456 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 40. 



may be called Hydrodamalidm, there being 

 no other genus in the group. 



Laeepede, la 1801, used Dugong'* as a 

 generic name for the sirenian afterwards 

 called Halieore by Illiger, but not being a 

 classical word it did not come into general 

 use. As it is the first name for the genus 

 there seems to be no good reason for not 

 adopting it. The specific name was first 

 proposed by Miiller in 1776, f who spelled it 

 dugon — without the final g. This was evi- 

 dently not a misprint, as the same spelling 

 occurs twice. The name for the dugong 

 will, therefore, be Dugong dugon (Miiller), 

 while the unfortunate compound Dugongidce 

 becomes necessary for the family, instead 

 of the more euphonious Halicoridce. 



T. S. Palmer. 

 Washington, D. C. 



ajsr international zoologists' directory. 

 Messrs. Friedlander & Son, of Berlin, 

 have just isssued a very useful ' Interna- 

 tional Zoologists' Directorj' ' of 740 pp. oc- 

 tavo, containing about 12,000 names and 

 addresses. It includes to a certain degree 

 the official position of each person, for it is 

 not a simple alphabetical list, but has sev- 

 eral subdivisions, the classification being 

 primarily geograj)hical by countries. Un- 

 der the country the towns are given al- 

 phabetically, excepting that the capital is 

 placed first. Under each place are given, 

 first, names of those attached to the diflferent 

 educational and scientific institutions (each 

 institution apart), and here the names are 

 given in the order and with the specifica- 

 tion of their rank; unattached names fol- 

 low alphabetically; some names, therefore, 

 appear more than once, but only once in 

 full. There is much supplementary infor- 

 mation in brief statements regarding the 

 publications of the dififerent institutions. 

 The specialties of each person are given in 



*U(:m. de I'lnstLtut, Paris, III, 1801, Nouv. Tabl. 

 Method., p. 501. 



t Natursystems Suppl., 1776, p^i. 21^2. 



an abbreviated form, and the names are 

 again classified in a scientific register (37 

 pp.) at the end under each specialty, and 

 here names of those not authors and merelj' 

 collectors are designated by an asterisk. 

 Dealers and natural history artists are 

 given last and separately under each place. 

 Separate geographical and personal indexes 

 enable us quickly to find what we may 

 seek in the volume. It is excellently 

 planned and admirably executed. We 

 hope it has come to stay, but it will need 

 constant revision. 



natural science training for engineers. 

 In an article in the Engineering Magazine 

 for September, Professor N. S. Shaler con- 

 siders the question " as to the share of 

 natural science which should be incor- 

 porated in the several four-year courses 

 leading to the bachelor's degree in the de- 

 partments of civil, electrical, mechanical 

 and mining engineering." The reorganiza- 

 tion of the Lawrence Scientific School of 

 Harvard Universit}' has made the investi- 

 gation of this question desirable, and the 

 results of the inquiry have to a great ex- 

 tent been embodied in its schemes of in- 

 struction. Sound general instruction in 

 physics, knowledge of the principles of 

 chemistry, an elementary course in geology, 

 a good theoretical training in metallurgy, 

 a certain amount of determinative mineral^ 

 ogy and an elementary half course in 

 geography are enumerated as necessities 

 for every engineer. The time required for 

 the study of these subjects is about four- 

 fifths of the study period of a college j'ear, 

 which is evidentlj' excessive. Prof. Shaler 

 considers that the burden of the student 

 may be considerably lightened by attend- 

 ance at the summer school of the Univer- 

 sit}', when each student is required to give 

 his time to one course. " It has been found 

 that the six weeks' term.owingto the concen- 

 tration of attention, serves to carry the pupil 



