12 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



Smithsonian Mathematical Tables. Each of these works has been 

 published in revised editions, with such corrections and additions 

 as became necessary by the advance of scientific knowledge. 



The years that had elapsed since the publication of the first edi- 

 tion of the Plvysical Tables in 1896 had brought such changes in the 

 material upon which these tables must be based that it became 

 necessary to almost wholly recast the work for the fifth revised 

 edition, which was published during the past year. Recent data and 

 manjr new tables have been added, including several mathematical 

 tables especially computed for this work, which forms a volume of 

 about 350 pages. 



Opinions on Zoological Nomenclature. — As stated with some detail 

 in my last report, the Institution cooperates with the International 

 Commission on Zoological Nomenclature by providing clerical assist- 

 ance for its secretary and by the publication of the commission's 

 opinions. During the past year two pamphlets were issued contain- 

 ing opinions 1 to 25 and 26 to 29, covering important questions of 

 nomenclature that had been matters of discussion among zoologists. 

 In connection with the summary of each opinion there is printed a 

 statement of the case and the discussion thereon bj' members of the 

 commission. The rules to be followed in submitting cases for 

 opinion 1 as laid down by the commission are as follows : 



(1) The commission does not undertake to act as a bibliographic or nomen- 

 clatural bureau, but rather as an adviser in connection with the more difficult 

 and disputed cases of nomenclature. 



(2) All cases submitted should be accompanied by (a) a concise statement 

 of the point at issue, (6) the full arguments on both sides in case a disputed 

 point is involved, and (c) complete and exact bibliographic references to every 

 book or article bearing on the point at issue. 



The more complete the data when the case is submitted the more promptly 

 can it be acted upon. 



(3) Of necessity, cases submitted with incomplete bibliographic references 

 can not be studied and must be returned by the commission to the sender. 



(4) Cases upon which an opinion is desired may be sent to any member of 

 the commission, but — 



(5) In order that the work of the commission may be confined as much as 

 possible to the more difficult and the disputed cases, it is urged that zoologists 

 study the code and settle for themselves as many cases as possible. 



Harriman Alaska series. — The Institution has received from Mrs. 

 Edward H. Harriman several thousand copies of volumes descrip- 

 tive of the results of the Harriman expedition to Alaska in 1899. 

 The expedition was organized in cooperation with the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences, but entirely at the expense of Mr. Harriman. 

 He invited as his guests 3 artists and 25 men of science represent- 

 ing various branches of research. The expedition sailed from Seattle 



1 Cases should be forwarded to the secretary of the commission, Dr. Ch. Wardell Stiles, 

 U. S. Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D. C. 



