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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 634 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The American Museum Journal for Jan- 

 uary announces that in order to emphasize 

 its news features it -will henceforth be issued 

 monthly from October to May, inclusive. The 

 guide leaflets will not be included, but will be 

 issued at intervals as occasion requires. The 

 number notes ' A Zoological Expedition to 

 New Mexico and Arizona,' describes ' The 

 Skeleton of the Columbian Mammoth ' re- 

 cently placed on exhibition and gives its 

 height at the shoulder as ten feet six inches. 

 There are accounts of the three expeditions 

 sent out last year by the department of verte- 

 brate paleontology, and of the Selma meteor- 

 ite, an aerolite weighing 310 pounds, which 

 ranks it among the largest ten of this class 

 of meteorites. 



The Museum Gazette, of Haslemere, Eng., 

 for January, contains among other interesting 

 articles an extract from ' The General Guide 

 to the Contents of the British Museum' pub- 

 lished in 1762, which tells how admission was 

 then obtained to that institution: 



Some of my readers may be ignorant of the 

 Manner of applying to see the Museum; for their 

 Information I shall add, that fifteen Persons are 

 allowed to view it in one Company; the Time 

 allotted is two Hours; and when any Number not 

 exceeding fifteen are inclined to see it, they must 

 send a List of their Christian and Sir-names, 

 Additions, and Places of Abode, to the Porter's 

 Lodge, in order to their being entered in the Book; 

 in a few Days the respective Ticket will be made 

 out, specifying the Day and Hour in which they 

 are to come, which on being sent for, are delivered. 

 If by any Accident some of the Parties are pre- 

 vented from coming, it is proper they send their 

 Tickets back to the Lodge, as no body can be ad- 

 mitted with it but themselves. It is to be re- 

 marked, that the fewer Names there are in a List, 

 the sooner they are likely to be admitted to see it. 



Under ' Museum Statistics ' we learn that 

 there are 330 museums and art galleries in 

 the United Kingdom, situated in 225 cities, 

 towns and villages. This seems a pretty good 

 showing, but is evidently not so regarded by 

 the writer. The attendance, outside the na- 

 tional institutions runs from 1,480,000 at the 



Glasgow Art Gallery to 'practically nil' at 

 Erome. The best comparative attendance is 

 at Ilkley where there were 4,000 visitors in a 

 population of only 7,000. 



Bird-Lore for January-Eebruary has for its 

 frontispiece the bust of Audubon recently un- 

 veiled at the American Museum of Natural 

 History and this is followed by the address 

 on ' John James Audubon ' delivered at the 

 unveiling, by C. Hart Merriam. * Elorida 

 Bird Notes,' by T. Gilbert Pearson, show the 

 great increase of the pelicans. There is a 

 good article on ' Bluebird Tenants,' by Marian 

 E. Hubbard, and then comes ' Bird-Lore's 

 Seventh Christmas Bird Census,' a most com- 

 prehensive series of observations. We have 

 the iirst paper on ' The Migration of Thrushes.' 

 E. A. Lucas and Thomas H. Montgomery dis- 

 cuss ' Oology as a Science ' and ' The Ques- 

 tion of the Amount of Science in Oology.' 

 The Educational Leaflet, by Mabel Osgood 

 "Wright is devoted to the ' Bluebird.' The re- 

 ports of Audubon societies from various parts 

 of the country are very encouraging and show 

 an increasing effort to protect the birds, with 

 here and there a jarring note from some one 

 who is quite willing to wipe them out of 

 existence. 



The Bulletin of the Charleston Museum for 

 January contains the report of the director 

 for 1906, which shows most encouraging prog- 

 ress in various lines. Dr. Eea is to be con- 

 gratulated on his siiccess in revivifying this, 

 the oldest of our museums, and on his fore- 

 sight and energy in hunting up the collections 

 and preserving their records. 



The Plant Woi'ld for Eebruary will contain 

 the flrst installment of a series of articles by 

 Dr. Pehr Olsson-Seffer, who is now on a jour- 

 ney around the world with the special purpose 

 of studying methods of tropical agriculture. 

 There is also a paper by Dr. MacDougal upon 

 field hybrids among oaks; and by Professor 

 E. E. Lloyd on the diurnal flowering period of 

 certain cacti. The issue contains, also, a large 

 number of short items of general interest. 



