52 
inguse for over twenty years that were never painted. 
They were light, strong and very durable. 
Since reading the letter referred to I have put a string 
around a venerable tree of the Sassafras oficinale growing 
near and found its girth two feet from the ground to be 
130 inches, or a diameter of 43 inches—certainly a quite 
dignified tree. This stands in the open field and is as 
broad and spreading as an oak in the same circumstances. 
It is very picturesque and greatly admired by all lovers of 
fine trees. I have known it for fifty years, and men that 
were old when I first knew it told me that it was just as 
large ever since they knew it as boys, so it would seem 
that the memory of man runs not back when it was not a 
respectable tree. 
I am a great admirer of the sassafras as an ornamental 
tree and think the example of the English, who are quick 
to see beauty in our forest trees, may well be copied in 
planting this tree. There is only one drawback ; it is apt 
to sucker from the roots, although the one above referred 
to never does. 
On the North Necks of this island are many large trees 
of the kind, but none I know quite so large in trunk, 
though much taller. N. HaLiock. 
Queens, L. I., Jan. 21, 1894. 
A Brilliant Meteor. 
LET me, in the hope of securing other accounts of the 
same phenomenon, report a remarkably fine meteor just 
seen by me. 
As I, with a large number of other persons, was leaving 
the train at Newtonville at twelve minutes past six o’clock 
this evening a very brilliant meteor was seen to fall in the 
western sky. 
We were looking directly west. Thesky was absolutely 
cloudless, and the full moon was perhaps an hour high 
and, of course, at our backs. ‘The meteor very much re- 
sembled a rocket or perhaps more strictly a large fire ball 
from a Roman candle. It came down the sky at an angle 
of about 45 degrees and from a point in the northwest 
perhaps 40 degrees above the horizon, where it first 
attracted our attention. It gave off many sparks and 
fiery streaks, which, however, remained visible in the 
bright moonlight but an instant. Its color was variously 
reported as white, blue and bluish-white. It seemed to 
me to be yellowish-white. It disappeared behind some 
buildings or a group of trees and still at full brilliancy 
and perhaps from 5 to 1o degrees from the horizon. From 
the hour at which the fall occurred and the remarkable 
and crystalline clearness of the sky, I am hopeful that it 
was observed and will be reported by many others, and 
that the falling body may have reached the earth before it 
was entirely consumed. 
I have given the best judgments I can of distances in 
terms of degrees, but am aware that these may not be very 
accurate. My own impression was that the meteor was 
visible 5 or 6 seconds, but my nearest companion thought 
the time was fully 10 seconds. 
‘The apparent rate of movement was that of a rocket 
after its culmination but before it has fallen very far, z.c., 
the motion was slow as compared with that of many ‘‘ shoot- 
ing stars.” C. H. Ames. 
Newtonville, Mass., Jan. 19, 1804. 
The Erilepidine. 
In my recently published ‘‘ Families and Subfamilies of 
Fishes” (p. 135) appears the family Anop/opomide with the 
subfamilies Zrzlepidine and Anoplopomine. In answer to 
a question, what is the former (and which may be repeated), 
I would state that Lrcepidine is a subfamily for L7rclepis, 
SCIENCE: 
Vol. XXIII. No. 573 
and that the generic name is simply a substitute for 
Myriolepis of Lockington. Lockington’s name was given 
in 1880, but Egerton, in 1864, gave the same name to a 
Triassic genus of palzoniscoid fishes, and consequently an- 
other has to be supplied for Lockington’s genus. 
The Anoplopomide are closely related to the Hexagram- 
midae but appear to me to be sufficiently distinct. 77- 
lepis (= Myriolepis Lock.) is most nearly related to Ano- 
plopoma, and both undoubtedly belong to the same family. 
Lrilepis is not closely related to Agvammus, with which it 
has been associated. 
Myriolepis (Egerton) has been well differentiated by A. S. 
Woodward in the second volume of his ‘‘ Catalogue of the 
Fossil Fishes ” (pp. 430-515). 
THEO. GILL. 
Washington, D. C. 
Fungi and Insects. 
In a late number of Sczence (No. 556, pp. 218, 219) 
Professor McCarthy discusses, under the head of ‘‘ Fungi 
versus Insects,’ methods which have recently been largely 
used for the prevention of insect and fungous depreda- 
tions. He seems to decry especially the use of fungicides, 
believing that they lead to more slovenly methods of cul- 
tivation and a neglect of hygienic plant conditions. The 
modern tendency is to prevent diseases rather than to 
await their coming and then cure them ; and Professor 
McCarthy seems to be arguing against one of the most 
potent agents which science has called to the aid of the ag- 
riculturist. There is no one to defend the practice of some 
grape-growers of using copper preparations so freely as to 
“plaster” the fruit with chemicals. . The fault lies not 
with the remedy but with the method of applying it. If 
the directions given in every bulletin on fungicides be 
followed, there is no reason for having the fruit coated or 
even spattered with copper. Neither does it seem any 
argument in favor of abandoning the use of fungicides 
because they still cause a loss of $300,000,000 a year ! 
The question of course is, how much greater would the 
loss have been if fungicides had not been used at all. It 
has been shown in a recent bulletin of the Department of” 
Agriculture’ that over $30,000 was saved by only 250 
growers in treating diseases of the grape alone. — Other 
experiments have shown that many other diseases, such 
as apple scab, potato blight or rot, strawberry blight, etc., 
can be entirely prevented by the proper use of copper or 
other preparations. Furthermore, the argument advanced 
that, because the labor of one man or of two men can be 
vitiated by the lack of attention of a third, no good has 
resulted, is certainly fallacious. 
It is difficult to see how ‘‘pathogenic, contagious disease- 
producing fungi or bacteria”” can remedy matters very 
much as far as fungous diseases are concerned. It is 
scarcely probable that methods which are applicable for 
the destruction of insect enemies to plants, such as micro- 
organisms, can be used with success to destroy the fungi 
that may attack the same plants. While ‘‘an automatic 
antipest destroying agent ”’ would be a good thing, sup- 
posing such a thing to exist, would the slovenly farmer 
become any less slovenly through its use ? Or would the 
careful farmer be any less or any more careful? The in- 
vestigations of Professor Forbes in Illinois and Professor 
Snow in Kansas have been instrumental in decreasing the 
ravages of the chinch bug and saving large sums of money 
to the farmer. ‘These experiments have not, however, 
proceeded far enough to enable us to congratulate our- 
selves that we will be able to supply the necessary ammuni- 
tion to destroy all noxious insects. Let us hope it will be 
1Bull. No. 3, Div. of Veg. Path., p. 69. 
