September 4, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



to making navigation on the lakes safer. Bul- 

 letin K of the Weather Bureau, by Professor 

 E. B. Garriott, entitled ' Storms of the Great 

 Lakes ' (4to, 1903, pp. 9, charts 968), includes 

 768 charts illustrating the more important 

 storms of the lakes which have been described 

 in the Monthly Weather Review during the 

 twenty-five-year period 1876-1900. Each 

 storm is illustrated by four charts, covering 

 thirty-two to forty-eight hours of its history, 

 the object being to present typical lake storms 

 which have occurred in the different months 

 of sufficient intensity to be dangerous to 

 shipjiing. The month of November, with 

 forty-five severe storms in twenty-five years, 

 stands first. October and December rank 

 in the same group, and then come Sep- 

 tember and March. The storms are classified 

 as 'southwest storms (the most destructive)'; 

 ' storms from the middle west,' ' northwest 

 storms,' and ' storms of tropical origin.' This 

 Bulletin will be useful first of all to the fore- 

 casters of the Weather Bureau whose districts 

 embrace part of the Great Lake region, and 

 to navigators on those Lakes, but teachers of 

 meteorology in schools and colleges will find 

 in this very large number of selected charts 

 abundant material for illustration in connec- 

 tion with the study of weather maps and of 

 cyclones. 



NOTES. 



The Annuaire meteorologique pour 1903, of 

 the Royal Observatory of Belgium, contains, 

 in addition to the usual meteorological data 

 and tables, the following special contributions : 

 A. Lancaster, ' La Force du Vent en Belgiquc ' 

 (pp. 220-352) ; E. Vanderlinden, ' ifetude sur 

 la Marche des Cirrus dans les Cyclones et 

 les Anticyclones d'apres les Observations 

 f aites a Uccle ' ; J. Vincent, ' Apergu de 

 I'Histoire de la Meteorologie en Bolgique, 

 III. Partie.' 



Beginning with May 6 last, the meteorolog- 

 ical records obtained by means of kites at 

 Hamburg have, together with those obtained 

 at the Berlin Aeronautical Observatory, been 

 published in the daily weather reports of the 

 German Seewarte. 



R DeC. Ward. 



BOTAyiCAL yOTES. 



RECENT BOTANICAL PAPERS. 



Among the recent botanical papers may be 

 mentioned the following: 



' The Wood Lot,' by Professor H. S. Graves, 

 of the Yale Forest School, and R. T. Fisher, 

 of the United States Bureau of Forestry. It 

 is published by the United States Bureau of 

 Forestrj', and discusses the woodland prob- 

 lems, especially in New England, and makes 

 suggestions in regard to the use and perpet- 

 uation of the small bodies of woodland which 

 still persist in that portion of the country. 

 It should prove very valuable to the New Eng- 

 land farmer. 



' The Seasoning of Timber,' is an inter- 

 esting paper by Doctor von Sehrenk, of the 

 United States Bureau of Forestry. In it he 

 discusses the problems which face the prac- 

 tical man in the seasoning of timber. The 

 distribution of water in the timber, its rela- 

 tion to decay, what seasoning is, something 

 as to preservative treatments, etc., make up 

 the first part of the book, and this is followed 

 by a discussion of experiments made in the 

 west in the endeavor to secure greater dura- 

 bility by treatment of one kind and another. 

 The paper is certainly one of the most help- 

 ful of any published by the bureau. 



Mr. J. N. Rose, of the United States 

 National Museum, publishes in the Contri- 

 butions from the United States National Mu- 

 seum, a continuation of his ' Studies of Mexi- 

 can and Central American Plants.' This 

 contribution covers nearly sixty pages, and is 

 filled with descriptions of new and little- 

 known plants from this very interesting re- 

 gion. Several good colored illustrations ac- 

 company the paper. 



In a recent number of Rhodora. Professor 

 C. S. Sargent continues his descriptions of 

 ' Recently Recognized Species of Crataegus in 

 Eastern Canada and New England.' He adds 

 a number of new species to the already very 

 long list of recently separated forms. 



another phytobezoar. 

 Some time ago there came into my posses- 

 sion a ball about ten centimeters in diameter. 



