336 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 975 



comparative abundance or rarity of certain 

 species of birds in a given locality, at a given 

 time. There are two methods of meeting this 

 difficulty, neither of which will probably meet 

 the approval of every one. The former of 

 these, which will be outlined later, has grown 

 into general use and with a reasonable exer- 

 cise of common sense in judging the relative 

 occurrences of the species, with 'due regard to 

 season, meets most requirements. 



The latter method will dispense with the 

 sometimes indiscriminate and loose use of 

 adjectives and adverbs such as " very rare," 

 " rather common," etc., and the substitution of 

 a system suggested, I believe some decades 

 ago, by the late Joshua Billings. This system 

 under proper use and a full study of any given 

 locality will express, with mathematical accu- 

 racy, all gradations of the occurrence of any 

 species, not only of birds but of the entire 

 range of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 



In this system, the absolute zero and maxi- 

 mum occurrence of any species would be repre- 

 sented by exact expressions indicating accu- 

 rately the abundance or rarity of a given 

 species. The scales of abundance and rarity 

 would cross or intersect at the gradation now 

 vaguely expressed by the word "common," 

 and their use would entirely dispense with 

 any doubt as to its meaning, and also with 

 such expressions as "very common," "not 

 uncommon," " rather rare " and the like. Mr. 

 Billings's system would express the superla- 

 tive of abundance, like blackbirds in a tree in 

 spring or the hairs on a dog's back, by 

 abundance 100; grading down numerically to 

 ahundance 0, which would cover the case of 

 no blackbirds at all or the degree of hairiness 

 presented by a billiard ball. Rarity would 

 express the entire absence of a given species, 

 while rarity 100 would express an approach to 

 abundance which need not necessarily be 

 noted in the terms of the rarity scale at all. 



It will be noted at once that abundance 

 50 ^ rarity 50, and that any degree of accu- 

 racy can be secured by the decimal system 

 thus: 



Myiarchus Crinetus, abundance 67.3; or 

 Virco Philadelphicus, rarity 2.7. An obvious 



advantage of this system is that it will culti- 

 vate close and systematic study coupled with 

 accuracy in the expression of results, but they 

 are both subject to serious interruptions by 

 the habits of migration and breeding which 

 vary the occurrence of all species to such an 

 extent as to necessitate commencing the work 

 over again before it could be satisfactorily 

 completed. This, however, is not without its 

 advantages, particularly if those who under- 

 take to alter or direct the use and develop- 

 ment of our language by juggling with its 

 synonymous terms could be set at putting- 

 the system in use. But for the great mass o£ 

 English-speaking scientists in search of th& 

 clearest mode of describing the things they 

 see and of setting forth the thoughts they 

 have, good Anglo-Saxon well understood and' 

 properly used is a strong and flexible medium.. 

 Marsden Manson 

 San Feancisco, Cal. 



" quite a few " 



To THE Editor of Science : I have just read' 

 with much interest the illuminating paper by 

 Professor H. L. Bolley, of the North Dakota 

 Agricultural College, in Science of July 11,, 

 with the caption " The Complexity of the- 

 Microorganic Population of the Soil." 



The writer is however somewhat puzzled to 

 know just what is meant by an expression used' 

 by Professor Bolley, in its relation to the com- 

 monly accepted standard of what is called' 

 " good English." The expression referred to 

 is " quite a few," introduced in the following 

 sentence : " So now, there seems to be quite a 

 few who think they can tell a productive soil," 

 etc. 



The puzzle is, to apprehend just what Pro- 

 fessor Bolley means by " quite a few." We- 

 can well understand that the expression " a 

 few " means a very small number of units ; 

 and in the formula " quite a few " there would 

 seem to be an emphasis placed on the " few "' 

 by the qualifying adverb " quite." So that in 

 an analysis of the formula the conclusion must 

 be that " quite a few " means a less number of" 

 units than " a few." 



