jDiY 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



115 



to be supposed that they have a harder strug- 

 ,gle for existence than others, as is shown by 

 trying to grow them under artificial condi- 

 tions. Fouquieria splendens seems to reach 

 its optimum development in the delta lands. 

 Cactuses with sheathing spines were noted and 

 some of these shed their spines. The flora is 

 not Arizonian. In San Felipe there are no 

 plants with storage organs, for there Ls no 

 surplus of water to store. 



In the discussion it was mentioned that the 

 poison cacti are all unarmed. 



Professor Underwood remarked on a speci- 

 men of the southern brake sent from Burling- 

 ton, Vt This form described in recent years 

 as Pteris aquilina var. pseudocaudata by Clute, 

 is the Pteris latiuscula Desv., described in 

 1827. "William T. Horne, 



Secretary pro tern. 



SCIENCE CLUB, UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI. 



The last regular meeting of the club for 

 the year 1903-4 was held May 20 in the 

 chemical lecture room. 



Mr. H. E. Fulton read a paper the purpose 

 of which was to give some account of the life 

 histories and habits of the common mosqui- 

 toes. It was stated that of the thirty species 

 of mosquitoes occurring in North America, 

 ten have been found in Mississippi. Atten- 

 tion was directed particularly to three genera : 

 Culex, Stegomyia and Anopheles. The first 

 was said to be the most numerous and widely 

 distributed, not, however, transmitting dis- 

 ease, so far as known, and important chiefly 

 because of the annoyance which it occasions. 

 The second, found in many of the southern 

 states and flourishing in the tropics, was 

 charged with being certainly instrumental in 

 the transmission of yellow fever. The last, 

 also widely distributed, was said to convey 

 malaria. 



The four distinct stages — egg, larva, pupa, 

 adult — in the complete metamorphosis through 

 which every mosquito passes in its develop- 

 ment were fully treated, as, also, the peculiari- 

 ties of size, shape, markings, movements, etc., 

 which differentiate the three genera. 



Length of flight, local breeding places and 

 the methods used by the author of the paper 



in attempting to check and exter:ninate mos- 

 quitoes in this vicinity were dl?'-j.Lsed. 



In speaking of the movements of the larva 

 of Gulex, Mr. Fulton stated that he had ob- 

 served a movement of which he had found no 

 mention, this being in a horizontal plane, 

 taking place as the larva moves under the 

 su'-face or over the bottom or through the 

 intermediate water, unaccompanied by violent 

 body-movements, and probably caused by rapid 

 vibrations of the numero".:s hair-like processes 

 covering the body. 



Dr. J. B. Bullitt added some remaiks on 

 those mosquitoes which transmit malaria and 

 yellow fever. Alfred Hume, 



Secretary. 



DI8GU88I0N AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



A CASE OF PLAGIARISM. 



To THE Editor of Science: In a note on 

 ' The Mechanism of the Mont Pelee Spine ' 

 (Science, June 17, 1904), I say: 'So far as 

 the literature has come to my attention, it 

 has failed to include a factor which appears 

 to me of prime importance,' etc. Through 

 this sentence I claim originality, and pre- 

 sumptive novelty, for an idea which I now 

 know not to have been novel, and think not 

 to have been original. The idea was pub- 

 lished six months earlier by Dr. A. C. Lane 

 in a note on ' Absorbed Gases and Vulcanism ' 

 (Science, December 11, 1903). It is not neces- 

 sary, in dealing with my friend Dr. Lane, that 

 I disclaim intentional plagiarism, but, as I flnd 

 interest in the mental process of my blunder, 

 I venture to relate what I suppose to be its 

 history. It is altogether probable that I read 

 Dr. Lane's note when it appeared, but the 

 mental impression it made was so faint that 

 in re-reading it now I can not definitely re- 

 member seeing it before. Nearly a haK year 

 later an idea as to the Pelee spine occurred 

 ■ to me and I wrote it out for publication. 

 While I supposed the idea original, there was 

 in my mind a faint suspicion that the sug- 

 gestion might have come from some outside 

 source, and this suspicion led me to search 

 all the literature of the spine that I could 

 recall having seen — but I did not recall that 

 Dr. Lane had made a contribution. Thus a 



