302 



Professor Charles R. Barnes and Dr. W. J. G. Land, of the 

 University of Chicago, are in Mexico collecting research material, 

 principally mosses. 



The National Conservation Commission after six months' work 

 held a meeting in Washington early in December to prepare the 

 report requested by President Roosevelt. 



Mr. Joseph H. Painter, aid in the Division of Plants of the 

 U. S. National Museum, met death by accidental drowning in the 

 Potomac River, December 6. 



The Bartram Association has placed in the charge of Professor 

 Macfarlane, of the University of Pennsylvania, the annual planting 

 of a new tree in the Bartram gardens. 



An American table is again being supported by Columbia 

 University at the Naples biological laboratory. Applications 

 may be sent to Professor E. B. Wilson at Columbia. 



Dr. William A. Murrill, assistant director of the New York Bot- 

 anical Garden, sailed for Jamaica on December 5. He plans to 

 spend five or six weeks in collecting the fungi of the island. 



Dr. Roland M. Harper has accepted a position with the Florida 

 State Geological Survey, with headquarters at Tallahassee, and 

 will be engaged during the winter in studying the origin, classi- 

 fication, distribution, and extent of the peat deposits of that State. 



Beginning on December 28, the New Jersey State Board of 

 Agriculture will give a six-day course for farmers at the Agricul- 

 tural College in New Brunswick. About nine lectures are to be 

 given each day on such varied subjects as farm manures and fer- 

 tilizers, stock breeding, orchard and fruit trees, injurious insects, 

 seed testing, and plant breeding. 



The New York Academy of Sciences will observe Darwin's 

 birthday, February 12, 1909, by presenting to the Museum of 

 Natural History a bronze bust of Darwin and holding appropriate 

 exercises, which will include an exhibition of material illustrating 

 Darwin's theory of evolution and also indicate the range of his 

 scientific work. 



