514 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLYII. No. 1221 



value, and the means by whieli they may be 

 conserved. The following were the subjects 

 announced, each lecture illustrated with stere- 

 opticon slides. 



April 5. "Geographical distribution of plant 

 and animal life in California." 



April 8. ' ' Some common game and non-game 

 birds of California." 



April 10. ' ' The economic value of birds. ' ' 



April 12. "The game and furbearing mammals 

 of California." 



April 15. "Mammals in their economic rela- 

 tions. ' ' 



April 27. "Food and game fishes and their 

 conservation. ' ' 



April 19. ' ' Past, present and future of game in 

 California. ' ' 



April 22. ' ' The national forests and wild Uf e. ' ' 



April 24. "Methods of wild life conservation." 



Through the Urgent Deficiency Bill passed 

 by Congress and approved 'by the President, 

 March 28, 1918, the Bureau of Fisheries was 

 provided with the sum of $80,000 for the con- 

 struction and equipment of a fireproof labora- 

 tory building at Fairport, Iowa, to replace the 

 frame building destroyed by fire on December 

 20, last. This prompt action of the Congress 

 at the present time is a source of much gratifi- 

 cation as an evidence of appreciation of the 

 importance of the biological and fish-cultural 

 experiment and other work accomplished and 

 in progress at the station. Plans are being 

 prepared in order that construction may be be- 

 gun as soon as possible. ■ Meantime, arrange- 

 ments have been made whereby a limited num- 

 ber of temporary investigators can be furnished 

 with working quarters and living accommoda- 

 tions during the coming season. The impor- 

 . tant work of the laboratory will therefore pro- 

 ceed with the least possible interruption. 



The !N"ational Forest Eeservation Commis- 

 sion has authorized the purchase by the gov- 

 ernment of 65,528 acres of land in the White 

 Mountain and Southern Appalachians for in- 

 clusion in the Eastern ISTational Forests. Four 

 tracts, with a total of approximately 38,000 

 acres on the INantahala Purchase Area in Ma- 

 con and Clay counties, N. C, comprise the 

 largest amount authorized in any one locality. 

 The acquisition of these lands will give the 



government control of the majority of the 

 mountain lands on the headwaters of the 

 Nantaha Eiver and will fill in the southern / 

 end of the area which it is planned to buy in 

 that locality. Most of the land has either been 

 cut over or is to be purchased subject to the 

 removal of the timber under government regu- 

 lations. Other lands whose acquisition was 

 approved comprise 993 acres in Grafton county, 

 N. H., and Oxford county, Me.; 14,676 acres in 

 Highlands, Augusta, Amhearst and Botetourt 

 counties, Va. ; 2,788 acres in Avery, Bun- 

 corribe, Yancey, and Macon counties, N. C. ; 

 -1,341 acres in Polk, Monroe and Unicoi coun- 

 ties, Tenn. ; 2,898 acres in "Winston and Law- 

 rence counties, Ala., and 1,834 acres in Hardy 

 county, W. Va. 



The New York Civil Service Coimnission 

 announces that it will receive applications for 

 the position of mineralogist in the State Mu- 

 seum at a salary of $1,600 ($1,740 beginning 

 July 1, 1918) for men only. Applicants should 

 be graduates of a university, college or tech- 

 nical school and specially trained in the science 

 of mineralogy. They should also have a gen- 

 eral knowledge of descriptive mineralogy with 

 special knowledge of minerals occurring in the 

 ■state of New York, together with knowledge of 

 the economic uses of minerals and their appli- 

 cation to modern industries. 



Dean Thatcher and Professor Alway, of 

 the division of soils of the University of Min- 

 nesota, have recently completed negotiations 

 for securing a peat experimental farm near 

 Goodrich, Minn. The law requires that there 

 be maintained three such farms. They have 

 been located at Dibbell, Goodrich and Anoka. 



The government of Uruguay is discussing 

 the foundation of an Academy of Sciences, 

 Arts and Letters. It is proposed that it shall 

 be composed of five institutes, one each for the 

 medical sciences, the political sciences, the nat- 

 ural sciences, arts and belles lettres. 



Free public lectures have been inaug-urated 

 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden by a course of 

 " Win-the-War-Garden " lectures, scheduled 

 for Sunday afternoons at 4 o'clock. The lec- 

 tures illustrated by lantern slides and other- 

 wise are given in the lecture hall of the new 



