160 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



10. Notes 07i the Minerals occurring in the neighborhood of 

 Baltimore; by George H. Williams. 18 pp. 8vo. Baltimore, 

 1887. — American Mineralogists will be interested in this excellent 

 summary of the local mineralogy of Baltimore. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. List of Observatories and Astronomers. — Mr. Lancaster, of 

 the Brussels Observatory, has issued the second edition of his 

 very useful Liste Generate des Observatoires et des Astronomes, 

 des Societes et des Revues Astronomiques y Bruxelles, 1887, pp. 

 114. It contains the location and officers of the astronomical 

 observatories, general statements about all existing astronomical 

 societies, institutions and journals, a list of astronomers not con- 

 nected with these institutions, and a list of astronomical instru- 

 ment makers. The alphabetic index contains about 1000 names 

 of persons. Over 240 public and private observatories are in the 

 list, and 17 astronomical journals. 



2. Transactions of the Meriden Scientific Association, vol ii, 

 64 pp. 8vo. 1885-1886. This volume contains a list of the birds 

 of Meriden, by F. Piatt, and a note by Dr. J. H. Chapin on the 

 discovery by Mr. H. H. Kendrick at the quarries in the Triassic 

 sandstone of Durham, Ct., of fossil plants, and among them, the 

 fruit probably of a Cycad. 



Report on the progress of the Adirondack Laud Survey to the year 1886, 

 with an historical sketch of the work and table of elevations, by Verplanck Colvin, 

 Super't of Surveys. 344 pp. 8vo, with many plates and maps. Albany, 1886. 



OBITUARY. 



William Boott, well known for his deep interest in botany, 

 died in Boston on May 16. Mr. Boott was born in Boston on the 

 15th of June, 1805. He fitted for college at Exeter and entered 

 Harvard University, but, owing to a weakness of the lungs, gave 

 up his course and resided for a time in Europe, where he began 

 the study of medicine. He did not complete his medical educa- 

 tion, but, on his return to this country, engaged in business. 

 During his long walks he became passionately fond of botany. 

 Like his brother, Dr. Francis Boott, the celebrated Caricographer, 

 he gave special attention to the grasses and sedges. For several 

 years before his death he was an influential member of the com- 

 mittee appointed by the Overseers of Harvard College to A r isit 

 the Botanic Garden and Herbarium, and his interest in these 

 institutions continued to the very last. By his request, his col- 

 lections and botanical library have been transferred to the Uni- 

 versity. Even during the last years of his life, when his strength 

 began to fail, he was as ready as ever to give his aid and counsel 

 to all younger botanists, and by them throughout the country his 

 loss will be sincerely felt. g. l. g. 



