520 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. ■Vol. XXVI. No. 668 



Officers of the Geograpliic Service of the 

 French Army left Paris for Ecuador in May, 

 1899, and the work was continued until com- 

 pleted. 



The arc extends from Tulean, Ecuador, 

 Lat. + 0° 48' 25".6 to Payta, Peru, Lat. — 5° 

 05' 08".6 and the work accomplished in the 

 remeasurement may be summarized as follows ; 

 viz. : 



Seventy-four geodetic stations. 



Three base lines measured. 



Eight differences of longitude determined 

 between stations at Tulean, Piular, Quito, 

 Latacunga, Riobamba, Cuenca, Machala, and 

 Payta. The first five of these stations are dis- 

 tributed along the northern section of the arc, 

 the sixth at the middle of the southern section, 

 the seventh on the coast at the same latitude 

 as the sixth, and the last at the end of the 

 southern section, on the coast. 



,The comparison of the differences of longi- 

 tude, geodetic and astronomic, between the 

 stations at Machala and Payta and the station 

 at Cuenca will throw light on the form of the 

 geoid, as the first two stations are on the 

 coast and the third is in the inter-andine 

 region. 



Six azimuths determined: at Tulean, Piu- 

 lar, Quito, Riobamba, Cuenca, and Payta. 



Sixty-four determinations of latitude. 



Forty-eight magnetic stations : distributed 

 all along the arc. 



Six pendulum stations. One of these is at 

 Machala, on the coast, at the point where ob- 

 servations for longitude were made ; one at the 

 foot of the western Cordillera, near Chim- 

 borazo ; one, at an elevation of 4,150 meters in 

 the western Cordillera; two, in the inter- 

 andine region at Riobamba and Quito; and 

 one at an altitude of 1,800 meters in the plain 

 of the Amazon on the eastern slope of the 

 eastern Cordillera. 



Two lines of levels of precision: one from 

 the Riobamba base line to Guayaquil and to 

 the tide gauge at Salinas on the Pacific Coast 

 and the other from the southern base line to 

 the tide gauge at Payta, the two lines covering 

 a distance of 410 kilometers. 



A study was made of the natural history of 



the country and important collections were 

 made, which will add to the knowledge of 

 botany, zoology, anthropology and ethnology. 



The preliminary computations are far 

 enough advanced to assure the value of the 

 observations. The closure of the triangles and 

 the agreement of the computed and the meas- 

 ured lengths of the base lines compare well 

 with the results obtained in the revision of the 

 meridian of France. 



The publication of the results of the work 

 will be regarded as an important event by 

 geodesists throughout the world. 



The work reflects great credit on the French 

 government for its liberality in providing the 

 necessary funds, upon the French savants 

 who directed the work and upon the gallant 

 officers who made the scientific observations 

 under most trying and unusual conditions. 



Isaac Winston 



REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMIS- 

 SION ON ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE^ 



The International Commission on Zoolog- 

 ical Nomenclature has the honor to submit the 

 following report to the Seventh International 

 Zoological Congress : 



The Sixth International Congress referred 

 to the Commission for consideration and re- 

 port a paper (presented to that congress) urg- 

 ing that " absolute priority " be adopted in the 

 law of priority, instead of taking 1Y58 as a 

 starting point for zoological nomenclature. 



While appreciating the sentiments which 

 gave rise to the proposition in question, your 

 commission is unanimously of the opinion 

 that both practical and theoretical considera- 

 tions contravene the adoption of " absolute 

 priority " in preference to the date 1758. Ac- 

 cordingly, it is herewith recommended that 

 article 26 of the code be not changed in re- 

 spect to the point at issue. 



During the past three years, several zoolo- 

 gists have submitted to the commission propo- 



' Presented to the Seventh International Zoolog- 

 ical Congress, Boston, Mass., August 19-23, 1907, 

 and unanimously adopted after two public read- 

 ings. 



