394 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



In conclusion, I would venture to suggest, before any more costly expedi- 

 tions are sent out, probably to be sacrificed amidst polar snows, that' Lieutenant 

 Ray be put at the head of a comparatively small and inexpensive polar expedi- 

 tion, and empowered to employ the Innuits in accordance with his plan pub- 

 lished in this article. Let us prosecute arctic exploration on common sense princi- 

 ples, and save any further unnecessary loss of valuable lives and expenditure of 

 such princely sums of money. The questions lying around about the polar re- 

 gions are of great value to science, but they can all be solved without such a fear- 

 ful loss to all enlightened nations as has been entailed for the last eight hundred 

 years. 



John D. Parker. 



Fort Hays, Kansas, October 15, 1884. 



THE COLEOPTERA OF KANSAS.— A Correction. 



WARREN KNAUS. 



In the April number of the Review, in the article on the "Distribution of 

 the Coleoptera of Kansas " the statement is made that in the number of species 

 and varieties, Kansas is surpassed only by Michigan with thirty-five hundred species, 

 and by the District of Columbia with twenty-six hundred. The statement in regard 

 to the number of Michigan coleoptera was based on the " Catalogue of the Col- 

 eoptera of Michigan " by Messrs. Hubbard and Schwarz, My attention, how- 

 ever, has been called by Professor Snow to the fact that the above catalogue is 

 of the upper and lower peninsulas separately, and'that consequently, many spe- 

 cies are given twice. This I had overlooked, so that my estimate of thirty-five 

 hundred species is almost one-half beyond the actual number in the catalogued 

 list. Kansas therefore stands at the head of the States in the list of beetles, and 

 is surpassed only by the little District of Columbia, whose beetle fauna has been 

 carefully worked up by the veteran entomologist, Henry Ulke, of Washington 

 City. 



Salina, Kansas, September 6, 1884. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1882-83 : Hon. John Eaton. 



Octavo, pp. 1 165. Government Printing Office, 1884. 



The thirteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education, just issued, 

 is fully equal to its predecessors in point of interest, in the importance of subjects 

 discussed, their methodical arrangement, and wise treatment, while the informa- 



