July 11, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



51 



FOWLERINA EIGENMANN A PREOCCUPIED GENERIC 

 NAME 



In the American Naturalist for 1907, p. 767, 

 Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann proposes very mag- 

 nanimously the generic name Fowlerina for a 

 genus of stethaprionine characins. He gives 

 Tetragonopterus compressus Giinther as the 

 type. 



The name, hovrever, is antedated by Fowler- 

 ina Pelseneer, Trans. Linn. 8oc. London (2), 

 X., February, 1906, p. 149, proposed as a new 

 genus of moUusks. 



I therefore propose the generic name Ephip- ' 

 PICHAEAX, and give Tetragonopterus compres- 

 sus Giinther also as the type. Apparently, 

 two species are known from the Amazons, 

 Guiana, Paraguay and eastern Brazil. The 

 genus is remarkable for the peculiar scale-like 

 predorsal spine, which fits into a depression 

 in the back. It is closely allied with 8teth- 

 aprion Cope. Henry W. Fowler 



Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 philadelphia, 

 June 12, 1913 



SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BLOWING OP 

 SOILS 



In Science, Vol. XXVIIL, pp. 653-654, I 

 published an article on the " Blowing of 

 Soils." I wish to add these further notes on 

 the same subject. 



It has snowed here (Nett Lake, Minn.) for 

 practically one continuous week now and 

 more than eighteen inches of snow has fallen 

 in that time. The snow on the ground now 

 is three aad one half feet deep. Even the ice 

 in the lakes is so pressed down by the addi- 

 tional weight of snow that the water rising on 

 it on account thereof has stopped all lake 

 transportation and travel. But to the sub- 

 ject. Yesterday with a nearly west wind, 

 bearing a little to the north, with a velocity 

 of probably eight miles per hour, the contin- 

 uous snow that fell was so filled with dirt that 

 it was brown. It was so conspicuous that 

 even the Indians called my attention to the 

 dirty snow. This dirt in the snow here was 

 the product of a dust storm somewhere. With 

 the snow three and one half feet deep here it 



must have come from the country about Medi- 

 cine Hat in Canada or from the northern 

 part of the Dakotas. From conditions here it 

 must at least have come five hundred miles. 

 Albert B. Eeagan 

 Nett Lake, Minn., 

 March 20, 1913 



MOSQUITOES pollinating ORCHIDS 



In August, 1899, seven mosquitoes bearing 

 pollinia of the tall green orchid, Habenaria 

 hyperhorea, were taken at a camp on the Medi- 

 cine Bow Range in northern Colorado, at an 

 altitude of 10,200 feet. Four individuals car- 

 ried two pollinia each; three carried one each. 

 The viscid disks were attached to the lower 

 front of the head and in some cases partially 

 covered the eyes. 



The captures were made on a rainy day 

 within a tent located at some little distance 

 from the stream on the banks of which the 

 orchid grew. Examination of a considerable 

 number of spikes showed that pollinia had 

 been removed from many of the flowers, but 

 actual removal by mosquitoes was not ob- 

 served. Mosquitoes were extremely abundant, 

 only a relatively small number was examined 

 and few carried pollinia, but the impression 

 remains that this undetermined species of 

 mosquito may be regarded as of some impor- 

 tance as an agent in the pollination of this 

 Hahenaria. 



This observation was recorded in The Plant 

 World, 3 : 6, January, 1900. 



C. S. Crandall 



University op Illinois 



PLUS and minus again 



Dr. Halsted's statement' on the use of the 

 symbol -f- in Widman's arithmetic of 1489 is 

 apparently in conflict with my own.^ As 

 neither Widman's book nor the descriptions 

 of it in the Bihliotheca mathematica " are 

 readily accessible to most American readers, 

 it may be well to give a fuller account. The 



' Science, May 30, 1913, p. 837. 



= Science, April 18, 1913, p. 610. 



»3. F., Bd. 9, 1908-09, pp. 155-157, 248; Bd. 

 10, 1909-10, pp. 182, 183. 



