354 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XL No. 270. 



received bj"- our Admiralty, there is a prospect 

 of submarine torpedo boats, becoming an im- 

 portant factor in the future strategy of marine 

 warfare. Apart from the ancient history of 

 diving or submarine torpedo boats, the recent 

 activity, notably of the French and American 

 naval authorities, and the favorable views with 

 which the experts of these two nations look 

 upon the latest developments in submarine 

 torpedo boats, is more than ample justifica- 

 tion for our Admiralty giving serious considera- 

 tion to this most dangerous and constantly im- 

 proving mode of torpedo attack. Our battle- 

 ships are estimated to be worth £40,000,000 

 and our protected cruisers about £26,000,000, 

 whilst other fighting ships of our Navy are 

 valued at about £34,000,000, making in all a 

 grand total of £100,000,000. Surely if our 

 costly Navy is to be menaced with such a sys- 

 tem of deadly torpedo attacks as may reason- 

 ably be anticipated from the modern submarine 

 boats of foreign naval Powers, it behooves our 

 Government to test and adopt counteracting 

 means of attack, and also to endeavor to secure 

 some more reliable means of defence against such 

 attacks than at present obtain in our Navy." 



The last year was the ' record year' for 

 Great Britain as well as for the United States. 

 That country registered a foreign trade total- 

 ing about four thousand dolIa,rs. The imports 

 were £485,000,000, of £12 per capita of total 

 population, the exports £264,000,000, about 

 £6 // lis, per capita and the re-exports £65, 

 averaging £1 // 12s. There has never been a 

 year in which so much trade was reported, so 

 much manufacturing done or so much profit se- 

 cured ; notwithstanding the enormous amount 

 of successful competition in the British market 

 and the markets of the world, to which the 

 United States and Germany have attained. 

 Prosperity has been quite extraordinary in all 

 m^anufacturing and exporting countries. 



E. H. T. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



BOTANY AT WOODS HOLL. 



Foe about a dozen years opportunities for 



botanical study have been offered to botanists 



at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods 



Holl, a seaside town on the southern coast of 



Massachusetts. Year by year the work offered 

 has been enlarged, so that now, under the 

 direction of Dr. B. M. Davis, of the University 

 of Chicago, it includes a laboratory study of 

 algfe, fungi, plant physiology, plant cytology 

 and micro-technique, with lectures covering 

 nearly the whole field of botany. The labora- 

 tories are open from July 5th to August 16th. 

 When we think of the poor preparation of so 

 many of our teachers of botany in the high 

 schools, and even the colleges and the so-called 

 universities, it is strange that more of them do 

 not take advantage of the opportunities offered 

 by such a school as this at Woods Holl. It is 

 encouraging to see that already eighteen col- 

 leges are cooperating in supporting this labora- 

 tory school. There should be many more of 

 these. Every large institution should offer as 

 a prize to its advanced men a room or table in 

 the Woods Holl Laboratory. In many cases 

 this would be of much more value to the re- 

 cipient than a scholarship or fellowship costing 

 the institution much more money. These might 

 be called 'Woods Holl Scholarships,' the re- 

 cipient to spend the season in work in the 

 laboratory, and to bring back into his college at 

 the end of the summer vacation the results of 

 his studies. 



MINNESOTA BOTANICAL STUDIES. 



The thick ' part ' of this interesting and 

 unique publication which appeared early in 

 January, contains articles on Chlorochytriuin (an 

 endophytic alga of the Protococcaceae, found 

 in the thallusof a marine seaweed), Ehodymenia 

 (a red seaweed from the Pacific Coast), the 

 Lichens of the Lake Superior Region (enumer- 

 ating one hundred and fifty-eight species and 

 varieties, forty-six of which had not hitherto 

 been recorded from the interior flora of the 

 United States), Lichens of the Minnesota Val- 

 ley (enumerating two hundred and one species 

 and varieties of which forty-one had not hitherto 

 been recorded from Minnesota, one being new 

 to science). Synonymic Conspectus of Native 

 and Garden Aquilegias of North America (de- 

 scribing forty-six species and varieties), Syn- 

 onymic Conspectus of the Native and Garden 

 Aconitums of North America (describing sev- 

 enteen species and varieties). 



