November 8, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



739 



Acuities inherent in the study of meteorology, 



but I believe that such suggestions as those of 



Professor Franklin are not the best that science 



has to ofifer. 



Cleveland Abbe. 



the sacramento forest. 



To THE Editor of Science : In south cen- 

 tral New Mexico, capping the scarp of the 

 great monoclinal mountain known as the Sac- 

 ramento, and overlooking to the west the Tul- 

 arosa desert, is a unique and beautiful forest 

 tract. It forms a detaining mat of vegetation 

 which supplies a large group of running streams 

 and their dependent agriculture. It is, also, 

 a moist and forested resort for the vast deseit 

 which encircles it for hundreds of miles. Al- 

 ready 150 miles of railway carry many tourists 

 north from El Paso to picturesque Cloudcroft 

 from all parts of Texas, Arizona and New 

 Mexico ; when the scenic beauties of the place 

 are more widely known, the place will become 

 a Mecca for lovers of nature. 



The forests consist of pines, firs and balsams, 

 of many species and of great size, trees twenty- 

 five feet in diameter being quite common. 



In all there are about twenty-five townships 

 of forested land, some of which is included in 

 the Mescalero Indian reservation. 



Saw mills are already at work devastating 

 this little-known but beautiful forest area. The 

 importance of preserving this watershed cannot 

 be too strongly insisted upon and it is hoped 

 that all friends of forestry will use their influ- 

 ence to this end. 



Robert T. Hill. 



October 19, 1901. 



THE WORK OF THE BEA U FORT LABORATORY 

 OF THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION. 

 Under the administration of the present 

 commissioner, Hon. Geo. M. 'Bowers, the facili- 

 ties for biological investigation at the Beaufort 

 (N. C.) Laboratory of the U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion are constantly increasing. During the 

 past season the laboratory was open from the 

 middle of May until the end of September, and 

 every reasonable request for equipment was 

 granted. Tables were occupied by the follow- 

 ing gentlemen, grouped under the institutions 



with which they are connected : Bryn Mawr Col- 

 lege, Professor T. H. Morgan. Columbia Uni- 

 versity, Professor E. B. Wilson, Mr. H. B. 

 Torrey, Mr. J. C. Torrey. Dartmouth College, 

 Dr. J. H. Grerould. Johns Hojjkins University, 

 Professor W. K. Brooks, Dr. Caswell Grave, 

 Mr. R. P. Cowles, Mr. D. H. Tennent, Mr. O. 

 C. Glaser, Mr. R. E. Coker, Mr. J. A. E. Eys- 

 ter. University of Alabama, Professor J. Y. 

 Graham. University of Missouri, Professor Geo. 

 Lefevre, Dr. W. C. Curtis. University of North 

 Carolina, Professor H. V. Wilsou, Mr. C, A. 

 Shore. Washington and Jefferson College, Pro- 

 fessor Edwin Linton, Mr. C. W. Stone. The 

 investigations carried on were of a varied char- 

 acter, embracing such diverse problems as the 

 systematic zoology and natural history of para- 

 sites in edible fish ; the effect on the tissues of 

 the oj'ster of a prevalent trematode parasite ; 

 the nature of the food and the rate of growth of 

 planted oysters ; the cell-lineage and embry- 

 ology of Thalassema ; the embryology of Chsetop- 

 terus, of the oyster, of Ascidia, of Phoronis ; re- 

 generation in Phoronis; the metamorphosis of 

 echinids and ophiurans, of barnacles ; the sys- 

 tematic zoology of tunicates, of sponges, of 

 echinoderms ; cell phenomena in the formation 

 of organs inhalf and quarter larvseof sea-urchins. 

 Many zoologists will be glad to hear that 

 Phoronis (P. architecta Andrews) turns out to be 

 very abundant at Beaufort. Mr. Cowles has 

 found the form to be a tractable one, living 

 easily in the laboratory and depositing eggs 

 freely. Biologists who are occupied in the 

 study of the fundamental morphogenetic activ- 

 ities of protoplasm will be interested to learn 

 that the delicate strise which have been de- 

 scribed (Conn) as radiating from the surface of 

 the Thalassema egg were found (by several ob- 

 servers) to be fine threads, which in places 

 branch and anastomose. With a Zeiss 2 mm., 

 such filaments may easily be seen over the 

 surface of the egg after the formation of the egg 

 membrane, and later over the free surfaces of 

 the first blastomeres. The filaments give every 

 evidence of being protoplasmic, and clearly 

 belong in the category of the ' filose processes ' 

 discovered by Mrs. E. A. Andrews (' Spinning 

 Activities of Protoplasm,' Journ. Morphology, 

 VII., 2, 1897). 



