320 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1000 



century, his childhood days were those of 

 Murchison aiid Lyell, the years of his young 

 manhood those of Darwin, Dana and Hall, 

 ■while Hugh Miller, Huxley and Tyndall were 

 his contemporaries. His place in middle-class 

 English life and the possession of private 

 means made it unnecessary for him to devote 

 himself to the practise of his pi'ofession, and 

 his interest in the awakened spirit of research 

 kept him busy in the fields of discovery dur- 

 ing the half century of his life in England. 

 His first contribution to science was a paper 

 read before a society in Birmingham in 1840. 

 The writer has in manuscript one of his lec- 

 tures read before a similar body in London in 

 1863, with the names of Stafford, Hardin, Fay, 

 Spence-Bate, Hodges and Scrivener, in the 

 discussion on the evidences of the antiquity of 

 man, in which he places this age conservatively 

 at 100,000 years. This epitome of results at- 

 tained a half century ago gives sufficient data 

 to indicate his place in the thought of his time. 



He was preeminently an entomologist, add- 

 ing several new species to British Lepidoptera 

 and Coleoptera. In this pursuit he was in 

 personal touch with Darwin. He came to this 

 country in 1868 and after a few years went to 

 the Pacific coast. Here the Le Contes found 

 him, and by their influence he was made cura- 

 tor of the museum in the University of Cali- 

 fornia. While in this service it was said of 

 him that his ability was suificient for any office 

 in the institution, even for its presidency. 

 Under his guidance was trained a group of 

 young students who have since won an honor- 

 able place as men of science. 



He resigned when past seventy, and for 

 twenty years was the Hugh Miller of the Cali- 

 fornia coast, gathering insects and fossils all 

 the way from San Diego to Santa Barbara. 

 His collection of insects was purchased about 

 ten years ago for the German Royal Museum 

 in Berlin. His collection of Cenozoic marine 

 fossils of over 200,000 specimens, classified by 

 himself, was purchased for Beloit and Pomona 

 Colleges, and forms an invaluable part of their 

 illustrative material. 



He lived his own life, neither seeking nor 

 shunning publicity. To the world he was only 



a gray old man; to those whom he knew and 

 cared for, the most delightful companion. He 

 added about a score of species of insects and 

 mollusks to the world of kno-vfledge and some- 

 thing like the same number have received the 

 name riversii in his honor. Without relatives, 

 in an alien land, his life went out amid a 

 small circle of very dear friends. 



Ira M. Bdell 



Logan Museum, Beloit College, 

 Beloit, Wisconsin 



THE FOUIiTH INTESNATIONAL BOTAN- 

 ICAL CONGRESS, LONDON, 1915 



The second circular for the Fourth Inter- 

 national Botanical Congress to be held at Lon- 

 don, 1915. has been jvist received. As the time 

 when motions and resolutions must be ready 

 is short the circular is reprinted below entire, 

 excepting that only the American members of 

 the committees are mentioned. 



The Nomenclature Seetion of the Third Inter- 

 national Botanical Congress, held at Brussels in 

 1910, carried towards completion the work of the 

 Vienna Congress (1905) on the international rules 

 governing questions of nomenclature. The com- 

 bined result of the decisions reached at Vienna 

 and Brussels has been published in the second 

 edition of the ' ' Rules of Botanical Nomencla- 

 ture. ' ' There remain, however, certain points 

 which have to be settled by the Nomenclature Sec- 

 tion of the London Congress in 1915. 



The program of work for 1915 was defined by 

 the Congress of 1910 as follows: 



1. To fix the starting-point for the nomenclature 

 of 



(a) Schizomyeetes (Bacteria) ; 



(6) Schizophyeese (excepting Nostoeaceee) ; 



(c) Flagellatse; 



(d) Baeillariacea; (Diatomacese). 



2. To c<wipile lists of nomina generica utique 

 conservanda for 



(a) Schizomyeetes; 



(6) Algae (inel. Schizophycete, Flagellatse, 

 etc.) ; new lists for groups not in- 

 cluded in the list of 1910 and also 

 a supplementary list; 



(c) Fungi; 



(d) Lichens; 



(e) Bryophyta. 



3. Compilation of a double list of nomina gener- 



