Mabch 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



421 



Examination of the remaining papers re- 

 veals the fact that the paleontological writers 

 pay the least attention to descriptive names, 

 for in their six papers, we find that of 59 

 proposed specific names 5, or less than 10 per 

 cent., are descriptive; 23, or 38 per cent., are 

 personal, and 31, or over 52 per cent., are lo- 

 cality names. 



It would be imcharitable, if it were not 

 quite uncalled for, to suggest either of the 

 two most obvious reasons why an author, par- 

 ticularly a young or inexperienced writer, 

 selects personal or locality names for his new 

 species. But I can not avoid the feeling that 

 these reasons occur to our fellow workers in 

 the other fields of zoology, and may have 

 something to do with the feeling, which it is 

 often said they hold, that we systematists are 

 engaged in a lower grade of work than that 

 with which they are occupied. 



Hubert Lyman Claek 



Museum of Compakative Zoology, 

 CAMBBnjQE, Mass., 

 January 20, 1909 



THE 6-INCH TRANSIT CIRCLE OF THE U. S. NAVAL 

 OBSERVATORY 



To THE Editor of Science: The following 

 paragraph, which is an essential feature of a 

 paper read by me before Section A, American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 in Baltimore on December 28, 1908, has been 

 omitted from the abstract of that paper 

 printed in Science for January 22, p. 154 : 



"It having been found that the instrument 

 bad suffered some damage from gradual 

 deterioration during the five years that it had 

 been out of use, the axis tube and circles and 

 various other parts were sent to Warner & 

 Swasey for repairs with a view to put the in- 

 strument in condition to do the fundamental 

 work for which it was originally intended. 

 This work is now nearly finished and the axis 

 and some other parts of the instrument have 

 been returned to the observatory. The pivots 

 have been reground with great care, and 

 elaborate tests have shown them to be very 

 regular in shape and so nearly equal in size 

 that the difference is' inappreciable. It is 



hoped that the remaining parts of the instru- 

 ment wiU be returned to us in a few days, in 

 which case measures will be taken immedi- 

 ately to mount the instrument and commence 

 the work of investigation and observation." 

 Milton Updeqraff 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 ResuUais du voyage du S. Y. Belgica en 1897, 

 1898, 1899, sous the commandement de A, 

 de Gerlache de Gomery. Eapports Scien- 

 tifiques. Oceanography, par Henryk Arc- 

 TOwsKi et Hugh Egbert Mill, 1908. 

 Physique du Glohe, mesures pendulaires, 

 par G. Lecointe, 1907. Zoologie: Turbel- 

 larien, von Ludwig Bohmig, 1908. Scapho- 

 poden, von L. Plate, 1908. PennatuUden, 

 von Hector E. E. Jungersen, 1907. Cirri- 

 pedia, by P. P. C. Hoek, 1907. Geologier 

 Glaciers, par Henryk Arctowski, 1908. 

 The reports of the Belgica expedition con- 

 tinue to appear, each adding to our knowledge 

 of the Antarctic, its conditions or its fauna. 

 The numbers of which the titles are summar- 

 ized above are not less interesting than those 

 which preceded them. Space permits but a 

 brief account of their contents. 



The soundings and serial temperatures of 

 the sea water taken by the Belgica were the 

 first in that region to be observed and cor- 

 rected by the most modern instruments and 

 methods. Two conclusions are of especial 

 interest. The observations showed that the 

 deeper waters of the Atlantic and Pacific are 

 practically separated by submarine ridges 

 which, extending from the southern end of the 

 American continent to the Antarctic lands, 

 present a barrier to the free circulation of the 

 waters in question. Secondly, it is proved 

 that the surface water of the sea is cooled by 

 the low Antarctic air-temperatures and by 

 floating and melting ice, below which is a 

 warmer stratum which reaches its maximum 

 temperature two or three hundred fathoms 

 below the surface, after which the temperature 

 gradually diminishes until the bottom of the 

 sea is reached. The persistency of the warmer 

 stratum indicates the slowness of changes due 

 to convection, and the existence of currents 



