Januaey 8, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



79 



Biology Teaching " in the Proceedings of the 

 New York Science Teachers' Association for 

 1907. The writer of these notes would com- 

 mend it to those young (and old) teachers of 

 biology who think that the subject has value 

 for its content only. 



Two little pamphlets for students are Pro- 

 fessor Wilcox's " Laboratory Guide to the 

 Study of Elementary Botany," and Professor 

 Clements's " Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of 

 Minnesota." The first is evidently intended 

 for students in such schools as can yet make 

 only rather limited use of the compound 

 microscope and where the laboratory work is 

 necessarily confined to gross anatomy and 

 simple physiological experiments. It must 

 prove useful for the class of students for 

 which it is intended. The second booklet (of 

 twenty-eight pages) succeeds by means of 

 keys and brief descriptions in making it easy 

 for any student of botany to make out the 

 name and relationship of any tree or shrub in 

 the state of Minnesota. Its helpfulness for 

 all classes of botanical students is obvious at 

 a glance. 



An instructive and helpful paper for 

 teachers and students of botany is Professor 

 Eamaley's paper on " The Botanical Gardens 

 of Ceylon" in the Popular Science Monthly 

 for September, 1908. Eight half-tones from 

 photographs help the readers to obtain a better 

 idea of the rich vegetation of the island. 



While not necessarily confined to botany, 

 Mr. O. F. Cook's paper on "Methods and 

 Causes of Evolution '" contains so much that 

 bears upon botanical problems that it should 

 be found in every botanist's library. It is 

 a most significant fact that this was published 

 as a contribution to agriculture! What 

 would the farmers just before the civil war 

 have thought if any one had suggested that in 

 half a century they would be practising evolu- 

 tion according to Darwin! 



Allied to the foregoing is the same author's 

 paper on the " Eeappearanee of a Primitive 

 Character in Cotton Hybrids,"^ giving some 



'Bull. 136, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. 

 Dept. Agric. 

 ' Circular 18, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



individual results of experiments for the pur- 

 pose of acclimatizing certain weevil-resistant 

 varieties of cotton. 



In January, 1905, Captain John DonneU 

 Smith, of Baltimore, presented his herbarium 

 and botanical library to the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. The former, consisting of more 

 than 100,000 specimens, became a part of the 

 National Herbarium. Now we have a cata- 

 logue of the library of 1,600 bound volumes," 

 which will be very helpful in giving exact 

 titles of many rare books. 



Chaeles E. Bessey 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



NOTE ON SOME NEW JERSEY FISHES 



A YOUNG example of Lactophrys triqueter 

 was taken at Grassy Sound, on September 18, 

 1904, and presented to me by Mr. R. M. Miller. 

 This is the first instance of this species occur- 

 ring in New Jersey waters. Dr. E. J. Phillips 

 obtained an interesting collection at Corson's 

 Inlet, among which were examples of Anchovia 

 hrownii, ' Hyporhamphus unifasciatus, Trachi- 

 notus falcattos, Lagodon rhomhoides, Bairdi- 

 ella chrysura, young Micropogon undulatus, 

 Stephanolepis hispidiis, Myoxocephalibs ceneus, 

 Rissola marginata and Ammodyies ameri- 

 canus. The last was very abundant, and 

 many examples of large size were found. An 

 example of Merluccius hilinearis was secured 

 at Ocean City, in Great Egg Harbor Bay, on 

 July 26, by Mr. D. McCadden. In this con- 

 nection I might mention that Mr. 0. H. Brown 

 secured an example of the four-toed sala- 

 mander, EemidactyKum scutatum, at Cape 

 May, on July 20, which is the first record of 

 its occurrence in the lower half of the state. 

 Henry W. Fowler 



Academy op Natubal Sciences, 

 Philadelphia, 



December 17, 1908 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE NEW TOKK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The academy held its annual meeting Monday 

 evening, December 21, 1908, at the Hotel Endicott, 



' Contrib. U. S. National Herbarium, Vol. Xll., 

 Pt. 1. 



