June 1, 1883. 



SCIENCE. 



499 



tings be forwarded for the following reasons: 1. The 

 cuttings came from an uninfested district, so far as 

 known; 2. The insect could only be found at this 

 season on such cuttings in the winter-egg, which, 

 ■ even in countries where the Phylloxera abounds, is 

 extremely rare; 3. Did the cuttings come from a 

 country badly infested with Phylloxera, the danger 

 of the introduction of the pest upon them would be 

 very slight, as the natural history of the insect shows; 

 4. Even were it possible to introduce the insect with 

 the cuttings, no harm could result, so long as they 

 were sent to any part of the United States east of 

 the Kocky Mountains, since the insect is indigenous 

 here. Were the cuttings known to be infested then, 

 and then only. Professor Eiley thinks that prudence 

 would dictate that they should not be sent to the 

 Pacific states, or those portions where the Phylloxera 

 does not now exist. 



— Those who have resided a short time in the low 

 pine regions of the Atlantic coast, from Virginia to 

 Carolina, are familiar with the word ' tuckahoe.' The 

 term is a very old one, found in Smith's History of 

 Virginia as ' tockawhoughe,' and in other old writers 

 under different spellings. Professor Gore, of the Co- 

 lumbian university, has been investigating the sub- 

 ject, and has broiight to light many important facts 

 relative to it, which appear in the Smithsonian re- 

 port for 1881. The word has been made to apply to 

 almost every tuberous root and subterraneous fungus 

 which the aborigines were supposed to have used as 

 food. The qualities of all these substances have 

 gradually come together, and by tradition have set- 

 tled upon one that has little or no value as food, — 

 the Pachyma cocos. This interesting fungus has 

 been analyzed by several chemists, Dr. Torrey among 

 the number, and finally by Dr. Parsons of the de- 

 partment of agriculture. The most notable peculiari- 

 ties are the entire absence of starch, the small amount 

 of extracted solvents, the gelatinous character of the 

 cellulose, and the very small amount of albuminous 

 substance. The fungus resembles a large yam, with 

 a rough, blackish exterior, and a white, cream-colored 

 interior, very soft when first found, and becoming 

 hard and ivory-like when thoroughly dry. 



— The International African association was 

 formed in Brussels in 1876, with an executive com- 

 mittee consisting of the King of Belgium, Dr. Nach- 

 tigal, De Quatrefages, and Sir Bartle Frere, the latter 

 being replaced on his departure for the Cape of Good 

 Hope by Mr. Sanford. In the first year of its exist- 

 ence, Belgium alone furnished half a million francs, 

 and the remaining branch societies in other countries 

 about a hundred thousand francs, towards the ex- 

 penses of exploration. In June, 1877, a commis- 

 sion of delegates from all parts of Europe laid out 

 a plan of work, deciding to begin the establishment 

 of stations between Zanzibar and Tanganyika, of 

 which Karema, five hundred miles from the coast. 



was the first. A small steamer was placed on the 

 lake. Other stations in the same region were later 

 undertaken by different branches of the association. 

 In November, 1878, a ' Comite d'etudes du Haut- 

 Congo' was formed, with a capital of one million 

 francs. This was essentially a subdivision or a new 

 form of the old society; and its first work was to 

 send Stanley to the Kongo at the end of 1879, where 

 he spent two years in constructing a road along the 

 unnavigable part of the river. The funds of the 

 committee are exhausted, and contributions are 

 asked for to continue the work thus begun. 



— The April number of the Johns Hopkins univer- 

 sity circulai- contains abstracts of many of the re- 

 cent papers published by members of the university. 

 Under the heading of ' correspondence ' are several 

 letters to Professor Sylvester. As a foot-note to one 

 of these, Professor Sylvester remarks, that the last 

 few months will be a period forever memorable in the 

 records of mathematical science as one in which 

 came to light the three great discoveries of a proof 



, being possible of the impossibility of the quadrature 

 of the circle, the existence of an assymptotic value 

 to the sum of the logarithms of the inferior primes 

 to a given number, and the falsity of the ordinarily 

 assumed postulate in the theory of invariants. 



— Mr. Robert Kidgway is engaged in a field-exami- 

 nation of the avi-faima of Illinois and Indiana. 



— Dr. E. W. Shufeldt, U.S.IST., on duty at New 

 Orleans, La., is engaged in the study of the zoology 

 and archeology of southern Louisiana. He has al- 

 ready made very extensive collections of the reptiles 

 and birds of that region. 



— In view of the proposed meeting of the British 

 association for the advancement of science in Mon- 

 treal in 1884, a committee, consisting of Messrs. H. 

 Carvill Lewis, Edward D. Cope, Persifor Frazer, 

 Angelo Heilprin, and Henry C. McCook, has been 

 appointed by the Academy of natural sciences of 

 Philadelphia to secure the co-operation of other 

 societies and institutions of the city in extending an 

 invitation to the American association for the ad- 

 vancement of science, to meet in Philadelphia the 

 same year, directly after the Montreal meeting, so as 

 to increase the facilities for communication with the 

 representatives of the British association. Similar 

 action has been taken by the American philosophical 

 society and the Franklin institute; and the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania has offered the use of its halls 

 for the meetings. 



— It is now stated that as many as four hundred 

 members of the British association have signified 

 their wish to attend the meeting in Montreal in 

 1884. The local committee at Montreal has decided 

 to suggest the week beginning on Aug. 27 as the 

 most suitable for the meeting. 



— A circular has been issued by the Forestry divis- 

 ion, department of agriculture, calling attention to 



