684 
been prolonged backward to the Ordovicic, 
in consideration of Mr. C. D. Walcott’s 
genera Astraspis and Hriptychius. 
In contrast with the elasmobranchs the 
actinopterous fishes, which entered on their 
career as‘a feeble folk ’ in the Devonic, seem 
hardly to have held their own during the 
Subearbonic. Their numbers increased 
slowly during the Carbonic, the feri then 
expanded rapidly during the Mesozoic. The 
slight fall in the number of known species 
during the Tertiary does not probably indi- 
cate an actual reduction in the number of 
species that then lived. In the waters of 
the region here contemplated there are now 
living probably at least 1500 species of this 
group of fishes. 
OTR SEL Aya 
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF 
ACA DEMIES.* 
For several years past there has existed 
an Association or Cartell of the Academies 
of Sciences of Munich and Vienna, and of 
the Royal Societies of Sciences of Gottingen 
and Leipzig, which has met yearly to dis- 
cuss matters of common interest, and the 
combined action of these bodies has in sev- 
eral ways been fruitful of results. Repre- 
sentatives of the Royal Society of London 
attended the meeting held last year at Got- 
tingen, as well as that which took place the 
previous year at Leipzig, chiefly with the 
object of discussing the project of an inter- 
national catalogue of scientific literature 
which the Society has been engaged in pro- 
moting. 
When the invitation was conveyed to the 
Royal Society of London to send represent- 
atives to the Gottingen meeting, it was inti- 
mated that the Cartell would be glad to 
learn the views of the Society as to the 
possibility of its joining the Association. 
The delegates appointed from London were 
instructed to state that the Royal Society 
* From the London Times. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 254. 
would be disposed to join, provided that the 
organization were so extended as to assume 
a truly international character. This sug- 
gestion was not only accepted in principle 
at Gottingen, but it was agreed that the 
Royal Society of London should be re- 
quested to take the steps, if thought desir- 
able, to ascertain how far the establishment 
of such an international association would 
commend itself to the leading scientific 
bodies of other countries. 
The Royal Society of Sciences of Berlin, 
although not included in the Cartell, has for 
several years past been represented at its 
meetings. When the Royal Society of 
London had ascertained that the project 
was likely to find favor, it was agreed that 
the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy 
should together issue an invitation to the 
Academy of Sciences, Paris, the Imperial 
Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, the 
Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Rome, the 
National Academy, Washington, as well as 
to the bodies included in the Cartell, re- 
questing them to send delegates to a con- 
ference to be held in Wiesbaden on the 
10th and 11th of October. 
At the conference, excepting the Reale 
Accademia dei Lincei, which was unable to 
send delegates, although in full sympathy 
with the movement, all the bodies invited 
were represented—the Berlin Academy by 
Messrs. Auwers, Virchow, and Diels; the 
Gottingen Society by Messrs. Ehlers and. 
Leo ; the Leipzig Society by Messrs. Wind- 
isch and Wislicenus ; the Royal Society by 
Messrs. Ricker, Armstrong, and Schuster ; 
the Munich Academy by Messrs. von Zittel, 
Dyck and von Sicherer ; the Paris Academy 
by Messrs. Darboux and Moissan; the St. 
Petersburg Academy by Messrs. Famint- 
zine and Salemann; the Washington 
Academy by Messrs. Newcomb, Remsen, 
and Bowditch; and the Vienna Academy 
by Messrs. Mussafia, von Lang, Lieben, 
and Gomperz. 
