194 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 396. 



growing tips of purely vegetative shoots occa- 

 sionally serve as points of infection. Mr. 

 Waite has said that 'it is only in the blossom 

 blight that the honey bee is concerned/* but 

 Professor A. J. Cook has thrown a light upon 

 this subject which suggests a need for further 

 investigation. Professor Cook states that the 

 bee men claim that the inoculation of pear 

 flowers by means of bees 'cannot be the ex- 

 clusive method of spreading this disease, as 

 it often attacks and plays fearful havoc with 

 nursery stock and young trees that have never 

 blossomed at all.' To this Professor Cook re- 

 plies that " It is well known that buds secrete 

 a sort of glue for their protection in winter 

 or spring. This attracts bees and other in- 

 sects. The bees secure the main part of their 

 bee glue or propolis from such resin-coated 

 buds " ; stating also that " it seems quite likely 

 in such visits the bacteria are taken from 

 diseased buds [or other sources of infection] 

 and conveyed to healthy plants." f I would add 

 to these views of Professor Cook that infec- 

 tion through growing buds of walnut branches 

 is also of very connnon occurrence in the wal- 

 nut baeteriosis caused by Pseudomonas jug- 

 landis. 



This distribution of Bacillus amylovorous 

 (Burrill) De Toni, through the agency of bees 

 and other insects has been carefully demon- 

 strated by Waite. The relation existing be- 

 tween the number of bee visits and the viru- 

 lence of an epidemic of blight has, however, re- 

 ceived less attention. Relative to this phase 

 of the subject the writer has made several iield 

 observations having a direct bearing. A few 

 miles north of Hanford, California, a large 

 colony of bees was located within one fourth 

 mile of two of the most valuable pear orchards 

 of that region. These orchards were prac- 

 tically destroyed by blight before those more 

 distant had become seriously affected. A 

 second case of like nature was observed near 

 Powler and a third at Banning, California. 



* Paper read before the National Bee Keepers' 

 Convention, Pan-Ameriean Exposition — sprinted in 

 California Cultivator, Vol. XVIII., No. 25, pp. 

 390-391. 



t California Cultivator, Vol. XVII., No. 6, pp. 

 83-84. 



The contrast between the number of infections 

 in orchards near large colonies of bees and 

 those more distant was very striking in both 

 cases noted in the San Joaquin valley. The 

 iield conditions presented convincing evidence 

 that near proximity of large colonies of bees 

 to pear orchards greatly increases the danger 

 to, and hastens the time of destruction of the 

 latter. 



Newton B. Pierce. 

 Pacific Coast Laboeatobt, 

 Santa Ana, Cal. 



THE ARC OF QUITO. 



At a meeting of the Societe de Geographie 

 in Paris, France, on May 2, 1902, a communi- 

 cation was made to the Society by M. E. 

 Bourgeois, Commandant du Service Geogra- 

 phique de I'Armee, Chef de la Mission 

 frangaise de I'Equateur, giving an account of 

 the recent operations of the French Officers in 

 remeasurement of the old arc of Peru now 

 called the arc of the meridian of Quito. 



An account of the reconnaissance for the 

 extension and remeasurement of this arc can 

 be found in Science for November 2, 1900. 



The following is taken from La Geographie, 

 the bulletin of the Societe de Geograghie for 

 May 15, 1902. 



As has been stated the reconnaissance was 

 made in 1899. The time to complete the 

 work was estimated at four years and in 

 1900, 500,000 francs (about $100,000) was 

 appropriated for the field expenses. 



The mission, composed of five officers, a 

 military surgeon and seventeen non-commis- 

 sioned officers and privates started to Equador 

 in 1901 and began the work immediately after 

 their arrival in June. 



The first year's work has been completed, 

 and M. Bourgeois has returned to France to 

 report the progress made, leaving the Mission 

 to continue the work under the direction of 

 Captain Maurain. 



The Mission reached Guayaquil June 1 

 with geodetic and astronomical instruments, 

 camp outfit, baggage, etc., weighing 20,000 

 kilos (about 40,000 lbs.). This immense out- 

 fit was transported with difficulty to the scene 

 of operations, and during 1901 the work was 



