188 1.] Editors’ Table. 549 
gest that the faculty of analytical description sorely needs cul- 
tivation. It cannot be called a lost art until it shall have been 
found. Word painting is a high art, and the highest type of it 
is that which conveys to the mind of the reader a definite idea 
of the actual form of the object described. To accomplish this 
cannot be shown by the number of representations which are 
within the reach of the average biologist. In the field of science 
the picture-maker may be a useful man, but he can never be a 
substitute for the analytical taxonomist. oe 
2) That pictures can never relieve the author from specifying 
the characters of his higher groups, as genera, families, etc., is 
self-evident. 
_ (3) Iconography is only within reach of naturalists in propor- 
tion to their financial ability. Poverty should not condemn 
genius to inaction and obscurity.—C. 
7 We have received a circular from the committee on in- 
struction of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
asking for subscriptions towards the expenses of the next win- 
ter’s course of lectures, and for endowments of some or all of the 
lectureships provided for in the by-laws of the institution. We 
pe this request will be liberally responded to by citizens, so 
only introduce teaching as a collateral activity, as its primary 
object is Original research. The professorships in question were 
Not created for teachers only, but as positions for original investi- 
gators of distinguished merit. Such men will be generally good 
