December 2, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



783 



occupied by Lemmics insularis'NiWson (= 3Ii- 

 crotus agrestis L.) , described in the Oifversigt 

 K. Vetensk, Akad. Forhandlingar, Stock- 

 holm, I., 33-35, 1844. I therefore propose 

 the name nesophilus in place of insularis for 

 the Great Gull Island 3Ecrotus. 



Vernon Bailey, 



change of name for soiurus albipes 

 quercinus nelson. 



The name Sciurus quercinus which I used 

 for a Mexican squirrel recently described as 

 S. albipes quercinus (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 

 June 3, 1898, XII., pp. 150-151), proves to 

 be preoccupied by Erxleben (Syst. Eeg. 

 Anim. 1777, p. 432). I therefore propose 

 for the Mexican subspecies the name /ie™a?i- 

 dezi. 



E. W. Nelson. 



November 19, 1898. 



PEOFSSSOB JAMES INOBAHA^I PECK. 



By the death of James Ingraham Peck, 

 Williams College loses an able and beloved 

 professor; the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory, an executive ofi&cer of rare ability ; 

 American Biology, an investigator of keen 

 perception ; and a host of young biological 

 VForkers, a willing helper and an inspiring 

 friend. 



Dr. Peck was born at Seneca Castle, 

 Oneida county, New York, August 10, 

 1863, and entered Williams College from 

 Canandaigua Academy when twenty years 

 of age. After the completion of his college 

 course he remained for one year as a 

 graduate student, and took a second year 

 of graduate work at Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity. In 1892 he was appointed assist- 

 ant in biology at Williams College, and in 

 1894 he was promoted to the position of 

 assistant professor, which office he held 

 until the time of his death, November 4, 

 1898. He leaves a wife, a woman uni- 

 versally beloved, and a little boy. 



Although Dr. Peck was a thorough 

 teacher and a man of unusual popularity 



both with students and officers, it was nojb 

 through his academic work at Williams- 

 town, but rather through his scientific and 

 executive work at Woods HoU, that he was 

 best known. 



In 1888 Dr. Peck prepared one of the 

 first serious contributions to the study of 

 Variation that had been made since the 

 time of Darwin. The summer of 1889 he 

 spent at Woods Holl, where he worked upon 

 the habits of the young of certain food 

 fishes. In 1890 he published his Cymbuliop- 

 sis paper. In 1892 he was again a member 

 of the scientific staff of the Fish Commission " 

 Laboratory, where he worked upon the 

 Pteropods and Heteropods collected by the 

 Albatross. The summer of 1893 was spent 

 in preparing his paper on the ' Food of the 

 Menhaden,' and in 1894 he continued his 

 plankton studies and prepared a paper on 

 the ' Sources of Marine Food.' In 1895 he 

 was placed in charge of the Laboratory of 

 the Fish Commission, and in 1896 he ac- 

 cepted the position of Assistant Director of 

 the Marine Biological Laboratory. 



For the three years that Dr. Peck was in 

 charge of the general affairs of the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory he worked with un- 

 tiring energy, and inspired all who visited 

 the Laboratory with a spirit of devotion to 

 science and of loyalty to the institution. 

 During the past summer he worked with 

 unabated energy, denied himself the many 

 opportunities for rest and recuperation that 

 his students and friends besought him to 

 take, and returned to Williamstown en- 

 tirely unfitted to withstand the strain of 

 severe illness. He literally sacrificed him- 

 self for science. 



H. C. BuMPUS. 



Brown University, Providence, E. I. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CIIE3IISTBY. 

 The leading article in the last number of 

 the Chemical News, is a long criticism of the 

 recent, supposed discovery of a new gas, 



