678 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. Till. No. 202. 



to computations for excavations and embank- 

 ments of railroads and canals, and the method 

 of using the prismoidal formula by means of cor- 

 rections applied to the volumes as determined 

 from average end areas is developed at length. 

 It is to be regretted that the author uses the 

 Latin word formulifi instead of the English 

 word formulas. M. M. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 Botanical Gazette, October : Mr. J. H. Schafif- 

 ner, in a paper on ' Karyokinesis in the root 

 tips of Allium Cepa,'' states that he finds the 

 root tips of Allium Cepa very valuable objects 

 for the study of nuclear division. The details 

 he illustrates upon two handsome plates, be- 

 cause, he says, " accounts and figures of karyo- 

 kinesis in plant cells are very scarce, and the 

 so-called diagramatic or schematic figures and 

 descriptions given in most text-books are but a 

 poor guide for the student and young investi- 

 gator." A student of Mr. SchaflTner's, Mr. Ed- 

 ward L. Fulmer, writes on the ' Cell division 

 in pine seedlings,' illustrating the process by 

 two plates. Mrs. Fannie D. Bergen continues, 

 in two installments, her list of ' Popular Ameri- 

 can Plant Names.' These papers are reprinted 

 from the Journal of American Folk Lore. Dr. 

 Byron D. Halsted has a short discussion of the 

 newer aspects of botany, especially the ecolog- 

 ical ones. The paper summarizes some remarks 

 before the National Educational Association at 

 Washington. Dr. C. F. Millspaugh contributes 

 ' Notes and new species of the genus Euphorbia,' 

 illustrated by his admirable figures. A biog- 

 raphy of Joseph F. Joor, with portrait, and a 

 short sketch of the DeCandolle family are writ- 

 ten respectively by Mr. J. B. S. Norton, of the 

 Missouri Botanical Garden, and Dr. G. E. 

 Stone, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege. Mr. Clarence J. Elmore has studied the 

 question of polyembryony in certain wild species 

 of Allium. He finds the contents of the embryo 

 sac exceedingly variable, the frequent absence 

 of antipodals being especially noteworthy. In 

 Open Letters, Dr. Robinson disavows responsi- 

 bility for ' The American Botanist,' which was 

 dated without authorization from the Gray her- 

 barium ; and Mr. Cockerell has a short letter 

 on the nomenclature of Eschscholtzia Mexicana 



and Philibertella heterophylla. Reviews are given 

 of Barnes's 'Plant Life;' Britton and Brown's 

 ' Illustrated Flora,' volume three ; ' The Ninth 

 Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden ;' part 

 two of Durand and Schinz's ' Flora of Africa ;' 

 Courchet's 'Text-book of Botany,' and Schnei- 

 der's ' Guide to the Study of Lichens.' Twelve 

 pages of Minor Notices of books and papers, 

 Notes for Students, and News complete an un- 

 usually varied number. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEBIIES. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON — 296TH 

 EEGULAR MEETING, SATURDAY, OCT. 22. 



Dr. T. S. Palmer mentioned the reported oc- 

 currence in Patagonia of a living representative 

 of the extinct Mylodons. 



Mr. G. H. Hicks exhibited specimens of Pinus 

 torreyanus and spoke of its extremely restricted 

 distribution. 



Dr. J. N. Rose presented a paper on his ' Pro- 

 posed Arrangement of the subfamily Agavese,' 

 stating that it was partly based on his four 

 months' study of the group in its home in 

 Mexico. The paper, which was illustrated by 

 specimens, photographs and drawings, was par- 

 ticularly interesting from the fact that living 

 types of all the genera were shown. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas spoke on ' The Fossil Bison 

 of North America, with description of a new 

 species' for which the name Bison oecidentalis 

 was proposed. The horn cores of this species 

 were of moderate size, although much larger 

 than those of the existing species; their cir- 

 cumference at base was equal to, or slightly 

 greater than, length along upper curve ; they 

 were sub- cylindrical in section and regularly 

 curved upward and backward. The type from 

 Fort Yukon was No. 4047 of the collections of 

 the U. S. National Museum. The species was 

 readily distinguished from B. antiquus, with 

 which it had been confounded by the fact that 

 in antiquus the horns stood at right angles to 

 the longitudinal axis of the skull and were not 

 directed backwards. 



Mr. A. J. Pieters read a paper on ' Problems 

 of Aquatic Vegetation,' stating that aquatic 

 plants, especially the unicellular algse, are the 

 primary source of food supply in the lakes. The 

 relation between the higher plants and the low 



