922 
Pacific coasts, while in reality some 22 species 
and 12 subspecies are now recognized in the 
United States. The nuthatches are erroneously 
classed with the woodpecker as birds that use 
their tails for support in climbing over the 
trunks and branches of trees. Young opossums 
are said to go about clinging to their mothers’ 
tails soon after they are born. 
The book contains much that is good in its 
way; but unless the reader exercises more 
knowledge of mammals than the author seems 
to possess, he will be unable to decide what 
should be accepted as reliable and what rejected 
as unreliable. To the student of mammals if 
offers nothing in the way of new and original 
matter. The nomenclature is out of date, a 
large proportion of the generic and specific 
names differing from those in present use. 
The author has experienced the usual diffi- 
culty in obtaining illustrations of mammals. 
The few that appear to be new are evidently 
taken from badly mounted specimens and are 
wretchedly drawn. The reproductions from 
previous works are not the best that might have 
been selected, and in most cases the reader is 
left to guess where he has seen them before. 
VERNON BAILEY. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
A GENERAL meeting was held November 17th, 
seventy-one persons present. Dr. B. L. Robin- 
son spoke of the flora of some of the islands of 
the Pacific, noting the various classifications of 
islands proposed and mentioning examples of 
the different classes. Insular floras show a 
paucity of species compared with genera ; Legu- 
minos are rare on oceanicislands. Dr. Robin- 
son sketched the history of botanical explora- 
tion of the Galapagos and prefaced the result of 
his work upon the collections of Dr. Baur with 
an account of the classic studies of Hooker and 
Andersson. The flora of the upper, moister 
portions of the Galfpagos is closely related to 
floras of Central America, Mexico and the West 
Indies, while in the lower, or desert portions, the 
flora has been derived from Peruand Chili. Dr. 
Robinson also gave a brief account of the flora 
of some of the Californian islands, and mentioned 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. VI. No. 155. 
their resemblance to the flora of the Gal4pagos 
in the number of endemic types. The study of 
the flora of the Californian islands confirms Le 
Conte’s theory that they were united with the 
main land up to Quaternary times. 
Professor A. E. Verrill discussed the causes. 
that determine the flora and fauna of the smaller 
islands off the New England coast, referring. 
particularly to the Thimbles and other islands 
in Long Island Sound. The islands north of 
Cape Cod differ from those south of the Cape, 
though both are governed by the same princi- 
ples; compared with the mainland the animals 
are few in number. The meadow mouse, Ar- 
vicola sp., is the most important factor in re- 
gard to the flora, though the introduction of 
sheep and goats does much to change the vege- 
tation. Many birds found on the Thimbles do 
not breed upon them. Reptiles are entirely 
wanting, and when introduced do not survive. 
With the exception of the red-backed Salaman- 
der, Plethodon, there are no Amphibians ; the 
Plethodon is abundant and is frequently found 
associated with marine Crustaceans. The surface 
soil, though rich and black, did not originally 
contain earthworms ; introduced later, they are: 
now abundant. The larvee of Scarabeeidee and 
Myriopods belonging to Spirobolus and Polydes- 
mus were exceedingly abundant and replaced the 
earthworm. The Polydesmus, owing to the lack 
of fresh water and to the effect of salt water, is. 
now extinct on the Thimbles. With insects the 
number of species is small; they swarm more 
rapidly and are more injurious than on the 
mainland. Of the Mollusca, two Helices and a 
Succinea abound ; slugsare wanting. The plants 
are the same as those of the mainland, but only 
a limited number can withstand the adverse 
conditions caused by the salt spray, ravages of 
mice, drought, action of storms, ete. Certain 
plants are more hardy, grow more rapidly and 
flower more abundantly than the same species. 
on the mainland. 
Professor Verrill showed a number of draw- 
ings of marine invertebrates; painted in oil 
directly upon tiles and ground-glass tablets, 
they are helpful for purposes of museum illustra— 
tion. 
SAMUEL HENSHAW, 
Secretary. 
