20 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 79. 



of the department of agriculture will after the 

 first of July be entitled the Biological Survey, 

 at the head of which Dr. C. Hart Merriam will 

 remain. An important part of the work of the 

 Survey will be the determination of zoolog- 

 ical and botanical zones, which have already 

 proved so important economically and scien- 

 tifically. 



The United States Fish Commission steamer 

 Albatross, with the Bering Sea Commission, 

 created to make an exhaustive study of the life 

 and condition of the fur seals in Bering Sea, 

 sailed from Seattle, Wash., for the north, on 

 June 24th. 



AccoRDiNa to the plans of tbe Geological 

 Survey for the field work of the present season, 

 five parties will work throughout the sum- 

 mer in the New England States and-eastern New 

 York, five in the Appalachian region, two in 

 the coastal plain from the mouth of the Hudson 

 to the Gulf of Mexico, five in the interior or 

 Mississippi region, four in the Rocky Mountain 

 region, and eight in the Pacific region. 



The new library of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 

 was dedicated on the afternoon of May 26th with 

 addresses by Mrs. Margaret Deland, Truman 

 J. Backus and Melvil Dewey. Charles M. Pratt, 

 President of the Trustees, made an interesting 

 statement of the work of the library. The cost 

 of the building was $190,000. It is finely ap- 

 pointed in every respect and admirably adapted 

 to its purpose. The new iron stack has been 

 pronounced by many the most attractive and 

 satisfactory of any yet built. 



We regret to record the death of Sir Joseph 

 Prestwich, professor of geology at Oxford Uni- 

 versity. He was born near London on March 

 12, 1812, and was educated at University Col- 

 lege, London. He was President of the Geolo- 

 gical Society, 1870-72 ; Vice-President of the 

 Eoyal Society, 1870-71 ; President of the In- 

 ternational Geological Congress, 1888 ; Cor- 

 responding Member of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences ; D. C. L. , of Oxford University, etc. 

 He was eminent for his researches in geology 

 and related subjects such as the ' Antiquity of 

 Man,' 'Sub-marine Temperatures,' 'The Water 

 Supply of Cities,' etc. 



We have not hitherto noticed the death of 



M. Jules Simon, as he did not himself make con- 

 tributions to science. His philosophical pub- 

 lications are, however, of value, and he ac- 

 complished much for the advancement of science 

 in France. In view of the conditions of politi- 

 cal life in America, France may be congratu- 

 lated that it could have for Premier and for one 

 of its most prominent statesman a man such as 

 Jules Simon. 



According to the annual custom, the second 

 of the receptions of the Royal Society, which was- 

 held at Burlington House on June 11th, was a 

 ladies' Conversatzione. The exhibits were in 

 large measure the same as at the preceding 

 conversatzione, which we have already noticed, 

 and there will further be a public exhibition of 

 a number of these, lasting about two weeks, at 

 the Science Museum at South Kensington. 



According to the announcement of the pub- 

 lishers, a new scheme for arctic exploration will 

 be described in Appletons' Popular Science Monthly 

 for July, by Robert Stein, of the United States 

 Geological Survey. The chief features of the 

 plan, which has been commended by many ex- 

 perienced explorers, are that the work shall be 

 continuous and that it shall have a base of sup- 

 plies reached every year by the whalers. Mr. 

 Stein accompanies his statement with an inter- 

 esting map of the arctic regions, showing what 

 has been done by recent expeditions and how 

 much remains unexplored. It is proposed to- 

 initiate. the new undertaking in 1897. 



Dr. Paul M. Jones, instructor in natural 

 history and geology in Vanderbilt University, 

 is spending the summer on the southern coast 

 of Florida, studying the marine life of that coast 

 and of the Bahama Islands, and collecting spe- 

 cimens for the biological museum and labora- 

 tory of the University. 



Advices received at London from Berbera, 

 East Africa, under date of May 25th, show 

 that Prof. Daniel Elliot, who left London in 

 March last for Somaliland, has returned to 

 Berbera from the Eolas Mountains. He intends 

 to start at once for the interior with a large 

 caravan. All his party are well. He has thus 

 far met with much success in his search for 

 specimens of the fauna of the country for the- 

 Field Museum at Chicago. Some of the ani- 



