32 



THE WEgT-AMEEICAN SCIENTIST, 



The West-American Scientist 



AMONTHLY JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY 

 Especially devoted to the Pacific Coast/ 



Subscription S : Oc. per annum in advance/ 

 Foreign Countries ?5c. 



0. R. ORCUTT, 



M'BLISMED B* 



SAN DIEGO, CAL, 



RATES OF ADVERTISING: 



1 tri'O/ 3 toos/ 6 toos, 1 yr. 

 One Inch, - $ .50 $1 25 $2.50 $$ 00 

 Two Inches, - 1.00 2.50 S.00 10.00 



One-half coluttin, 1.50 4.00 8.00 15,00 



Privilege of refusing any advertisement reserved/ 

 Address The West-American Scientist, Sa« Diego, 

 Gal.} tooneyjorders and drafts payable toCR.Or'cutt/ 



SAN DIEOO, CAL., APRIL, 1885. 



EDITORIAL NOTES* 



We have adopted the rule of 

 not italicizing scientific names, a 

 custom of no real value, and of 

 many disadvantages, 



We would repeat that we wish 

 to make this journal the represen- 

 tative of the naturalists of western 

 America, and we thank those who 

 have given us their prompt sup- 

 port. The Pacific coast is poor 

 in active workers, and the few are 

 scattered over a wide, undeveloped 

 field, rich in the beauties of Na- 

 ture. By co-operation the great 

 work before them can be best per- 

 formed. 



It is going the rounds of news- 

 papers that California ostrich eggs 

 are only $120 per dozen; we may 

 add that chickens are held at $50 

 and hens at $1,000 each, while the 

 eggs are equal to two dozen com- 

 mon hen's eggs and weigh about 

 three pounds apiece. 



The Scientist is mailed be- 

 tween the fifteenth and twentieth 

 of each month. 



DISTINGUISHED BOTANISTS 

 CALIFORNIA. 



m 



Dr. Asa Gray, and Professor W, 

 G. Farlow, the distinguished sci- 

 entists of Harvard College, who 

 are ^ at present visiting Southern 

 California, were tendered a recep- 

 tion by the Historical Society of 

 Southern California at Los Ange- 

 les on the evening of March 16, 

 Each of the distinguished guests 

 responded to the Society's greet- 

 ing in an appropriate speech, and 

 from Br. Gray's, we quote the 

 following paragraph : 



"That we have enjoyed your 

 scenery, your climate and your 

 hospitality, goes without saying. 

 But beyond that, we have had the 

 pleasure— peculiar to botanists— 

 of meeting old friends, seen be- 

 fore, only in altered guise — your 

 flowers, many of which were be- 

 fore familiar to us only in their 

 dried form. These beautiful flow- 

 ers of Southern California turn 

 up their bright eyes to me as I 

 pass, and say: 'Don't you know 

 us ?' And I look down at this 

 one for a moment and say: 'Oh, 

 yes, you're so and so. Menke 

 discovered you;' or to that one, 

 'Yes, your name is such and such. 

 You were wrongly christened, and 

 had to re-name you;' or to a third, 

 'Yes, I know you— you are one of 

 my own children, classified and 

 named by myself ten or twenty or 

 forty years ago, or perhaps only 

 yesterday.' And there is the fur- 

 ther pleasure of meeting among 

 you some of the correspondents 

 whose work has been so valuable 

 to me — as Messrs. Nevin, Lyon 

 and Oliver. There are, too, the 



