1890.] Editorial. 831 
have undergone and are undergoing, and in the course of which 
it has often happened that the success of a given form in adapting 
itself to certain conditions has involved a corresponding diminu- 
tion of the faculty of adapting itself to others? . . . From the 
point of view of the evolution doctrine,” he adds, “ it is obvious 
that taxonomy and distribution have to be subjected to a process 
of revision which will hardly fail to revolutionize both.” 
Manifestly the end has not yet been reached. A panorama of 
more than ordinary interest has been going on, larger than it is 
easy to imagine, and we are barely able to get a partial view of 
its latest phases, or, at rare intervals, to read fragments of its 
history. And yet it is perfectly certain that the effort to see and 
comprehend more of it will never be abandoned. New glimpses 
are obtained from time to time as the curtainis lifted a little way, 
and once in a while a portion of the old record comes to light 
and gives new hope and a new impulse. 
University of Michigan. 
EDITORIAL. 
EDITORS, E. D. COPE AND J. S. KINGSLEY. 
“THE late meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, held at Indianapolis, was a 
pleasant and instructive occasion. The local accommodations 
were of the most ample character. The sections met under the 
roof of the State Capitol, and the conveniences of the building 
were thrown open to the Association. The scientists of Indiana 
lent their aid to render the occasion worthy of the high place 
which the State holds in the Union as a centre of scientific work. 
The city of Indianapolis contains a large intelligent and progress- 
ive element, which has kept pace with the remarkable increase 
in population which the city has experienced during the last 
decade. This intelligence was especially reflected in the press 
reports of the proceedings, which were among the best that the 
Association has received. 
Many papers of a high order of merit were read, both before 
the regular sessions and before the botanical, entomological, and 
