Juke 29, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



977 



servatories in the north of Siberia and in 

 America was recommended, as well as sta- 

 tions on selected islands, and a form for 

 publishing all the data was prescribed. 



As the Innsbruck meeting was devoted 

 to serious work, formal social functions 

 were wisely omitted. The president, how- 

 ever, entertained his colleagues in the 

 characteristic German manner on one even- 

 ing, and between the sessions excursions 

 were arranged to some neighboring por- 

 tions of the Tyrol. Unusual sociability 

 prevailed from the fact that almost all the 

 members of the conference lodged in the 

 same hotel Avhere meals were taken together, 

 and in this way old acquaintances were 

 strengthened and new ones formed, the 

 personal relations being, after all, the chief 

 advantage to be derived from these re- 



A. Lawrence Rotch. 

 Blxje Hill Meteorological Obsebvatoby, 

 June 8, 1906. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



THE BELGIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



Resultats du voyage du 8. Y. ' Belgica ' en 

 1897-1898-1899 , sous the commandement de 

 A. DE Gerlache de Gomery. Rapports 

 scientifiques. Botanique: Les Phanero- 

 games des Terres Magellaniques. Par E. 

 DE WiLDMAN. Anvers. 1905. 4°, 222 pp., 

 xxiii pis. TravOMX hydrographiques et in- 

 structions nautiques. Par G. Lecointe. 

 ler fascie. Anvers, 1905. 4°, 110 pp., 

 xxix pis. and atlas of charts. 

 During the short stay of the expedition in 

 the Magellanic region M. E. Racovitska ob- 

 tained rather exhaustive collections of the 

 flowering plants of this region. The flora is ' 

 not very numerous in species, but is of interest 

 from the point of view of geographical dis- 

 tribution, since it establishes for some species 

 a singularly wide distribution. A glance at 

 the charts of the Magellanic archipelago will 

 show the conditions leading to an intimate 

 connection between the continental South 

 American flora and that of the archipelago. 



The posthumously published essay of the 

 late Nicholas Alboff (1897) contained some 

 important discussions of the relations of the 

 .Fuegian flora. In this connection Alboff ob- 

 served that if it were no longer possible to 

 base one's ideas of Antarctic plant distribu- 

 tion on Hooker's memorable ' Flora Antarc- 

 tica ' alone, without falling into error, it is 

 also true that the considerable additions to 

 our knowledge of that flora which have since 

 been made (including his own) are still insuf- 

 ficient for the purpose. Investigations since 

 AlbofE's paper have all tended, as he expected, 

 to connect the flora of the archipelago more 

 and more closely with that of the continent. 

 M. de Wildman concludes from his study of 

 the Racovitska collections that it is still too 

 early to attempt to discuss the general ques- 

 tion of the geographical subdivisions into 

 which it is probable the Fuegian flora will 

 ultimately be subdivided. He gives tables, 

 however, at the end of his memoir by which 

 the reader may rapidly obtain an idea of what 

 is known of the distribution of the species 

 enumerated. 



The memoir divides itself into a systematic 

 enumeration of the phanerogams collected by 

 the Belgica; a similar enumeration of the 

 known phanerogamic flora of the region, and 

 the statistical tables. The work is published 

 in the elegant style heretofore noted in the 

 reports of this expedition, and the plates are 

 particularly fine and detailed. 



The sheets of the hydrography by Com- 

 mander Lecointe were printed as early as 1903, 

 but owing to the pressure of duties devolving 

 upon him as director of the Royal Observa- 

 tory, the proposed plan has not been fully 

 worked out. It was, therefore, thought best 

 to issue the sheets as far as printed without 

 waiting any longer. They comprise the hy- 

 drography of the voyage from Europe to 

 Terra del Fuego and thence to Bransfield 

 Strait; an account of the operations in Ger- 

 lache Strait; and lastly the subsequent pro- 

 ceedings. 



One does not expect to find much of interest 

 in the computations of chronometer rates, or 

 observations for position, however necessary; 



