JULY 28, 1899. ] 
national Congress is required, since the abbrevia- 
tions present no difficulties. 
A. L. HERRERA. 
Musro NACIONAL, MEXICO. 
TIDES AND CURRENTS IN CANADIAN WATERS. 
To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Permit me to 
invite your attention to the latest report of the 
engineer in charge of the survey of the tides 
and currents of the coast waters of Canada, Mr. 
W. Bell Dawson, M. A., M. E., ete., a copy of 
which has been addressed to you. This survey, 
commenced by the government of Canada in 
1894, is of great importance, not merely in the 
interest of hydrographical science, but of the 
large and increasing trade which finds its way 
along the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, the 
greatest waterway from the north Atlantic into 
the northern part of the American continent, 
and which, like all similar tide-ways, is affected 
by the complex action of the tides and conse- 
quent currents. 
It is much to be regretted that the economy 
or parsimony of the governmeut has caused a 
suspension for the present of the special survey 
of the currents, and has restricted the work to 
tidal observations, which, though of great value 
to tke shipping interests, can only be considered 
as preliminary in regard to the investigation of 
the currents themselves, which lead toso many 
losses of property and life, and tend to high 
rates of insurance, injurious to the ship owners 
and merchants of Canada, and, through them, 
to those of an empire as a whole. 
The present report, in addition to what can 
be done with the insufficient grant allowed in 
the matter of tide-gauges and tide-tables, has - 
reference to the behavior of the gigantic tides 
of the Bay of Fundy, when confined by the 
converging coasts at the head of the bay, and 
their relation to the smaller tides on the op- 
posite side of the isthmus connecting Nova 
Scotia and New Brunswick, at Bay Verte, on 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These and the phe- 
nomena of the ‘bore’ at the head of the Bay of 
Fundy are here for the first time described, 
illustrated by maps and sections, and tabulated, 
and will be found of the greatest interest by all 
who desire information as to the exceptional 
tides of this region. 
- SCIENCE. 
121 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TRES MARIA IS- 
LANDS, MEXICO. 
THE latest publication from the Division of 
Biological Survey of the U. 8. Department of 
Agriculture, being ‘North American Fauna, 
No. 14,’ bears the title at the head of this notice. 
It contains the result of an exploration made 
in the spring of 1897 by Mr. E. W. Nelson and 
Mr. E. A. Goldman during the month of May 
of that year, and adds largely to our previous 
knowledge of the fauna and flora of these is- 
lands. The more appropriate title to the paper 
would be ‘Contributions to the Natural His- 
tory,’ etc., for no insecta are mentioned and 
only siz species of mollusks ; of these four had 
not been previously known to occur. The 
author, after mentioning the names of Col. A. 
J. Grayson and Alphonse Forrer, says ‘ no other 
naturalist is known to have visited the islands 
until the spring of 1897,’ the season of his visit. 
He should have known that the islands were 
visited in the spring of 1876 by Mr. W. J. 
Fisher, previously naturalist of the Tuscarora 
Telegraph Sounding Expedition, directed by 
Commander George E. Belknap in 1873. Mr. 
Fisher made a large collection of molluscan 
forms as published in the Proc. U. S. Nat. 
Museum, pp. 139-204 of Volume XVII., 1894, 
wherein 89 species are listed. 
It is not unlikely that both Grayson and 
Forrer collected many insect species which 
have been published somewhere. Only the 
mollusks collected by Fisher have come under 
my notice. 
RoBeERT E. C. STEARNS. 
Los ANGELES, CAL., June 26, 1899. 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
No little work has been done on the com- 
pounds of sulfur and iodin, but with no very 
satisfactory results. The latest contribution is by 
L. Prunier in the Journal de la pharmacie et de 
la chimie, and it can hardly be said that the 
subject is left in a much clearer condition. 
Prunier distinguishes between what he calls 
‘iodized sulfur’ and ‘sulfuriodid.’ The former 
is made by adding the desired quantity of iodin 
to sulfur at 115° to 120°, stirring, cooling and 
preserving in a stoppered bottle. The iodin 
