportation of birds, feathers, 

 or parts of birds, to be used or sold, from any State 

 or Territory of the United States to or through any 

 other State or Territorj' of the United States, is 

 hereby prohibited. Whoever shall violate the pro- 

 visions of this section shall, upon conviction in the 

 district where the offense shall have been committed, 

 be punished for each such offense by a fine of fifty 

 dollars. 



' ' Sec. 3. That the sale, keeping, or offering for sale, 

 within any Territory of the United States, or within 

 the District of Columbia, of birds, feathers, or parts 

 of birds, for ornamental purposes, except such as are 

 excepted in the first section of the Act, be, and the 

 same is hereby prohibited. Whoever shall violate 

 the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, 

 be punished for each such offense by a fine of fifty 

 dollars." 



The Massachusetts Audubon Society held a 

 meeting in Association Hall, Boston, on April 

 14th, to protest against the slaughter of birds 

 for millinery purposes. Professor C. S. Minot 

 presided and made an address, which was fol- 

 lowed by addresses by Mrs. Alice Freeman 

 Palmer and by Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York. 



Aerangements for the excursions of the 

 Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston for the 

 present year are not yet completed, but there 

 is a strong probability that the following pro- 

 gram will be carried out : May 27th-June 1st, 

 Hoosac Tunnel Station. The intention is to 

 visit Greylock, and Haystack in Wilmington, 

 Vt. June 16th-19th, Warwick and Mt. Grace. 

 June 17th, harbor excursion. July Ist-llth, 

 the Field Meeting will, in all probability, be 

 held in the Adirondacks. August, there will 

 be a campiug party at a lake. September 

 2d-6th, Camden, Me., and its mountains will 

 be visited. October, Dixville Notch (a week 

 or ten days). 



Captain Jacques read, on March 31st, an 

 interesting paper before the British Institu- 

 tion of Naval Architects on ' Submarine Tor- 

 pedo Boats,' in which he criticised the con- 

 temporary form of torpedo boat, asserting its 

 unreliability and general flimsiness, and gave 

 as his opinion that it is often more dangerous 

 to its own crew than to the enemy. He con- 

 siders the submarine torpedo boat the coming 



