404 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 63. 



Bibliographical Bureau. A temporary substi- 

 tute has been engaged but the progress of the 

 bibliography will be seriously impaired. It is 

 especially unfortunate that Dr. Field (having 

 after his prolonged eflbrts successfully estab- 

 lished the Bureau) should now be incapacitated. 

 The future of the Bureau seems to depend 

 mainly upon his efforts, and all who are inter- 

 ested in his work hope to hear of his rapid 

 recovery. 



Aenulf Schertel describes, in the last 

 JBerichte, a new method of preparing Platino- 

 cyanids. Platinum chlorid is precipitated by 

 hydrogen sulfld at 60° to 70° and the well 

 washed platinum sulfld dissolved in a warm so- 

 lution of potassium cyanid. On evaporation 

 the potassium platino-cyanid, K2Pt(CN)4, 3H,0, 

 crystallizes out, and equal parts of potassium 

 sulfld and potassium thiocyanate remain in the 

 mother liquor. If a solution of barium cyanid 

 is used, the barium platino-cyanid is obtained, 

 with commercial potassium cyanid containing 

 large quantities of sodium cyanid, Schertel ob- 

 tained the beautiful double salt KNaPt(CN)4, 

 SHjO, described by Martius. In view of the 

 fluorescence of the barium and other salts of the 

 platino-cyanids under the Rontgen rays, this 

 simple method of preparation is of considerable 

 interest. 



In 1888 crania of Sorex personatus and Synap- 

 tomys cooperi were taken about eight miles from 

 Washington, in pellets ejected by a long-eared 

 owl. This was of interest, since it was the flrst 

 occurrence of Synaptomys farther east than In- 

 diana, but it was of course an open question as 

 to just how near Washington the specimen might 

 have been captured, and, until recently, all at- 

 tempts to take either of these little mammals 

 near the capital have been fruitless. On Janu- 

 ary 25th Mr. Vernon Bailey read a paper be- 

 fore the Biological Society on Tamarack Swamps 

 as Boreal Islands in which he took the ground 

 that the abundant sphagnum of these swamps 

 played a very practical part in reducing the 

 temperature by evaporation, and ' thus render- 

 ing them habitable for boreal animals. In the 

 discussion which followed the paper Mr. Bailey 

 was apprised of the existence of such swamps 

 near Washington, and immediately proceeded to 

 test his theory by setting a number of traps in 



one of them, with the result that in less than a 

 week he obtained examples of both Sorex per- 

 sonatus and Synaptomys cooperi. 



The extensive mycological herbarium of Mr. 

 J. B. Ellis, of Newfleld, New Jersey, has been 

 purchased by the Board of Managers of the 

 New York Botanical Garden, and will be de- 

 posited in the flre-proof museum building of 

 the Garden to be erected in Bronx Park. The 

 purchase includes a considerable portion of Mr. 

 Ellis' library. The collection is now being 

 boxed for transportation and will be brought to 

 New York within a short time and placed in 

 one of the flre-proof storage warehouses, await- 

 ing its final resting place at the Garden. The 

 herbarium represents the work of nearly fifty 

 years devotedly given by Mr. and Mrs. Ellis to 

 the study and accumulation of Fungi from all 

 parts of the world. It is especially rich in 

 North American species, being, indeed, very 

 nearly complete in that regard, and containing 

 all or very nearly all the types described either 

 by Mr. Ellis alone, or in cooperation with Dr. 

 H. C. Cooke, Mr. B. M. Everhart, Mr. E. W. 

 Martin, Prof. W. A. Kellerman, Rev. A. B. 

 Langlois, Mr. E. D. Holway, Mr. B. L. Gal- 

 loway and others. It is put up in volumes, 

 there being some 250 volumes of published ex- 

 siccati, including all but a very few of the earl- 

 iest distributed sets and more than 150 vol- 

 umes of a general collection, the whole com- 

 pletely indexed on a card catalogue. There 

 are also more than 100 tin cans and boxes fllled 

 with fleshy fungi. The possession of this im- 

 portant collection will make the new botanical 

 institution a center of interest for all students 

 of these plants, and, with the other herbaria 

 already secured, will guarantee its scientiflc 

 prestige. 



CoENELL University has formally acquired 

 the famous quadruple-exj)ansion steam engine, 

 built for a steam pressure of flve hundred 

 pounds, in the Sibley College shops, bj"- Messrs. 

 Hall and Treat. This engine was designed in 

 accordance with the principles taught its build- 

 ers, in Sibley College, and for a very excep- 

 tionally high steam pressure ; the purpose be- 

 ing to ascertain whether the promised advan- 

 tages of such intense pressures could be realized. 

 The University gave the use of shops and tools 



