March 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



395 



ounces in five years. Van Helmont's work 

 was most probably the inspiration of tliat 

 of Boyle, and Lavoisier is well known to 

 have been an attentive student of the works 

 of the latter. Thus must we trace the 

 evolution of the ' Father of Chemistry ! ' 

 J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



VEKTEBEATKS FROM THE KANSAS PERMIAN. 



Very recently I have received from Cowley 

 County, Kansas, a number of fossil bones ob- 

 tained in an excavation for a well, which are of 

 considerable stratigraphic interest. They are 

 from near the base of the Permian, as defined 

 by Professor Prosser, who is our authority on 

 the stratigraphy of the Kansas Permian. Two 

 of the animals represented by the remains are 

 indistinguishable, so far as the descriptions 

 show, from Cricotus heteroclitus and Clepsydrops 

 collettii, described by Cope from the Permian of 

 Illinois ; with them, also, are numerous teeth, 

 similar to or identical with an Illinois species 

 of Didymodus. 



That species of vertebrate animals are good 

 'Leitfossilien,' there can be no question, thus 

 proving the contemporaneity of the Illinois and 

 Kansas deposits. Furthermore, all of these 

 genera are represented by closely allied forms 

 from the Permian beds in Texas, which would 

 therefore seem to be of earlier rather than later 

 Permian time. Above the strata which yield 

 these remains in Kansas there are two or three 

 hundred feet of shales and limestones underly- 

 ing, whether conformably or not is not known, 

 not far from one thousand feet of deposits 

 known as the ' red beds.' That these red beds 

 are not contemporaneous with the Texas Per- 

 mian would seem assured, and I feel yet more 

 confident that they are, what they were first 

 considered to be, of Triassic age. 



S. W. WiLLISTON. 



A NEW BOTANICAL LABORATORY IN THE 

 AMERICAN TROPICS. 



A MOVEMENT for the establishment of a 

 botanical laboratory in the American tropics 

 which should be international in its organiza- 



tion and benefits had made such progress in the 

 way of securing substantial support that the 

 writer at the suggestion of the editors of the 

 Botanical Gazette, on January 1, 1897, began to 

 organize a commission for the selection of a 

 location for the proposed laboratory, and to 

 ascertain how far the moral support and active 

 cooperation of American and British botanists 

 might be enlisted. 



The organization of the commission has pro- 

 ceeded with such facility that the American 

 membership is now complete, with the following 

 representation : 



Professor Douglas Campbell, Stanford University. 

 Professor J. M. Coulter, University of Chicago. 

 Professor W. G. Farlow, Harvard University. 

 Professor D. T. MacDougal, University of Minne- 

 sota. 



It is proper to say that the entire movement 

 has received the support of almost every ac- 

 tive botanical center engaged in work which 

 would be benefited by the opportunities afforded 

 by a tropical station — a unanimity that points 

 to a speedy establishment of the proposed labo- 

 ratory. 



Preliminary to the beginning of actual field 

 work, advices have been secured concerning 

 the regions which should receive the attention 

 of the commission, from botanists in Germany, 

 England and America, inclusive of the gentle- 

 men in charge of the various tropical and sub- 

 tropical stations now in existence. The sug- 

 gestions made include the Pacific Coast from 

 California to Peru, the Gulf Coast from Galves- 

 ton to Panama and from Florida to Venezuela. 



Data concerning the climatic conditions, 

 flora and transportation facilities are being ac- 

 cumulated, and the commission will be able to 

 select the region best adapted for the purposes 

 of the laboratory before starting on its tour of 

 inspection. The work of the commission in 

 the field will consist in the selection of a site 

 offering the most highly advantageous grouping 

 of local conditions. The presence of a body of 

 undisturbed tropical vegetation, easily acces- 

 sible from a site, conveniently placed with ref- 

 erence to towns or settlements, or other base 

 of supplies, as well as direct and easy connec- 

 tion with a marine sub-station, will be the more 

 essential features. 



