214 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 502. 



in its present form' its various parts showing 

 a certain lack of unity. It is well printed 

 and elaborately illustrated. 



Frank D. Adams. 

 ilcGiLL University, Monteeal. 



Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection 

 of Musicians' Portraits. Biographical 

 Sketches. New York, The Metropolitan 

 Museum of Art. 1904. 8vo. Pp. vii + 

 131. 



In the series of handbooks relating to Mrs. 

 Brown's great collection which have received 

 notice in Sciekce as they have appeared this 

 little volume is part IV. Along with musical 

 instruments she has collected many hundred 

 portraits of musicians; over 400 of these have 

 been mounted, approximately in chronological 

 order, on hinged frames, and placed in the 

 exhibition galleries. 



This catalogue gives a sketch of the life and 

 works of the musicians whose portraits are 

 exhibited, arranged in order of framing. It 

 has also indexes, classified, geographical and 

 alphabetical. It is noticeable that no American 

 is found in the list and no living English- 

 man; this is doubtless largely due to the fact 

 that photographs have been excluded except in 

 one instance. In view of the many fine prints 

 in the collection the addition of the names of 

 artist and engraver would have added to the 

 value of the work, and interested a wider circle 

 of people in the collection. 



The pamphlet does not call for extended re- 

 view here; its special interest to readers of 

 Science arises from the fact that it is a well- 

 considered attempt to make a museum collec- 

 tion thoroughly intelligible to the public. 



Charles K. Wead. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The Botanical Gazette for July contains the 

 following articles : W. J. Land has made an 

 important contribution in the results of his 

 study of " Spermatogenesis and oogenesis in 

 Ephedra trifurca." Among the important re- 

 sults may be mentioned the occurrence of two 

 persistent prothallial cells in the male gameto- 

 phyte, no wall separating the second pro- 

 thallial from the generative and tube nuclei; 



also the remarkable pollen chamber developed 

 by the breaking down of the nucellar beak to 

 the embryo sac, the necks of the archegonia 

 projecting into the pollen chamber and com- 

 ing immediately in contact with the pollen 

 grains. — E. E. Smith presents ' The water- 

 relation of Puccinia aspa.ragi/ being a contri- 

 bution to the biology of a parasitic fungus; 

 both the direct and indirect results are dis- 

 cussed. — D. T. MacDougal presents a some- 

 what detailed account of ' Delta and desert 

 •vegetation ' and shows that the region offers 

 unusual opportunities for comparison of the 

 most high developed xerophytic types of the 

 desert with the broad-leaved forms of the 

 delta which root in the mud. — J. 0. Arthur 

 has given an account of the discovery of ' The 

 Aecidium of maize rust,' which is found on 

 species of Oxalis. The communication is in- 

 tended not only to announce an interesting- 

 fact, but also to illustrate a method of observa- 

 tion not yet commonly understood. — B. E. 

 Livingston and G. H. Jensen have published 

 a short statement of a somewhat striking re- 

 sult obtained from ' An experiment on the 

 relation of soil physics to plant growth,' which 

 gives somewhat conclusive evidence in favor 

 of the view that the amount of water present 

 in the surface layers of the soil is largely de- 

 pendent upon the size of the soil particles. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE WATERS OF THE. 

 PACIFIC COAST. 



To THE Editor of Science: The biological 

 survey of the waters of the Pacific adjacent 

 to the coast of southern California recently 

 inaugurated by the San Diego Marine Bio- 

 logical Association will be prosecuted con- 

 tinuously for a number of years. The labora- 

 tory connected with the survey,, at present 

 located at Ooronado, is under the immediate 

 charge of the resident naturalist, and is ready 

 at all times of the year for occupancy by in- 

 vestigators. 



The director is authorized by the managing 

 board of the association to offer the privileges 

 of the laboratory to biologists who may desire 

 to visit this locality for a period in the prose- 

 cution of special researches. Such facilities- 



