June 1, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



879 



for the fire engines which are at present on the 

 roof of the museum will be obviated. 



The new British National Physical Labora- 

 tory will not be erected on grounds belonging 

 to Kew Gardens as has been stated but on 

 crown land outside the Gardens. 



The coming meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation will offer several special features to the 

 botanists. Among these we note that Section G. 

 will be the guests of the New York Botanical 

 Garden on Wednesdaj^, June 27th, on which date 

 the Torrey memorial program will be given in the 

 lecture hall of the museum of the Garden. The 

 special features of this program have been noted 

 in a previous number of this Journal. The Sec- 

 tion and the Botanical Society of America will 

 hold a joint session on Thursday, June 28th, in 

 which the program of the latter including the 

 president's address will be given. A general 

 discussion of the plant geography of North 

 America has been arranged for Friday, June 

 29th, in which Dr. F. V. Coville, Dr. John 

 Macoun, Professor B. L. Robinson, Dr. John 

 K. Small, Professor W. A. Kellermann, Dr. 

 Roscoe Pound, Dr. H. C. Cowles, Dr. P. A. 

 Rydberg, Dr. J. N. Rose, Professor 0. V. Piper, 

 Professor W. L. Bray, Mr. T. H. Kearney, Dr. 

 N. L. Britton and perhaps one or two foreign 

 botanists will participate. The last general 

 presentation of this subject in a systematic man- 

 ner was given at the Indianapolis meeting in 

 1890, since which time such advances have been 

 made in the development of the principles that 

 govern plant distribution, and in the collation 

 of facts from the careful study of the flora, that 

 the coming symposium is bound to be of great 

 interest and lasting value. 



Under the auspices of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, a series of courses in natural 

 history, including geology, zoology and botany, 

 will be given at Bayville, Linekin Bay, Maine, 

 beginning Friday, July 6, 1900, and continuing 

 for three weeks. The object of these courses is to 

 teach the elements of natural history by obser- 

 vation in the field and laboratory under trained 

 instructors, and to furnish opportunity for more 

 extended work in one or more of the branches 

 taught, to those who desire it, under the guid- 

 ance of the instructors. Mr. A. W. Grabau, of 



Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will give in- 

 struction in zoology ; Mr. Freeland Howe, Jr., 

 of Harvard University, in zoology, and Mr. C. 

 E. Preston, assistant in Harvard University, in 

 botany. Further particulars may be obtained 

 by addressing Mr. A. W. Grabau, Boston So- 

 ciety of Natural History, Boston, Mass. 



The New Mexico Biological Station, con- 

 ducted by Professor T. D. A. Cockerell and Miss 

 Wilmatte Porter, will be in session at Las Vegas 

 during June and July. Special attention will 

 be given to the local plants and insects. 



A FEW years ago it was necessary to import 

 from abroad most of the scientific apparatus re- 

 quired for instruction and research. At present 

 such apparatus is to a large extent made at 

 home, and there are indications that it will 

 soon be exported to a considerable degree. 

 Thus Messrs. Queen & Co., of Philadelphia, 

 have recently received an order from a foreign 

 government for two RuhmkorfF induction coils 

 which will be the largest ever made. The cele- 

 brated Spottiswoode coil, built under the aus- 

 pices of the Royal Society, gave a spark of 42 

 inches. The Queen coils are to give a spark of 

 45 inches, expending an energy of 3 to 4 horse- 

 power, and having a potential of half a million 

 volts. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London on May 8th, Mr. J. S. Budgett, F.Z.S., 

 read a paper entitled ' Some Points in the 

 Anatomy of Polypterus,' as deduced from an ex- 

 amination of specimens lately procured by the 

 author in the River Gambia. The urinogenital 

 organs of the male and female Polypterus were 

 described in detail; those of the male, it was 

 believed, for the first time, while the descrip- 

 tion now given of the genital ducts in the female 

 did not entirely agree with those of previous 

 writers. The later stages in the formation of 

 these organs were also described, and it was 

 shown that the condition found in the (Janoid 

 Lepidosteus, where the products of the testis are 

 carried away by the tubules of the kidney, was 

 not primitive. Some new points of interest in 

 the vascular system were communicated, and 

 reasons were given for not regarding the ex- 

 ternal gill of Polypterus as homologous with the 

 hyoidean pseudobranch of Acipenser, but rather 



