186 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 370. 



the Canadian river northward to the cor- 

 ner, a distance of about 75 miles, in the 

 summer of 1900. This was done by direc- 

 tion of the General Land Office and his MS. 

 report is now on file in that office. Of 

 the 12 monuments set by Clark in 1859 on 

 this part of the line Preston identified 3 

 certainly and, doubtfully, i in all. Clark's 

 line, according to Preston, bears N. 0° 

 08' W. 



In 1882 "W. S. Mabry, county surveyor 

 of Dallam county, the northwesternmost 

 county of Texas, retraced a part of the 

 Clark line and assisted in building a pas- 

 ture fence for the XIT or Capital Land 

 and Cattle Company. The corner of that 

 pasture was established at the point sup- 

 posed by Mabry to be Clark's corner. This 

 XIT corner is now locally recognized as 

 the N. W. corner of Texas. According to 

 Preston's survey it is 'within 150 links of 

 the proper position east of the Johnston 

 monument.' It is about 2^ miles east of 

 the lost Major monument of 1874 and is 

 2 miles 14.05 chains west of the Chaney 

 monument of 1881. Clark's monument, 

 according to Clark, is in longitude 103°. 

 Chaney 's monument, according to Chaney, 

 is in longitude 103°. These monuments 

 differ in longitude by more than 2 miles. 

 Which one is the better determination is 

 unknown. Both longitudes are weak — 

 Clark's is a fair determination by a weak 

 method, Chaney 's a weak determination by 

 a strong method. A new and strong de- 

 termination by a strong method is much to 

 be desired. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Biologia Centrali-Aniericana, Insecta, Lepi- 

 doptera-Ehopalocera. By Frederick Du- 

 CANE GoDMAN^ D.C.L., F.R.S., and Osbert 

 Salvin, M.A., F.R.S., etc. Vol. I., Text, pp. 

 i-xlvi + 1-487 ; Vol. II., Text, pp. 1-782 ; Vol. 

 III., Plates, I.-CXII. and XXIVa. Pub- 

 lished by the authors. Royal 4to. 1879- 

 1901. 



In the present age it is recognized as one of 

 the functions and duties of wealth to minister 

 at the altar of learning. The upbiiilding of 

 great institutions, the object of which is the 

 ascertainment of truth and the diffusion of 

 knowledge, is regarded as one of the high pre- 

 rogatives of those who have command of mate- 

 rial resources. Splendid have been the achieve- 

 ments in recent years of those who have conse- 

 crated their wealth to founding or aiding in 

 the endowment of colleges, universities, libra- 

 ries and museums ; but perhaps no enterprise 

 undertaken by wealth is likely in coming years 

 to be regarded as more important and monu- 

 mental in its character than the great work 

 to which Messrs. Frederick Ducane Godman 

 and Osbert Salvin addressed themselves when 

 they conceived the idea of preparing and giv- 

 ing to the world the encyclopedic work known 

 as the Biologia Centrali-Americana. Of this 

 work it may be said that it constitutes monu- 

 mentum aere perennius. 



It is with profound satisfaction that we wel- 

 come the appearance in final form of the three 

 volumes devoted to the Rhopalocera of Mexico 

 and the Central American republics. For 

 twenty- two years these volumes have been slow- 

 ly appearing in parts. The delay is most rea- 

 sonably explained by the surviving editor and 

 author, Mr. Godman, as due 'to the constant 

 pressure of other work, the ever-increasing 

 amount of material, the gradually failing 

 health and subsequent death of Mr. Salvin, 

 and the great difficulty of dealing with the 

 Hesperiidae.' The work, however, has not lost, 

 but has rather profited by delay. The exceed- 

 ingly satisfactory treatment of the Hesperi- 

 idse, which a few years ago would have been 

 impossible, and the supplementary pages and 

 plates cause the student, now that the work is 

 completed, to feel thanlvful that the editors 

 followed the good maxim, festina lente. Had 

 they completed the work before the region had 

 been traversed by the various collectors whom 

 their munificence placed in the field, and had 

 they not been able to profit by the researches 

 in the family of the Hesperiidse made by Cap- 

 tain E. Y. Watson, the work would not have 

 been the eminently satisfactory work which it 

 now proves to be. There is yet much to be 



