May 22, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



829 



quite probable that there were highland or 

 mountain species that have not been de- 

 scribed. Wilbur C. Kjjight. 

 Geological Laboratory, 

 University of Wyoming. 



isobaric systems in the upper air surrounding 

 individual cyclonic and anticyclonic centers.' 

 E. DeC. Ward. 

 Harvard University'. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



SNOW CRYSTALS. 



Mention has already been made in these 

 notes. of the micro-photographic study of snow 

 crystals which has been carried on for twenty 

 years by Mr. W. A. Bentley, of Vermont. In 

 the ' Annual Summary ' of the Monthly 

 Weather Review for 1902 (dated March 16, 

 1903), Mr. Bentley has a further contribution 

 to this subject, in which he gives the results 

 of his studies of snow crystals during the win- 

 ter of 1901-02. The classification proposed by 

 Hellmann (' Schneekrystalle,' Berlin, 1903, p. 

 38) is adopted as the best. It has been found 

 that in general the great majority of perfect 

 crystals are produced in the western, south- 

 western or northwestern portions of widespread 

 snowstorms. The whole number of photo- 

 graphs of individual crystals taken by Mr. 

 Bentley is now somewhat over 1,000, and no 

 two are alike. This is doubtless the most com- 

 plete collection in the world. The article con- 

 tains 22 plates giving half-tone reproductions 

 of 255 separate snow crystals — altogether a 

 most beautiful collection. 



STRUCTURE OF CYCLONES. 



The January number of the Monthly 

 Weather Review contains a paper by Professor 

 ~F. H. Bigelow on ' The Structure of Cyclones 

 and Anticyclones on the 3,500-foot and 10,000- 

 foot Planes for the United States.' In this 

 paper charts are given showing, for the 

 cyclones of January 2 and 7, 1903, the dis- 

 tribution of pressure and temperature at sea 

 level, at 3,500 feet and at 10,000 feet. In re- 

 ducing the station observations of pressure and 

 temperature to the two high-level planes. Pro- 

 fessor Bigelow used the tables prepared by 

 him and published in his report on Barometry, 

 a brief note on which appeared in Science for 

 April 10," page 595. As Professor Bigelow 

 says, these charts ' have special interest from 

 the fact that this is the first exhibit of the 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



In his new syllabus of the plant-families 

 ('Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien,' 1903), Eng- 

 ler makes a considerable modification of the 

 system of plants which he has followed here- 

 tofore. In the edition of the ' Syllabus ' which 

 appeared in 1898, four branches (' Abteil- 

 ungen ') of the vegetable kingdom were recog- 

 nized, as follows: (1) Myxothallophyta, (2) 

 Euthallophyta, (3) Embryophyta Zoidiogama, 

 (4) Embryophyta Siphonogama. The changes 

 in the new edition consist in breaking up the 

 Euthallophyta into ten branches, thus in- 

 creasing the whole number from four to thir- 

 teen. This very materially changes the group- 

 ing of the algae and fungi which make up the 

 bulk of the Euthallophyta. The branch 

 Myxothallophyta remains unchanged, except 

 in minor details as to group names, and the 

 same is true of Embryophyta Zoidiogama and 

 Embryophyta Siphonogama. 



The new grouping is as follows : 



Branch ('Abteihmg') 1. Phytosarcodina 

 (Myxothallophyta), with three classes, Aerasiales, 

 Plasmodiophorales and Myxogastres. 



Branch 2. Schizophyta, with two classes, 

 Sehizomycetes and Schizophyeeae. 



Branch 3. Flagellatae. 



Branch 4. Dinoflagellatae. 



Branch 5. Zy'GOPHyceae, with two classes, 

 Bacillaviales and Conjugatae. 



Branch 6. Chlorophyceae, with three classes, 

 Protococcales, Confervales and Siphoneae. 



Branch 7. Charales. 



Branch 8. Phaeophyceae. 



Branch 9. Dictyotales. 



Branch 10. PvHODOPHYCEae, with two classes, 

 Bangiales and Florideae. 



Branch 11. Eumycetes, with five classes, 

 Phycomycetes, Hemiaseomyeetes, Euaseomycetes, 

 Laboulheniomyeetes and Basidiomycetes. 



Branch 12. Embryophyta Asiphonogama, 



with two subbranches (' Unterabteilungen ') a.s 

 follows: 



