OcTOBER 13, 1899. ] 
engineering with a salary of $1,200 to $1,400 
per annum, and for the position of assistant 
horticulturist in the Geneva experiment station 
with a salary of $50 per month. 
A TELEGRAM has been received at the Har- 
vard College Observatory from Professor Kreutz 
at Kiel Observatory, stating that Comet E. 
was observed by Cohn at K6nigsberg, Oct. 
1.2767 Greenwich Mean Time, in R. A. 16" .81™ 
0.7 and December — 4° 39’ 50’”.. Professor J. 
HB. Keeler at Lick Observatory telegraphs that 
Comet Giacobini was observed by Perrine, 
Oct. 2.6658 Greenwich Mean Time, in R. A. 
16" 382” 598.7 and Dec. —4°12/’ 18/7. The 
check word shows an error in the telegram 
which will not largely affect the position. 
Welearn from Nature that the Director of the 
Marine Observatory of San Fernando an- 
nounces that the Spanish Minister of Finance 
has given instructions that all instruments in- 
tended for observations of the eclipse of the sun 
on May 27, 1900, are to be admitted free of 
duty. 
PROFESSOR W. A. SETCHELL, Dr. W. L. Jep- 
son, Mr. L. KE. Hunt and Mr. A. A. Lawson, of 
the University of California have returned to 
Berkeley from a botanical expedition to Una- 
laska. Dr. Jepson studied the flowering plants, 
Professor Setchell and Mr. Lawson the flower- 
less plants, while Mr. Hunt, who is of the Civil 
Engineering Department, determined altitudes 
and took the photographs of plant communities, 
etc. The party remained at Unalaska for eight 
weeks and carried out its work as planned, col- 
lecting thoroughly in the neighborhood of Un- 
alaska Bay, making extensive field notes, and 
securing a fairly full collection of photographs. 
Professor Setchell left Unalaska for about three 
weeks, on a trip toSt. Michael and Cape Nome, 
collecting plants of all kinds and making notes 
as to points of distribution and ecology. Re- 
turning, the party went from Unalaska to 
Sitka along the coast, collecting at Unga, 
Karluk, Kodiak, Orca, Juneau, and Sitka. 
They were thus able to trace many plants of 
the shores along a considerable portion of the 
Alaska coast, note the changes in habit and 
also the difference in altitudinal distribution. 
There is a very considerable amount of mate- 
SCIENCE. 
541 
rial accumulated and it will not be known until 
it is carefully worked over, how much of it 
is pew or just to what extent it will throw 
light on matters of distribution. A very con- 
siderable amount of attention was paid to the 
matter of plant communities in Unalaska, the 
amount of woody vegetation present, and a 
number of such subjects. The lack of trees or 
even of high shrubs was very noticeable at 
Unalaska, and in fact along the entire shore of 
Alaska to the westward, as well as their sudden 
appearance on the eastern shores of Kadiak 
Island along North Strait and from there on to 
the eastward. This seems to be a difficult 
matter to explain, but it certainly seems to be 
due to the existence of conditions unfavorable 
to the germination of the seeds and the growth 
of seedlings, since trees, when planted or pro- 
tected during the early stages of existence, 
thrive on the Island of Unalaska, as several 
small groves of the White Spruce, whose trees 
were brought from the Island of Kadiak by the 
Russians, have not only grown into full sized 
trees, but also produce cones and seeds. The 
collections of marine algze, taken in connection 
with other collections made in Alaska, Wash- 
ington and California and Mexico during the 
last four or five years will, it is hoped, indicate 
the limits of the various algal floras of the 
Pacific Coast of North America, when they are 
properly determined and tabulated, and will 
afford the basis for some exact inquiry into the 
causes of demarcation. One of the most grati- 
fying features of the trip was the liberal way 
in which the U. 8. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
The Alaska Commercial Company, The Pacific 
Steam Whaling Company, and the Pacific Coast 
Steamship Company granted facilities for trans- 
portation and collecting. 
Nature states that after four months’ work 
on his yacht, Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S8., has re- 
turned to Sheffield with many hundred speci- 
mens of marine animals, preserved by his new 
methods, so as to show life-like character and 
natural color. 
THE attempt recently made by the U.S. 
Coast and Geodetic Survey to fix a permanent 
- tidal plane for the Chesapeake Bay has proved 
successful. During the last fiscal year about 
