298 
tral Colorado Power Co., spoke on ‘“ Modern 
Hoisting Installations.” 
Proressor W. E. Castie has returned from 
the expedition which he recently made to 
Peru under the auspices of the Carnegie In- 
stitution of Washington, having succeeded in 
obtaining from two different localities, one in 
southern and one in central Peru, wild cavies 
supposed to be closely related to the domesti- 
cated guinea-pig. These will be used in 
breeding experiments ab the Bussey Institu- 
tion. The event is of interest to zoologists as 
being probably the first introduction of living 
individuals of the ancestral guinea-pig into 
North America or Europe. This fact is the 
more surprising when it is remembered how 
extensive and important is the use of the 
guinea-pig in biological investigation and the 
public health service. Not only is the wild 
guinea-pig unrepresented in any zoological 
warden, but even our greatest museums pos- 
sess scarcely a specimen of it. The transpor- 
tation of the animals for several thousand 
miles through a variety of climatic conditions 
involved some difficulties, which, however, 
were all successfully met. Small round 
market-baskets lined with wire netting served 
as cages, and cucumbers and watermelons for 
food during transportation through the trop- 
ics. Some domesticated guinea-pigs were 
also obtained from Peruvian natives for com- 
parison with the ordinary European sorts, 
which probably reached Europe from South 
America centuries ago. 
A COMPREHENSIVE project for research on the 
Cactaceae has been organized by the depart- 
ment of botanical research of the Carnegie In- 
stitution of Washington. Dr. J. N. Rose, of 
the U. S. National Museum, who has explored 
much of the region inhabited by these plants 
in Mexico and the United States and pub- 
lished extensively on the family, has been ap- 
pointed research associate. He has been 
granted a furlough from the museum, which 
also furnishes working quarters and facilities 
for handling the living collections. Dr. N. 
L. Britton, who began organizing a collection 
of cacti in the New York Botanical Garden 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 895 
in 1900, and has since made extensive studies 
of the group, has also been appointed research 
associate, without salary. By the action of 
the scientific directors of the garden he will 
be given some respite from other duties to 
enable him to participate in this work. The 
garden also contributes its extensive collec- 
tions, and some of its explorational effort to 
the project. Dr. D. S. Johnson, of Johns 
Hopkins University, will spend several in 
1911 on the morphology and physiology of 
the fruits of the group, and Professor J. G. 
Brown, of the University of Arizona, will con- 
tinue his studies on the general morphology 
of Opuntia and Carnegiea begun while acting 
as assistant at the Desert Laboratory. Other 
contributions will be made by the members of 
the staff and cooperators of the Desert Lab- 
oratory. 
Tue fifth annual meeting of the Llinois 
Academy of Science will be held at Bloom- 
ington, Illinois, Friday and Saturday, Feb- 
ruary 23 and 24, under the auspices of the 
McLean County Academy of Science. The 
sessions will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Friday and 
will continue through Saturday afternoon. 
A symposium on Conservation will be given 
at the Saturday morning session, the speak- 
ers and their subjects being as follows: 
“¢Conservation of Our Coal and Oil,’’ F. W. 
DeWolf, director, Illinois State Geological Survey. 
‘<«Water Pollution,’’ Edwin O. Jordan, professor 
of bacteriology, University of Chicago. 
“<Conservation Ideals in the Improvement of 
Plants and Animals,’’ Herbert J. Webber, pro- 
fessor of plant breeding, Cornell University Col- 
lege of Agriculture. 
‘<Conservation of Our Forests,’’ Henry C. 
Cowles, associate professor of ecology, University 
of Chicago. 
“¢Conservation of Our Fauna,’’ S. A. Forbes, 
director, Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 
History. 
“¢Conservation of the Human Race,’’ J. N. 
Hurty, secretary, Indiana State Board of Health. 
A banquet will be given at the Illinois Hotel 
on Friday evening, after which the president, 
Professor W. A. Noyes, will address the acad- 
emy, the subject being “The Electron 
