334 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 478. 



himself and whicli were originally based al- 

 most entirely upon scale structure, certain 

 others of his genera suffer from the applica- 

 tion of this class of characters. The main 

 objection to the palpal characters is their dif- 

 ficulty to the student, and, if possible, for 

 convenient use tables for the separation of 

 species should be based upon characters which 

 can be studied without mutilating the speci- 

 mens. This plea Mr. Theobald makes for the 

 retention of his scale characters, since they 

 can be made out with any compound micro- 

 scope, and even with a high-power hand lens. 

 Mr. Theobald deserves great credit for the 

 work which he has done with scale characters, 

 but there can be no doubt that the rational 

 classification depends to a greater estent for 

 its generic characters upon such distinctions 

 as have been pointed out by Neveu-Lemaire. 

 It will be rather difficult to draw the line, for 

 example, between the ' narrow curved scales ' 

 and the ' broad curved scales ' found upon the 

 heads of certain mosquitoes, since there are 

 curved scales which it would be difficult to 

 distinguish as narrow or broad. There is a 

 gradation, in other words, which makes it 

 difficult in some cases to accept them as 

 generic characters. 



Mr. Theobald has done a great and lasting 

 service to the medical profession and to the 

 students of biology in producing this elab- 

 orate monograph, and deserves the thanks of 

 all classes. The authorities of the British 

 Museum should also be included in this vote 

 of thanks, since they have published the re- 

 sults of his labor in very beautiful form. 

 L. O. Howard. 



International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture. Q, Mineralogy including Petrology 

 and Crystallography. First Annual Issue. 

 Published for the International Council by 

 the Royal Society of London. Vol. XL, 

 1903 (January). Pp. xiii + 208. 

 The general character and scope of this 

 international catalogue have already been 

 sketched in this magazine (Vol. XVI., 1902, 

 p. 861). This volume embracing mineralogy, 

 petrology and crystallography is of the same 

 high quality that has characterized the earlier 



appearing volumes on other subjects. The 

 scheme of classification of the subject cata- 

 logue is as follows, the numbers given being 

 the so-called registration numbers by which 

 each section is designated: 0000 to OOYO, gen- 

 eral, including philosophy, history and biog- 

 raphy, periodicals, text-books, addresses, insti- 

 tutions and nomenclature; 10 to 19, general 

 mineralogy, including chemistry, mode of oc- 

 currence, economic mineralogy and artificial 

 piinerals, etc. ; 30 to 32, determinative mineral- 

 ogy; 40, new mineral names; 50, descriptive 

 mineralogy with alphabetical list of mineral 

 names; 60, geographical distribution; 70 to 73, 

 meteorites; 80 to 87, petrology, including 

 igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, 

 unclassified rocks and chemical analysis of 

 rocks; 100 to 750, crystallography, including 

 geometrical and mathematical crystallography 

 (105 to 150), crystal structure and growth 

 (200 to 240), physical and optical crystallog- 

 raphy (300 to 440), chemical crystallography 

 (500 to 540) and determinative crystallography 

 (600 to 750). 



This scheme and a topographic classification 

 of localities is printed in four languages. The 

 catalogue proper is introduced by an authors' 

 catalogue containing 1,072 entries, comprising 

 53 pages. The remaining 120 pages contain 

 the subject catalogue as above outlined. The 

 catalogue fills a want much felt by all workers 

 in science, and while alterations in the scheme, 

 especially in the subject classification, may 

 suggest themselves later as advisable, there 

 can be only praise for the work accomplished. 

 The fact that larger funds and more complete 

 equipment of the several bureaus will in the 

 future make it possible to keep the catalogue 

 more nearly concurrent with the period whose 

 work it records insures a still greater useful- 

 ness for the work. 



Charles Palache. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The Popular Science Monthly for February 

 has for frontispiece a portrait of Professor W. 

 G. Farlow, president of the Aiaerican Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, while 

 the first article is the address of the late presi- 

 dent, Ira Eemsen, on ' Scientific Investigation 



