-±98 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



and superintend the dredging of the lines which had been laid 

 out for the Albatross at the time she was on her way from New 

 York to San Francisco. The work will begin at Acapulco about 

 the first of February, a line of soundings, temperatures and 

 dredgings being run to the Galapagos and one from the islands 

 to Panama. At Acapulco, the Galapagos and Panama a number 

 of short lines will be run from the 100-fathom line into <leep 

 water. It is hoped also to devote some time to the unsettled 

 question of the vertical distribution of pelagic life, not only near 

 the anti-neutral slopes but also in the deep water half way 

 between the Galapagos and the continent. Under so favorable 

 conditions, with a vessel so well equipped as the " Albatross " 

 and with the benefit of the experience of earlier deep-sea ex- 

 plorers, important results may be anticipated from this work. ■ 



2. National Academy of Sciences. — The following is a list 

 of papers accepted for reading at the meeting of the Academy 

 held in Boston, Nov. 11—18 : 



B. H. Chittenden: Primary cleavage products formed in the digestion of the 

 albuminoid, gelatin. 



Edward C. Pickering: Classification and distribution of stellar spectra. 



R. Catlin : Relation of atmospheric electricity, magnetic storms and weather 

 elements, to a case of traumatic neuralgia. 



Henry P. Bowditch : Growth of children studied by Galton's method of 

 percentile grades. 



John Trowbridge : Electrical oscillations in air, together with spectroscopic 

 study of the motions of molecules in electrical discharges. 



Charles R. Cross : Some considerations regarding Helmholtz's theory of 

 dissonance. 



W. A. Rogers: A critical study of a combined meter and yard upon a sur- 

 face of gold, the meter having subdivisions to two millimeters, and the yard to 

 tenths of inches ; Evaporation as a disturbing element in the determination of 

 temperatures. 



J. Walter Pewkes : Use of the phonograph in the study of the languages of 

 the American Indians. 



Francis A. Walker: Probable loss in the enumeration of the colored people 

 of the United States, at the census of 1870. 



H. A. Newton : Capture of periodic comets by Jupiter. 



Thomas B. Osborne : Proteids of the oat kernel. 



S. C. Chandler : Present aspect of the problems concerning Lexell's comet. 



J. S. Newberry : Great Falls coal field, Montana, its geological age and 

 relations. 



Wolcott Gibbs : Separation of the oxides in cerite, samarskite and gadolinite. 



Theo. Gill: Relationships of the Cyclopteroidea. 



Amos E. Dolbear : Origin of electro-magnetic waves. 



8. Results of a Biological Survey of the San Francisco 

 Mountain Region and Desert of the Little Colorado, Arizona,. 

 pp. 136. Washington, 1S90. (North American Fauna No. 3). — 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy. — This volume contains papers by Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam on the geographical and vertical distribution of species 

 with annotated lists of mammals and also a similar list of birds; 

 further a paper of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger giving an annotated 

 list of reptiles and batrachians. The memoirs. are accompanied 

 by a series of plates, and an interesting colored biological map of 

 North America (Jan. 1890) showing the principal life areas. 



