Miscellaneous Intelligence. 473 



particular work. Considerable synonymy is given and also such 

 vernacular names as are sanctioned by usage. Habitats, stations, 

 frequency, and dates of flowering are concisely stated, and alto- 

 gether the work is a model of its kind. The area covered pre- 

 sents considerable diversity and the flora is accordingly rather 

 rich. It presents, as we should expect from its latitude and 

 geological formation, an analogy to that of middle New England. 

 There is, however, a more southern strain in the vegetation, as 

 evinced by the presence of such plants as Gymnocladus, Asimina, 

 Jeffersonia, Cercis, etc., several of which must here approach 

 their northern limit. There is, of course, also a prairie element, 

 shown in such genera as Lepachys, Heliopsis, Amorpha, etc., not 

 found in New England. Several species are lacking in the Flora 

 which may be sought in the region with considerable likelihood of 

 success, as for instance, Taraxacum erythrospermum, Goodyera 

 tesselata, Helianthemum majus, and Gamelina microcarpa. 



B. L. R, 



8. The Variations of a newly-arisen Species of Medusa ; by \S 

 Alfred Goldsborough Mayer. Pp. 27, with two plates. The 

 Macmillan Co. New York, 1901. — This memoir forms the first 

 number of volume I of the Science Bulletins of the Museum of 

 the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, volume I ; by S. P. Langley, Director, aided by C. G. 

 Abbot. Large 4to; pp. 266, with 32 plates. Washington, 1901. 

 — The publication of the first volume of the Annals of the Astro- 

 physical Observatory at Washington is an event of no small 

 importance, since it records the culmination of the investigations 

 that have been carried on for so many years by Professor Lang- 

 ley and under his direction, in the study of the invisible infra-red 

 solar spectrum. This work may be said to have had its begin- 

 ning twenty years ago in connection with the author's study of 

 the solar radiation with the bolometer — then a new instrument — 

 on the summit of Mt. Whitney in California, at an altitude of 

 12,000 feet. Since 1890, observations have been carried on at 

 Washington in the modest astrophysical observatory under the 

 direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 

 ington. Since January, 1896, Mr. C. G. Abbot has been the Aid 

 Acting in Charge, and by him many of the recent observations 

 have been made. 



Any extended review of this remarkable volume is made unne- 

 cessary here from the fact that a discussion of the results it contains 

 is given by Professor Langley as the leading article of the pres- 

 ent number. It will certainly be minutely studied, and with the 

 greatest interest by all those concerned in this important depart- 

 ment; its development of the subject, whether as regards descrip- 

 tion of instruments employed and methods of observation, dis- 

 cussion of measurements obtained, and the graphical presenta- 

 tion of the results, leaves nothing to be desired. 



