748 



SCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 280. 



certain systems of simple linear groups,' by Pro- 

 fessor L. E. Dickson ; ' The Hessian of the cubic 

 surface,' by Dr. J. I. Hutchinson ; ' Note on the 

 group of isomorphisms,' by Dr. G. A. Miller; a 

 review by Professor F. S. Woods of two memoirs 

 by Lobachevsky, translated from the Russian 

 by Engel ; a review by Professor James Pier- 

 pont of Vogt's Lejons sur la resolution alge- 

 brique des equations ; a review by Professor 

 L. E. Dicksou of Young and Linebarger's Ele- 

 ments of the Differential and Integral Calculus ; 

 a review by Mr. J. K. Whittemore, of Pascal's 

 Calculus of Variations ; 'Notes'; and 'New 

 Publications. ' 



The Botanical Gazette for April contains a 

 new study of Isoetes by Dr. R. Wilson Smith, of 

 the Hull Botanical Laboratory. It is concerned 

 with the structure and development of the 

 sporophylls and sporangia, and is illustrated by 

 eight plates. The paper is a valuable contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of the structure and re- 

 lationships of a much vexed group. Dr. Ro- 

 land Thaxter publishes concerning the structure 

 and reproduction of Compsopogon, a peculiar 

 group of filamentous blue-green algse, andillus- 

 trated by a single plate. Dr. J. C. Arthur pub- 

 lishes the results of cultures of Uredinese in 

 1899, giving eleven species whose aecidial and 

 teleutosporic forms have been definitely con- 

 nected. C. Sauvageau writes concerning the 

 origin of the thallus, alternation of generations, 

 and the phylogeny of Cutleria. The number 

 also contains the usual installment of book re- 

 views, notes for students, and items of botan- 

 ical news. 



The News Bulletin, Number 4, of the New 

 York Zoological Society, contains several fine 

 pictures of animals now in the Society's park, 

 as well as two showing methods of installa- 

 tion. The most striking of these is the Alli- 

 gator Pool in the reptile house which with its 

 background of palms has a pleasing sugges- 

 tion of the tropics about it ; the pool proper is 

 35 feet long, 9 feet wide and 4 feet deep, giv- 

 ing ample space for its occupants. It is noted 

 that the largest alligator has added four inches 

 to the length of twelve feet and one inch which 

 it possessed when brought from Indian River 

 in July, 1899. This seems rather a rapid rate 



of growth for so large an alligator. The water 

 birds are reported to be passing successfully 

 through their spring moult and we look to the 

 park for some tangible evidence for or against 

 the vexed question of color change in feathers 

 without moult. In the bird house the experi- 

 ment has been tried of decorating the walls 

 which form the backs of the cases with land- 

 scapes and this has been done so successfully 

 by Mr. Robert Blum that the cranes have sev- 

 eral times tried to walk through the wall. A 

 call is made for new members as funds are 

 needed for various improvements and for im- 

 mediate expenses, and it is to be hoped that the 

 admirable showing already made may cause this 

 call to be listened to. 



The leading article in The American Natural- 

 ist for April is by George James Peirce, on ' The 

 Relation of Fungus and Alga in Lichens,' and 

 the author considers that the association is one 

 of parasitism of the former upon the latter. 

 Howard Crawley describes ' A Flagellated He- 

 liozoan,' which he considers a form of Vampy- 

 rella lateritia, and H. S. Jennings presents a 

 paper on ' Reactions of Infusoria to Chemicals : 

 a Criticism ' of a paper by W. E. Garrey. L. 

 B. Walton discusses ' The Basal Segments of 

 the Hexapod Leg,' attempting to homologize 

 and account for the origin of these parts, and 

 R. W. Shufeldt has some ' Notes on the Psy- 

 chology of Fishes.' Frank C. Baker describes 

 'A New Museum Tablet' of binders' board, 

 edged with black and faced with manilla paper, 

 and T. D. A. Cockerell treats at some length 

 the question of ' The Lower and Middle So- 

 noran Zones in Arizona and New Mexico,' in 

 which he shows that in the arid west the influ- 

 ence of fluctuations of temperature is much 

 greater upon cultivated than upon wild plants, 

 these latter having become adapted to their en- 

 vironment. Under ' Synopses of North Amer- 

 can Invertebrates ' Harriet Richardson gives a 

 second part of The Isopoda. The reviews are 

 almost entirely confined to those of zoological 

 literature. 



The Plant World for April opens with a paper 

 by Mary G. Fanning, on ' Some Algse in Orna- 

 mental Waters.' Sadie F. Price notes 'Abnor- 

 mal Leaves and Flowers,' E. W. Berry ' Abnor- 



