2-1:2 Scientific Intelligence. 



II. Cambridge (The University Press). — The parts of this 

 important work, edited by Mr. Gardiner, have been frequently 

 noticed in this Journal, as they have been issued (cf. xvi, 203 

 et al.) The present part forms the second supplement of the 

 concluding volume and contains two reports, one on Chilopoda 

 and Diplopoda, by R. I. Pocock, and the second by J. Stanley 

 Gardiner on The Distribution of the Land and Marine Animals, 

 with a list of the Land Plants and Some Remarks on the Coral 

 Reefs. Two indexes close the work, the first giving a list of 

 genera and species, and the second of general characteristics. 

 The w T ork, which is now concluded, is one of the most comprehen- 

 sive and important thus far published devoted to the Natural 

 History and Geology of a group of coral islands. 



IT. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, showing the Operations, Expenditures, and 

 Condition of the Institution for the year ending June 30, 1905. 

 Pp. Ivy, 576, with numerous plates and text illustrations. 



Report of the Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 

 for the year ending June SO, 1906. Pp. 91. — The recently issued 

 Annual Reports from the Smithsonian Institution (see also p. 74) 

 are of special interest, in view of the appointment, announced a 

 month since, of Dr. Charles D. Walcott as Secretary of the 

 Institution in the place of the late Professor Langley. The. 

 Report for 1905 is of the usual type, with a General Appendix of 

 450 pages, containing reprints of a series of interesting scientific 

 papers more or less popular in character. The Report for 1906, 

 by Dr. Richard Rathburn, Acting Secretary, is limited to the 

 account of the activities of the different functions of the Institu- 

 tion, all of which have been in vigorous performance of their 

 work through this inteiregnum. The report of the astrojmysical 

 observatory, by Mr. C. G. Abbot, acting director, details briefly 

 observations made at Washington and Mount Wilson, particu- 

 larly in the estimation of the solar constant. Mr. Abbot 

 remarks, in conclusion, that " the results of the year's work have 

 furnished the strongest evidence yet secured that the solar radia- 

 tion reaching the limits of the earth's atmosphere varies fre- 

 quently and notably in amount. According to present informa- 

 tion, the mean value of the solar constant of radiation is not far 

 from 2 - 12 calories per square centimeter per minute ; its range 

 of fluctuation is irregular and sometimes reaches 15 per cent, 

 and its periods of fluctuation are variable." He also adds in 

 another place : " The research on a possible variability of the 

 solar radiation has been continued so long, and has given promise 

 of leading to results of such definiteness and importance, as 

 to justify its publication as Volume II of Annals of the Astro- 



