.2^0 The West American Scientisf. 



popular library and no boy's reading is complete without 'Per- 

 severance Island. ' 



The Youth's CGmpainon will issue 12 pages weekly the coming 

 year, and proposes to improve otherwise — a difficult undertaking. 



Prof. S. P. Langley has been elected Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institute by the board of regents. 



A weekly illustrated journal of horticulture, garden botany, 

 forestry, and kindred subjects will soon begin publication in New 

 York, under the editorial direction of Prof. C. S. Sargent. The 

 principal botanists and horticulturists of the East will support 

 what we hope may prove a successful undertaking. 



It is reported that Professor Cashman, who has charge of a Gov- 

 ernment exploring expedition in Southern Arizona, has unearthed 

 a whole city, and exhumed a large number of skeletons. The lo- 

 cation is about 80 miles north-west of Tucson, near the junction of 

 the Salt River with the Gila. 



A much needed work, 'A Nomenclature of Colors,' by Prof. 

 Robert Ridgway, has just been issued by Little, Brown & Co., 

 Boston, dedicated to the late Prof. Baird, It is especially intended 

 for smithologists, as it gives a dictionary of technical terms used in 

 describing birds, illustrated with seventeen plates, ten colored, the 

 latter accurately defining different shades and combinations of 

 colors Either in determination or descriptive zoological or 

 botanical work, both the amateur and professional will find this 

 book useful for reference. 



Little, Brown & Co., the Boston publishers, will shortly publish 

 a volume of delightful and deliciously humorous stories, entitled 

 'Five Hundred Dollars, and Other Stories of New England Life,' 

 by C. H. W., a new writer, who has met with considerable favor 

 as a contributor to the 'Century Magazine,' in which several of 

 the stories were originally published. The volume will include 

 'Fi\'e Hundred Dollars,' 'The Village Convict,' 'Saint Patrick,' 

 'Eli,' 'In Madeira Place,' and -The New Minister's Great Oppor- 

 tunity.' 



NECROLOGY. 



Dr. J. C McCoRMiCK, of Strawberry Plains, Tenn., was killed 

 October 4, 1887, by the collapse of an Indian mound which he 

 was exploring. Archaeology and conchology were his fa\'orite 

 studies. 



Prof. Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, died October 17, at 

 Berlin. This, eminent physicist was born on March 12, 1824. 

 Chemistry, physics and astronomy, each owes much of its recent 

 development to him. 



