Miscellaneous Intelligence. 303 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 Charles D. Walcott, for the year ending June 30, 1915. 

 Pp. iii, 110. Washington, 1915. — The activities of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution now extend into many and diverse fields, with 

 the National Museum, the Zoological park, the Astrophysical 

 Laboratory, its Library with its extended publications and the 

 International Exchanges and others : the year's work in these is 

 concisely summarized in the report of the Secretary. In addition 

 to the departments mentioned, many lines of scientific explora- 

 tion and investigation have been carried forward. These include 

 Dr. Walcott's own work in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and 

 Montana ; that of Dr. Ulrich and Bassler in Central Tennessee ; 

 of Mr. Springer on the fossil echinoderms of Western New York ; 

 etc. It is noted that Mr. C. W. Gilmore of the National Museum, 

 in his investigation of the fossil vertebrate remains of the Judith 

 River in Montana, has discovered remains of a fossil bird related 

 to Hesperornis, coming from practically the same locality as 

 Marsh's species Coniornis. These bird remains are shown to 

 occur in the upper part of the Claggett formation. Collections 

 in natural history have also been made by Mr. Raven on Borneo 

 and Celebes ; also botanical explorations in South America by 

 Dr. J. N. Rose. The work of the National Museum has also been 

 carried forward with much activity, and upwards of 300,000 

 specimens added to the collections. Further, the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology has done extensive field work and various 

 publications have resulted. After investigating the Indian 

 mounds in Kansas and Nebraska, Mr. Fowke has concluded that 

 the mounds, instead of having an antiquity of many thousands of 

 years, cannot have existed as long as ten centuries. 



The general work of the Institution has been prosecuted, as 

 usual, in the line of publication, the volumes and pamphlets dis- 

 tributed numbering 132,000 ; on the other hand, the operations 

 of the International Exchange Service have been very seriously 

 curtailed in consequence of the European war. Following the 

 general report of the Secretary are a series of Appendixes by the 

 officers in charge of the different departments. These include, 

 among others, the Report of the National Museum by Dr. Rath- 

 bun, and that of Dr. Abbot on the Astrophysical Observatory. 

 Some of the results of the latter are here noted. 



One of the principal researches by the Astrophysical Observatory during 

 the past year was the continuation of observations as to the intensity of solar 

 radiation at various altitudes, with a view to definitely determine the value 

 of the solar constant of radiation. By means of sounding balloons, to which 

 were attached automatic recording pyrheliometers, successful records were 

 secured up to a height of 25,000 meters or about 15 miles, where the baro- 

 metric pressure is only one twenty-fifth that at sea level. Director Abbot, 

 in his report and in a special publication (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions, Vol. 65, No. 4, June 19, 1915), reviews the observations in solar radia- 



