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SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 811 



to the feathers of birds of paradise, ostriches, 

 domestic fowl or domestic pigeons. This act 

 shall take effect July 1, 1911." By this act, 

 therefore, aigrettes can not be legally sold in 

 the state of S'ew York after it becomes opera- 

 tive. The act protects not only egrets and 

 other plume-bearing herons, but gulls, terns, 

 albatrosses, eagles, vultures, and other birds 

 slaughtered for their wings or quiUs, as well 

 as aU song and insectivorous birds. 



The Auh states that the new edition of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union Cheek-List 

 of North American Birds, which has been 

 some four years in preparation, will probably 

 be ready for distribution about the end of 

 the month. It will differ in several respects 

 from the previous editions, both typographic- 

 ally and in the character of the matter. The 

 arrangement and nujneration, however, wiU be 

 the same. The changes in nomenclature have 

 already been announced in the various supple- 

 ments that have been issued since the publica- 

 tion of the second edition in 1895, so that in 

 this respect there will be few surprises. The 

 " ranges," or the matter relating to the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the species and sub- 

 species, have, however, been entirely rewritten 

 and greatly amplified, thus fully reflecting the 

 latest knowledge of the subject. Besides be- 

 ing given in greater detail and with more 

 definiteness, they are arranged to show not 

 only the general range of the forms, but also 

 the breeding and winter ranges, so far as these 

 are at present known. An abbreviated edi- 

 tion of the Check-List, consisting only of the 

 English and technical names, numbered in 

 accordance with the niuneration of the pre- 

 vious editions of the Check-List, is in prepara- 

 tion and will be issued at about the same time 

 as the regular edition. It will be of small 

 size, with rounded corners and flexible covers, 

 and thus handy for the pocket, and be printed 

 on only one side of the leaf, thereby providing 

 convenient space for annotations. 



CoAL-MLNE fatalities in the United States 

 in 1909 were fewer than in 1908, notwith- 

 standing an increase of approximately 10 per 

 cent, in the quantity of coal mined. The fig- 

 ures compiled by Edward W. Parker, statisti- 



cian in charge, division of mineral resources, 

 U. S. Geological Survey, show the total num- 

 ber of deaths from coal-mine accidents in 

 1909 to have been 2,412, against 2,450 in the 

 preceding year. During the last five years the 

 annual reports of the Geological Survey on 

 the production of coal have contained a chap- 

 ter on coal-mining accidents, their causes, and 

 the relations to the number of men employed 

 and the tonnage produced. These statistics 

 are compiled almost entirely from statements 

 furnished by state mine inspectors. It is ex- 

 pected that statistics of mine accidents in fu- 

 ture years will be compiled by the new Bureau 

 of Mines. The decrease in the number of 

 fatal accidents during 1909 is the more grati- 

 fying from the fact that in the statistics for 

 last year are represented four states — Georgia, 

 Oregon, Texas and Virginia — from which no 

 reports of accidents had previously been re- 

 ceived. The statistics for these states were 

 compiled from reports received by the Geo- 

 logical Survey from the operators. From the 

 statistics of production in some of the more 

 important states, as reported by the state offi- 

 cials, it is estimated that the total output in 

 1909 was approximately 450,000,000 short tons, 

 against 416,000,000 tons in 1908. According 

 to this estimate the production of coal in 1909 

 was 186,567 short tons for each life lost, against 

 167,545 tons in 1908. In 1907, when 3,125 

 men were killed, 145,471 tons were mined for 

 each life lost. This was the year in which 

 was made the darkest record in the history 

 of the industry. 



UXIVERSITT AXD EDUCATIOXAL NEWS 

 Dr. F. C. Shattuck, Jackson professor of 

 clinical medicine in the Harvard Medical 

 School, has offered to endow with $25,000 a 

 fellowship to be known as the Henry P. Wal- 

 cott fellowship in clinical medicine. 



By the bequest of Dr. Byron Robinson, a 

 graduate of the University of Wisconsin in 

 the class of '78, who died last March, the uni- 

 versity receives a large collection of books and 

 pamphlets on anatomy, supplementing the gift 

 of over a thousand volumes on the history of 

 medicine made by Dr. Robinson shortly before 



