April 15, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



615 



gone on evolving- in parallel or divergent 

 series. H. A. Pilsbry. 



SCIEyflFJC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The American Naturalist for January con- 

 tains the fourth of the series of papers on 

 ' Adaptations to Aquatic, Arboreal, Fossorial 

 and Cursorial Habits in Mamnaals,' the pres- 

 ent being devoted to ' Cursorial Adaptations,' 

 by Eichard S. Lull. E. W. Shufeldt has a 

 lengthy paper ' On the Osteology and Sys- 

 tematic Position of the Pygopodes,' giving at 

 the end a comparison of the differential char- 

 acters of the loons and grebes which are con- 

 sidered as forming two superfamilies. The 

 affinities of these groups to the extinct 

 Hesperornis are said to be practically certain, 

 but this conclusion should be received with 

 caution. T. A. Jaggar, Jr., renders a trans- 

 lation of the account of ' The Eruption of 

 Mount Pelee, 1851,' from the French of Le 

 Prieur, Peyraud and Eufz which is of con- 

 siderable interest. The balance of the num- 

 ber is devoted to reviews and notes. 



The Popular Science Monthly for April be- 

 gins with an account of ' Eecent Discoveries 

 in Eadiation and their Significance,' by E. A. 

 Millikan, briefly summarizing our present 

 knowledge of the subject and suggesting that 

 certain elements, at least, are transmutable 

 into others. ' The Evolution of the Human 

 Form ' is discussed by Charles Morris, who 

 reaches the conclusion (somewhat open to 

 question) that if there are beings on the other 

 planets that answer to man they must follow 

 his physical configuration. Solon I. Bailey 

 describes ' The Arequipa Station of the Har- 

 vard Observatory ' and Edward F. Williams 

 presents his second paper on ' The Eoyal Prus- 

 sian Academy of Science and the Fine Arts, 

 Berlin.' Carl Duisberg considers ' The In- 

 fluence of Liebig on the Development of 

 Chemical Industries,' believing that while this 

 is now great his indirect influence will be 

 still greater in the future. J. Madison Taylor 

 has the third article on ' The Conservation of 

 Energy in Those of Advancing Years,' a gen- 

 eral plea being for rational exercise and diet 

 and not dependence on drugs. ' The Cau- 

 casian in Brazil ' is considered by Thomas C. 



Dawson, who believes that he can hold his 

 own in the tropics and adduces figures to show 

 the greater fertility of the white race. 

 I'inally, Guy L. Humier treats of ' The Air 

 of the Luray Caverns.' The number eon- 

 tains the index to Vol. LXIV. 



The April number of the Transactions of 

 the American Mathematical Society contains 

 the following papers: 



G. A. Bliss : ' An Existence Theorem for a 

 Differential Equation of the Second Order, with 

 an Application to the Calculus of Variations.' 



L. E. Dickson : ' Determination of all the Sub- 

 groups of the Known Simple Group of order 

 25920.' 



C. N. Haskins : ' On the Invariants of Quad- 

 ratio Differential Forms, II.' 



E. D. KoB, Jr. : ' On the Coefficients in the Prod- 

 uct of an Alternant and a Symmetric Function.' 



F. N. Cole: 'The Groups of Order p'g/s.' 

 Max Mason : ' Green's Theorem and Green's 



Functions for Certain Systems of Differential 

 Equations.' 



E. J. WiLCZYNSKl : ' Studies in the General 

 Theory of Ruled Surfaces.' 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 384th regular meeting of the society 

 was held Saturday evening, March 19, 1904. 

 Dr. C. E. Waters exhibited numerous speci- 

 mens of common ferns in which the fronds 

 were only partially fertile. The entire series 

 demonstrated a complete gradation from the 

 sterile to the fertile fronds. Dr. B. W. Ever- 

 niann exhibited a series of seventy-three en- 

 gravers' proofs of colored plates of Hawaiian 

 fishes. All were drawn and colored from liv- 

 ing fish, chiefly by A. H. Baldwin and C. B. 

 Hudson. The live specimens were placed in 

 an aquarium as soon as caught and the artist 

 began work on them immediately or within 

 a very short time. The result is an accurate 

 reproduction of the actual life colors of the 

 animals. The plates will be published in the 

 near future by the U. S. Fish Commission. 



Mr. W. P. Hay read a paper on the ' Life 

 History and Economic Importance of the 

 Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus' illustrating 

 his remarks with lantern slide views. The 

 more important life functions and habits of 



