350 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol,. 1., No. 12. 



transportation-rates in Europe, and a list of transpor- 

 tation-rates on the more important rail and water 

 routes from the west to the seaboard. All these are 

 obviously of more or less genera! interest; but it is 

 difficult to see how it can be considered the duty of 

 the department to publish, as it does in this report, a 

 gratuitous advertisement of one particular western 

 railroad, avowedly furnished by its western passen- 

 ger-agent. Report No. 57 is on the distribution of 

 the corn and wheat crops of 1882, and the compara- 

 tive quantity still remaining on the farm. 'Statistics 

 are also presented regarding the extent and character 

 of the domestic uses of these crops, and tables of 

 transportation-rates are appended to the report. 



— The U. S. geological survey has commenced the 

 publication of octavo bulletins to receive such papers, 

 relating to the general jDurpose of its work, as would 

 not properly come under the heads of annual reports 

 or monographs. Each paper will be issued separately 

 with a distinct number, and will have two pagina- 

 tions, — one proper to itself, at the top; and one 

 belonging to the volume, at the bottom, — a most 

 convenient arrangement. The first number, just 

 issued, contains'a paper by Whitman Cross on hypers- 

 thene-andesite, and on triclinic pyroxene in augitic 

 rocks, with a geological sketch, by S. F. Emmons, of 

 Buffalo Peaks, Col., where the principal rocks ex- 

 amined were found. Mr. Cross urges the need of a 

 re-classification of the andesite rocks, and concludes 

 that the chief subdivision of the augite-andesites may 

 much more properly be called hypersthene-andesite 

 Two plates accompany the bulletin. 



— At its two hundred and thirty-third meeting, 

 held April 7, the Philosophical society of Washington 

 listened to Prof. W. C. Kerr, on the Geology of Cape 

 Hatteras and the adjoining coasts; to Mr. H. F. 

 Walling, on Topographical indications of a fault near 

 Harper's Ferry; and to Mr. S. F. Emmons, on Ore 

 deposition by replacement. 



— At the annual meeting of the Cincinnati society 

 of natural history, April 3, the following officers were 

 elected: president. Dr. J. H. Hunt; vice-presidents. 

 Professors John Mickleborough and George W. Har- 

 per; secretary, Davis L. James; treasurer, S.E.Wi'ight; 

 librarian, A. E. Heighway, jun. The report of the 

 treasurer showed a balance in the treasury. The 

 membersliip dues paid during the year amounted to 

 a larger sum than in any previous year. Reports of 

 the curators and custodian were handed in. The 

 latter stated that the use of the museum by in- 

 structors of the high schools and academies was 

 increasing yearly. The collections had been in- 

 creased largely by donation and purchase, and were 

 as well displayed as the limited space permitted. 



— By the consent of the surgeon-general of the 

 army, the Washington anthropological society held 

 its last meeting in the army medical museum. Three 

 papers were read, as follows: Myths of the Dhegiha, 



the stock including Omahas, Poncas, and Osages, by 

 the Rev. J. Owen Dorsey; A year in anthropology, 

 being a summary of works on man, which appeared 

 in 1882, including those by Americans, those on 

 America, and those of general anthropological inter- 

 est, by Professor Otis T. Mason ; A letter from Sir 

 Rawson Rawson upon the relativity of stature to lati- 

 tude, derived from the volumes of anthropometry pub- 

 lished by the provost-marshal-general's bureau during 

 the war of the rebellion, by Dr. Robert Fletcher. 



— Prof. C. H. Hitchcock has just returned home 

 from a tour to the Hawaiian Islands, having visited 

 Kilauea, Mauna Loa, the source of the Hilo flow of 

 1881, and Haleakala. Kilauea has rarely been filled 

 up with lava so much as at present, the ' black 

 ledge ' being covered by over fifty feet thickness of 

 recently cooled lava. 



— Mr. Frederick W. True has been appointed 

 acting assistant director of the National museum, 

 to serve during the absence of assistant director, 

 Mr. Goode, who sailed, March 31, for London, to at- 

 tend the Fisheries exhibition as U. S. commissioner. 



— The Society of American taxidermists will hold 

 their third exhibition in New York, May 1 to 5. The 

 programme of the general meeting to be held May 1, 

 at Lyric Hall, is : President Lucas, The scope and 

 needs of taxidermy; William T. Hornaday, Common 

 faults in the mounting of quadrupeds; Prof. F. W. 

 Staebner, Taxidermic value of animal illustrations; 

 President Lucas, On the mounting of crustaceans; 

 F. S. Webster, Taxidermy as a decorative art; F. S. 

 Webster, How to clean bird-skins of all kinds; Sam- 

 uel F. Rathbun, How to make good bird-skins; 

 Frederic A. Lucas, New method of skinning turtles; 

 William T. Hornaday, Mounting mammal heads. 



RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. 



PartSCh, J. Die gleteuber der vorzeit in den Karpalben 

 und den mittclgebirgen Deutschlauds nach fremden und eigenen 

 beobachtungen dargestellt. Breslau, 1S82. 209 p., 4 kart. 4°. 



Plumandon, «T- R. Le barometre appIiqutS a la prevision 

 du temps dans la France centi-ale. Paris, 1883. 16 pi. 12°. 



Renault, B. Cours de botanique foesile, fait au Museum 

 d'bistuire naiurelle. Troisiime annee. Fougires. Paris, Mas- 

 son, 1882. 36 pi. 8°. 



Rtitimeyer, L. Die Bretagne. Scbilderungen aus natur 

 nnd vulk. Basel, 1883. 8°. 



Saporta, le marquis de. Apropos dcs algues fossiles. Paris, 

 Masnon, 1882. 10 pi. 4°. 



ScheflBer, H. Die magiscben figuren. Allgemeine losung 

 und erweiterung eines aus dem alterthume staramenden prob- 

 lems. Leipzig, 1882. 114 p., 2 pi. 8°. 



Scheiner, .Jul. Untersucbungen iiber den licbtwechsel Al- 

 gols nach den Wannbeimer beobacbtungen v. Prof. Scbiinfeld in 

 den jahren 1869 bis 1875. Inaugural-dissertation. Bonn, 1882. 

 31 p.' 8°. 



Schmid, A. E. v. Leitfaden fUr den unterricht in ausgo- 

 ■wahlten kapiteln der chcmiflcbcn technologic. Zum gebrauch an 

 bandels-, Industrie- und gewerbescbulen. Graz. 330 p. 8°. 



Schmitz, F. Die chromatophoren der Algcn. Verglei- 

 cbende untersucbungen Uber bau und entwickelung der cbloro- 

 phyllkorperund der'analogen farbstoffkiirper der Algen. Bonn, 

 1882. 184 p., 1 pi. 8°. 



Schultz, G. Die cbemie des steinkoblentheers mit besond- 

 erer beriicksichtigung der kiinstlicben organischen farbetoffe. 

 Braunscbweig, 1882. 1106 p., illustr. 8°. 



