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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 702 



^ingularis Hay) possesses unusual value. 

 " The specimen is beautifully preserved and 

 furnishes the nearly complete skeleton. Only 

 one other skull belonging to the Trionychoidea 

 is at present known that is older, and no other 

 trionychoid skull so old is known that is ac- 

 companied by the shell." The papers in verte- 

 brate paleontology close with one by J. W. 

 'Gidley in which the author presents a " Revi- 

 sion of the Miocene and Pliocene Equidse of 

 North America." 



Near the center of the volume is an impo- 

 sing article by the editor, Dr. J. A. Allen, 

 which recalls a conflict which lately occupied 

 the pages of this journal. The article is 

 entitled " The Types of the North American 

 Genera of Birds," and is a vigorous plea for 

 the principle, in nomenclature, of elimina- 

 iion. 



There are two articles by Professor E. P. 

 Whitfield, the founder of the Bulletin, and 

 1;he veteran paleontologist of the United 

 States, one describing, for the first time, a 

 .species of Hoploparia, (a lobster) from the 

 American Cretaceous, and the second upon 

 the interesting Unios brought by Mr. Barnum 

 Brown from the Laramie clays of Montana. 



Entomology has in the recent issues of the 

 Bulletin increased its claims upon the space 

 -of the publication; indeed a process of cleav- 

 ■age in the Bulletin itself might not inap- 

 positely follow, as a consequence of the swell- 

 ing proportions of entomological themes. 

 There are fourteen entomological papers, some 

 of them of very considerable length and all 

 noteworthy, with particular interest centering 

 in those of Beutenmiiller, Wheeler and Cock- 

 erell. \ 



Mr. Beutenmiiller contributes " Notes and 

 Descriptions of New Porms of Catocala," 

 "" New Species of Gall-producing Cecido- 

 myiidse," " Notes on North American Cyni- 

 pidae " and an authoritative study of the 

 ■" North American Species of Ehodites and 

 their Galls." 



Professor Wm. M. Wheeler is the author 

 of two extended papers of unquestionable in- 

 terest. The paper on " The Polymorphism of 

 Ants" repays attentive perusal. The subject 

 ■of course pertains to the most fascinating 



chapters of science and the skillful and ex- 

 perienced author develops it with unmis- 

 takable attractiveness. The second paper of 

 Professor Wheeler's introduces the reader to 

 a second domain of entomology and leads him 

 to the homes and environment of the " Fungus- 

 growing Ants of North America." As Pro- 

 fessor Wheeler almost instinctively remarks, 

 " not only are these habits of interest as a 

 most unusual specialization in diet — for all 

 ants were originally and many are still exclu- 

 sively entomophagous — but the successful 

 cultivation of such delicate plants as fungi 

 presupposes an astonishing range and com- 

 plexity of adaptation even for these very 

 plastic insects." 



Professor T. D. A. Cockerell contributes 

 four excellent articles dealing particularly 

 with the fossil insects and spiders of Floris- 

 sant, Colorado. Mr. James G. Needham de- 

 scribes two new genera of ^schninse (dragon 

 flies) ; Dr. W. D. Kearfott, " Microlepidoptera 

 from the Black Mountain Eegion of North 

 Carolina," and James A. G. Eehn, some Aus- 

 tralian Orthoptera. 



A geological paper by Dr. E. O. Hovey 

 upon the " Western Sierra Madre of the State 

 of Chihuahua, Mexico," conducts the reader 

 most instructively through regions of tropical 

 tablelands, intervening bolsons ; over " wastes 

 of sand and arid soil, held in place to some 

 extent by bunch grass, greasewood and mes- 

 quite " ; across river-traversed or lake-dotted 

 plains, the narrative being plentifully inter- 

 spersed with geological studies of igneous in- 

 trusions, erosions, metamorphism, mines and 

 physical features, of which perhaps the ex- 

 tremely level basin floors are not the least 

 striking. The paper is well illustrated. 



The volume also contains an interesting 

 paper on Australian and Asiatic bees described 

 from specimens belonging to the museum, and 

 an especially informing and luminous article 

 by Alexander G. Euthven on a " Collection 

 of Eeptiles and Amphibians from Southern 

 New Mexico and Arizona," a region which in 

 several directions has furnished zoological 

 novelties and stimulated the curiosity and zeal 

 of collectors. 



The anthropological publications of the mu- 



