978 
tribution ; the systematic observation of mature 
marketable fishes with reference to their local 
varieties and migrations, their conditions of 
life, nourishment and natural enemies; obser- 
vations on the occurrence and nature of fish 
food at the bottom, the surface, and intermedi- 
ate waters down to the depths of at least 600 
meters; and determinations of periodic varia- 
tions in the occurrence, abundance and average 
size of economic fishes and the causes of the 
same. These are briefly some of the principal 
points mentioned in the program of work 
recommended. 
To carry out these investigations on a basis 
of international codperation, and in order to 
ensure uniformity of method, it is proposed to 
create an international council with a central 
bureau and a central laboratory at an estimated 
annual cost, including salaries of staff, of 
£4,800, to be divided among the Governments 
concerned. No place is mentioned for this cen- 
tral bureau, which, however, should be conve- 
niently situated for hydrographical and biolog- 
ical researches. It is considered desirable that 
the work should begin on May 1, 1901. 
DEVONIAN FISHES FOR THE AMERICAN 
MUSEUM. 
THROUGH a generous gift of a Trustee, Mr. 
William E. Dodge, the American Museum of 
Natural History has recently purchased the Jay 
Terrell collection of fossil fishes of Ohio—forms 
which from their great size and formidable den- 
tition have long been known as among the most 
interesting as well as the rarest of fossil verte- 
brates. The present collection is the result of 
over six years’ energetic and skillful field work. 
It is the fourth collection which Mr. Terrell has 
formed : the first was secured by the late Profes- 
sor J.S. Newberry, and is now preserved at Co- 
lumbia University; the second is at Harvard, and 
the third is at Oberlin. Of popular interest in 
connection with the present purchase is the fact 
that material is now at hand for exhibiting as a 
single specimen the parts of the gigantic Placo- 
derm Dinichthys Terrelli. The specimen is un- 
usually complete and appears to be the largest 
hitherto secured—a jaw alone measuring nearly 
two feet in length. Much of the collection is of 
exceptional importance: it includes associated 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 261. 
head plates of Titanichthys, jaws of Diplogna- 
thus, and immature jaws of Mylostoma. 
BASHFORD DEAN. 
THE SPELLING OF ‘PUERTO RICO.’ 
Ir anything further were needed to determine 
the proper spelling of the name of our new 
West Indian Island possession, it has been sup- 
plied in a decision of the President of the 
United States himself. Through Secretary of 
State Hay, under date of December 16, 1899, 
the President declares in favor of the spelling 
Puerto Rico, basing his decision more especially 
on the fact that this is the spelling followed by 
the people of the island. He was doubtful 
mindful also, however, that Puerto is good 
Spanish for port just as Rico is Spanish for rich. 
He sustains the decision of the U. 8. Board on 
Geographic Names, made some years ago and 
since followed by some of the Government de- 
partments but not by others. 
W. F. MorsELt. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
As SCIENCE goes to press a number of our 
most important scientific societies are hold- 
ing meetings in New Haven, Washington, New 
York and Chicago. The American Society of 
Naturalists meets at New Haven, together with 
the societies more or less closely affiliated with 
it, namely, The American Morphological So- 
ciety, The Association of American Anato- 
mists, The American Physiological Society, 
The American Psychological Society, The 
Society for Plant Morphology and Physi- 
ology, The American Folk-lore Society, Sec- 
tion H, Anthropology, of the American Asso- 
ciation. A Bacteriological Society will at 
the same time be organized. The American 
Chemical Society also meets at New Haven. 
Western naturalists are organizing a society at 
Chicago. The Geological Society of America 
is meeting at Washington and the American 
Mathematical and Physical Societies at New 
York. We hope to publish in subsequent num- 
bers full accounts of the meetings of these so- 
cieties. 
PROFESSOR WILLIAM HARKNESS, astronom- 
ical director of the U. S. Naval Observatory, 
