August 10, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



227 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The American Naturalist for July has for its 

 first article some ' Notes on a Species of Pelo- 

 myxa,' by H. V. Wilson, which he names P. 

 carolinensis. H. L. Osborn describes at length 

 ' A Remarkable Asolotl from North Dakota,' 

 but omits to give it a name, while W. M. 

 Wheeler makes an important contribution to 

 our knowledge of the driver ants under the 

 caption ' The Female of Eciton Sumichrasti 

 Norton,' with some Notes on the Habits of 

 Texan Ecitons.' James A. G. Eehn discusses 

 ' The Linnsean Genera Myrmecophaga and Di- 

 delphis,' concluding that Myrmecophaga is the 

 generic name for the tree ant-eater, -M. tetra- 

 dactyla and proposing the name Falcifer for the 

 great ant-eater, while Didelphis opossum is the 

 type of that genus. C. R. Eastman reviews 

 ' Karpinsky's Genus Helicoprion,' and in Part 

 XI. of ' Synopses of North American Inverte- 

 brates,' Mary J. Rathbun furnishes the keys 

 for ' The Catometopous or Grapsoid Crabs.' 

 The Reviews are numerous and good. 



In The Plant World for July, Alice Carter 

 Cook concludes her series of papers on ' Coffee 

 Growing and Coffee Drinking ' ; Frank E. Mc- 

 Donald describes ' A Sand Dune Flora of Cen- 

 tral Illinois ' ; C. F. Saunders propounds the 

 query, ' Does the Catch-fly Grass catch Flies '?' 

 and E. J. Hill describes the habitat of ' Primula 

 Mistassinica. ' A. H. Curtiss discusses ' Some 

 Nameless Plants ' of Florida, and C. F. Saun- 

 ders in the ' Etymology of Columbine,' suggests 

 that it may come from columbarius, a dove cote. 

 In the supplement devoted to ' The Families 

 of Flowering Plants,' Charles L. Pollard con- 

 tinues a description of those of the order Fari- 

 nosEe. 



The June number of the Ottaiva Naturalist 

 which constitutes No. 3 of Volume XIV. has 

 just been issued by the Ottawa Field- Natural- 

 ists' Club. Among the interesting articles it 

 contains we note one by Mr. Frank T. Shutt, 

 chemist to the Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 on ' Soils and the maintenance of their fer- 

 tility through the growth of legumes.' This 

 paper draws attention to investigations car- 

 ried on in the fields and laboratories of the 

 Experimental Farm with signal success. The 



improvement of soils through the growth of 

 legumes has yielded results of the highest 

 value to those who wish to maintain or re- 

 cover the productiveness of their land. The 

 next paper describes ' The Labrador Fly- 

 ing Squirrel.' Mr. J. D. Sornborger, of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., received three specimens of a 

 flying squirrel from Rev. W. W. Perrett, of 

 Makkovik, Labrador. These specimens on 

 examination proved to be distinct from other 

 species and have received the following name, 

 constituting the new sub-species the ' Labrador 

 Flying Squirrel ' (Sciuropteros sahrinus Mak- 

 kovikensis). Mr. Walter S. Odell, of Ottawa, 

 contributes an article on ' The two-lined sala- 

 mander ' (Spelerpes bilineatus). A short note of 

 the occurrence of the Squid in St. John Har- 

 bour, N. B. , by Dr. Ami then follows, in which 

 the writer points out that in Sept., 1899, the 

 harbor of St. John and shores adjoining were 

 literally infested with an unprecedentedly large 

 school of squid. The same writer adds a brief 

 note on some British American Echinodermata 

 recorded in the Challenger Report on these 

 organisms. 



The Canadian Record of Science for January, 

 1900, which forms No. 3 of Volume VIII., con- 

 tains the following papers and contributions to 

 science : ' Sir John William Dawson, ' by Profes- 

 sor Frank D. Adams, being an able though brief 

 sketch of the life of that great Canadian scien- 

 tist. It is followed by a letter from Sir J. 

 William Dawson to the corresponding secretary 

 of the Natural History Society and forms the 

 last communication which he gave to that So- 

 ciety which for so many years he upheld by 

 virtue of his own hard work and energies. 

 ' Notes on some of the formations belonging to 

 the Carboniferous system in Eastei-n Canada,' 

 by H. M. Ami, in which the author discusses 

 some of the problems involved in the classifica- 

 tion of the different members of the Carbonif- 

 erous in Nova Scotia. ' The flora of the Rocky 

 Mountains,' by Rev. Robt. Campbell, M.A., is a 

 contribution to botany of the Canadian Rocky 

 Mountain belt in the broadest acceptation of 

 the term. 'North American Goldenrods,' by 

 Rev. Robt. Campbell, enumerates the different 

 species and varieties of the genus Solidago con- 

 tained in the herbarium of the Natural History 



