SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 25 
Of 404 so-called varieties of lettuce illustrated in seedsmen’s cata- 
logues, Mr. W. W. Tracy finds that 107 are really distinct. Of these 
more than 70 are illustrated by photographic plates in the bulletin de- 
scribing them. This bulletin is an example of most thorough work. 
The Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Penn- 
‘sylvania, Vol. I, No. 3, 1904, contains several papers of more than ordi- 
nary value to students of biology. Dr. O. P. Phillips, in a ‘‘ Comparative 
Study of the Cytology and Movements of the Cyanophycer’’ reaches 
conclusions bearing upon questions in heredity and cellular development. 
He also shows that this group of organisms is not properly separated 
from the true alge. The work of Cassius H. Watson proceeds along 
cognate lines, with a graded series of plant forms, with a view to defining 
the ‘‘Structure and Relation of the Plastid.’’ This he comes to regard 
as primarily representing ‘‘nuclear differentiations of the cell.’’ Both 
these papers are clearly illustrated by numerous figures, and the volume 
contains other well illustrated papers on the structure and development 
of special forms of the higher plants, by Dr. Henry 8. Concord, Harriet 
Boenig, Dr. J. M. McFarlane and others. These are all worthy of careful 
review, which is precluded here by lack of space. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
Professor T. A. Jaggar, of Harvard University, will conduct a geolog- 
ical expedition to Iceland in the summer months of this year. The party 
will go from Boston late in May, via Liverpool and Leith, giving about 
six weeks to the study of the coast and interior of ‘Iceland. 
Harvard University, New York University and the Bermuda Natural 
History Society together extend an invitation to botanists and z0ologists 
to work in the temporary biological station at the Flats, Bermuda, The 
members will start from New York about July 1, returning in six weeks. 
Applications, not later than May 1, will be received by Professor EK. L. 
Mark, 109 Irving Street, Cambridge, Mass., or by Professor C. L. Bristol, 
New York University, New York City. 
The death of Professor Alpheus S. Packard, February 15, 1905, has 
removed from the faculty of Brown University a factor of moment, 
and throughout America and Europe ties have been severed which were 
of more than usual strength. Among those who have done most for 
science and who held up its ideals in the period of struggle, the name of 
Alpheus Packard shines bright, and very many of those now most hon- 
ored received their first impetus from his words and acts. No better 
example of the surpassing influence of modest worth could be set before 
youth as a model. 
There may be’ some hope yet for American Institutions now that the 
gelatinous mass of legal traditions is receiving real earnest scientific 
study at the hands of men as capable as Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, who 
discussed in this manner the ‘‘right of escheat’’, in his address as Vice 
President (Chairman of Section I) of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, at Philadelphia, last January. And while we 
are upon this subject, with the heartrending tragedy near Hollywood 
fresh in mind, why 4o we not insist upon better laws and better execu- 
tion of the law with reference to the well known dangers of grade ecross- 
ings of highways and railways? In this stage of scientific advancement 
which denies the divine right of kings, must we accept divine rights of 
corporations instead thereof? 
