January 5, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



31 



disturbances as those of the West Indies are 

 discussed, and the view is expressed ' that a 

 subsidence of the floor of the Caribbean Basin, 

 causing displacements of equilibrium and 

 forcing molten and other material to the sur- 

 face, was the inciting cause of the Antillean 

 eruption' (p. 50). The later paragraphs are 

 devoted to an inquiry in regard to the source 

 of volcanic steam, and the two theories, the 

 penetration of sea water, and of land water, 

 are discussed. The author concludes with a 

 statement favoring the theory that hydrated 

 rocks and the magma of the earth's interior 

 supply the water from which the steam of 

 volcanoes is derived. Twenty-three excellent 

 half-tone plates of the tower of Pelee, erup- 

 tions, etc., complete the volume. 



Ernest Howe. 



the belgian antarctic expedition. 

 Besultats du voyage du S. Y. ' Belgica ' en 

 1897-98-99, sous le commandemeni de A. 

 de Gerlache de Gomery. Rapports scien- 

 tifique: Zoologie. Organogenie des Pinni- 

 pedes. I., Les extremites, par H. Leboucq. 

 December, 1904. Pp. 20, pi. I.-II. Bo- 

 tanique. Champignons par Mmes. E. Bom- 

 MER et M. EoussEAU. April, 1905. Pp. 15, 

 pi. I.-V. 



Two more numbers of the fine series of 

 Antarctic reports from the Belgian Expedi- 

 tion have been received. In the first we have 

 a discussion of the nepionic stages of the 

 development of the extremities in the Ant- 

 arctic seals, Lohodon carcinophaga and Lep- 

 tonychotes weddelli, deduced from a series 

 of unborn young. Of these twelve belonged 

 to Lohodon and four to Leptonychotes. None 

 of the specimens was embryonic, ranging 

 in length from fifteen centimeters upward. 

 Nevertheless, a study of the progressive devel- 

 opment or gradual reduction of the phalanges, 

 nails and hair in such a well-preserved series 

 is far from uninteresting, and this is what M. 

 Leboucq offers, together with some compari- 

 sons with known data relating to other seals 

 and some cetaceans. 



The fungi collected by the Belgica, with one 

 exception, were obtained in Tierra del Euego, 

 ■where ten species and forms new to science 



were obtained. The Antarctic form was found 

 among the culms of the sole Antarctic grass, 

 Aira antarctica, in the state of mycelium, 

 which offers analogies with that of CoUyhia 

 racemosa, and it is possible that it belongs to 

 an Agaric related to that species. It comes 

 from Danco Land. The Fuegian forms num- 

 ber fifteen and are fully illustrated by ad- 

 mirably executed plates. 



W. H. Dall. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The December number (volume 12, number 

 3) of the Bulletin of the American Mathemat- 

 ical Society contains the following articles: 

 Report of the October Meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Mathematical Society, by F. N. Cole; 

 Report of the September Meeting of the San 

 Francisco Section, by G. A. Miller; 'Note on 

 Loxodromes,' by C. A. Noble; ' Stolz and 

 Gmeiner's Function Theory' (Review of Stolz 

 and Gmeiner's Einleitung in die Function- 

 entheorie, Abteilung I.), by Oswald Veblen; 

 ' Cesaro-Kowalewski's Algebraic Analysis and 

 Infinitesimal Calculus ' (Review of Cesaro's 

 Elementares Lehrbuch der Algebraischen An- 

 alysis und der Infinitesimalrechnung), by C. 

 L. E. Moore; Shorter Notices; Notes; New 

 Publications. 



The January number of the Bulletin con- 

 tains : ' On a Familiar Theorem of the Theory 

 of Functions,' by Edmund Landau ; ' Rational 

 Plane Curves Related to Riemann Transfor- 

 mations,' by H. S. White; 'On Lame's Six 

 Equations Connected with Triply Orthogonal 

 Systems of Surfaces,' by J, E. Wright ; ' Cer- 

 tain Surfaces Admitting of Continuous De- 

 formation with Preservation of Conjugate 

 Lines,' by Burke Smith ; ' The New Calculus 

 of Variations,' by E. R. Hedrick ; ' Granville's 

 Differential and Integral Calculus' (Review), 

 by E. B. Van Vleck; 'The Foundations of 

 Science ' (Review of Poincare's Science et 

 Hypothese), by E. B. Wilson; 'La Mecanique 

 Statistique ' (Review of Gibb's Statistical Me- 

 chanics), by Jacques Hadamard; Notes; New 

 Publications. 



The American Naturalist for December 

 contains the following articles : ' Ecology of 



