476 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 65. 



March 21, Tlie Battle of the Forest, B. E. Femow; 

 March 28, The Adaptation of Plants to the Desert, F. 

 V. Coville; April 4, The Spread of the BabUt, T. S. 

 Palmer; April 11, Insect Ilimierj/, L. O. Howard; 

 April 18, The Persistence of Functionlcss Structures, F. 

 A. Lucas. 



Dr. G. F. Becker, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, sailed, March 14th, for Capetown, to 

 make an investigation of the South African gold 

 fields. 



Mr. F. W. True, of the National Museum, 

 is engaged upon a study of the antlers of 

 American deer. His monograph of the family 

 of moles is just going to press. 



Kicking Bear, one of the finest representa- 

 tives of the Sioux tribe, and one of the few 

 thoroughly typical examples of the uncontami- 

 nated Indian, was thoroughly modeled and 

 photographed at the National Museum on 

 March 13th, and a full figure to be clad in the 

 costume which he now wears on ceremonial oc- 

 casions will be constructed. 



Dr. John S. Billings and Prof. Simon 

 Newcomb have been designated by the Secre- 

 tary of State to represent the United States at 

 the Bibliographical Conference to be held in 

 London at the call of the Eoyal Society. 



Admiral Makaropp, of the Russian Navy, 

 the author of a very important work upon the 

 currents and specific gravity of the waters of the - 

 northwestern Pacific, during a recent visit to 

 Washington, at an informal meeting at the 

 Smithsonian Institution, on March 16th, ex- 

 plained his methods and results to a number of 

 gentlemen interested in hydrography and deep 

 sea explorations. 



The astronomical work of Dr. S. C. Chandler, 

 of Boston, and especially his studies upon the 

 variations of latitude, have been recognized by 

 the Royal Astronomical Society of London, 

 which conferred upon him its gold medal at its 

 meeting on February 14th. 



Lieutenant Commander J. J. Brice, U. S. 

 N. (retired), who has been nominated by Presi- 

 dent Cleveland for the position of U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries, is a citizen of California, 

 and has given much attention to the acclima- 

 tization of pheasants. He is interested in 

 angling, and was in 1891 emploj'ed under the 



late Commissioner MacDonald to make a recon- 

 noissance preparatory to the establishment of 

 fish-cultural stations on the military reserva- 

 tions of the Pacific coast and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. It is not understood that he makes any 

 claim to be possessed of proved scientific and 

 practical knowledge of the fishes of the coast. 



A commemorative tablet has been placed on 

 a school in Passy to record the former residence 

 of Franklin at that place, then a suburb of 

 Paris. Addresses were made by M. M. Faie 

 and Guillois. 



Prof. William Libbey, of the department 

 of physical geography of Princeton University, 

 is organizing a second expedition to the 

 Hawaiian Islands. He will be accompanied by 

 a number of students and will be absent from 

 the close of the college year to the opening in 

 September. 



During February, 1373 volumes were added 

 to the New York State Library, the total num- 

 ber of volumes in the library, including travel- 

 ing libraries and duplicates, being now 318,964. 



The officers for the New York Academy of 

 Sciences for the coming year are : President, 

 J. J. Stevenson ; First Vice-President, H. F. 

 Osborn ; Second Vice-President, R. S. Wood- 

 ward ; Corresponding Secretary, D. S. Martin ; 

 Recording Secretary, J. F. Kemp ; Treasurer, 

 C. F. Cox ; Librarian, Arthur Hollick. 



French is to be recognized as the oflicial lan- 

 guage at the twelfth International Medical Con- 

 gress to be held at Moscow in August, 1897. At 

 the general assemblies speeches may be deliv- 

 ered in other European languages. The sec- 

 tional papers and discussions must be either in 

 French, Germ'an or Russian. The exclusion of 

 English will probably interfere with the at- 

 tendance of members from Great Britain and 

 America. 



A SERIES of lectures has been arranged to in- 

 crease interest in the Inter-State park at the 

 Dalles of St. Croix, Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

 Among the lecturers are Mr. Warren Upham, 

 Prof. Henry L. Osborn and Prof. Conway Mac- 

 Millan. 



The New York Board of Fire Underwriters, 

 on the basis of a report prepared by Professor 

 Henry Morton, of the Stevens Institute, has re- 



