Editorial, 95 
RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH D. D.—English Past and Pres- 
ent. Humboldt Pub. Co., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. Nos. 
108 and 109 of the Humboldt Library. This is another standard 
work added to the Humboldt Library Series—a work that has 
had a sale second only to “THE Stupy or Worps’’ by the same 
distinguished author. Twenty editions of the latter and thirteen 
of the former, are the best evidences of the popularity of the 
works. The English language is spoken in almost every country 
of the globe, and seems destined to be the universal language of 
thenext century It was the language used at the late conference 
in Berlin, supplanting ‘French, until now the language of di- 
plomacy. A most interesting study, therefore, is the history of 
the English language past and present. 
THE ENGLISH SPARROW (Passer domesticus)—Bull. 1, Divi- 
sion of economic ornithology and mammalogy, U. S. Dept. 
Agric. Prepared by W. B. Barrows, 1889. This work of over 
400 pages shows how rapidly this bird has spread throughout the 
Eastern United States, and presents the larger portion of the lit- 
erature written from different stand points relative to its introduc- 
tion. It as yet has gained but a small footho!d on this coast, 
where it is confined mainly to the vicinity of San Francisco. 
C. H. EIGENMANN— On the development of California food 
fishes. Amer, Naturalist, X XIII, 107-110. 
H. R. TavLor—Nesting of the white-tailed kite. Ornith and 
Oologist, xiv, go. 
E. D. CopE—On the mammalia obtained by the Naturalist ex- 
ploring expedition to Southern Brazil. Extracted from the 
American Naturalist, February, 18809. ) 
The vertebrate fauna of the Equus beds. Extract from the same, 
Gives a list of the species found in the Oregon Desert, (2) in the 
country of the Nueces, S. W. Texas, and (3) in the valley of 
Mexico. | 
BDITORIAL, 
The tin mines of the United States are beginning to attract the 
attention of both American and foreign capital. The annual im- 
portation of tin in the United States exceeds $21,000,000 ; while 
vast deposits of ore exist in California, Nevada, Dakota and 
Texas, awaiting development. Several large English syndicates, 
and also a heavy Chicago company, are now preparing to make 
these mines produce the tin consumed in this country. 
The editorial association of Southern California held its mid- 
summer convention in San Diego on the gth, roth and 11th of 
July, devoting the days to excursions in the vicinity of San 
Diego and the evenings to business sessions. The oth we par- 
ticipated in a pleasant excursion from Hotel del Coronado over 
