310 The American Naturalist. [April, 
Postmaster-General at Washington to instruct our American delegates 
to vote in favor of it. 
This the Academy has done, but other American scientific bodies 
should join in the work, adopt similar resolutions and send them to our 
Postmaster-General that he may know that the students of natural his- 
tory in the United States eagerly desire such a reduction in postage 
rates. The next International Postal Congress meets at Washington 
on the fifth of May next. We hope that all those who are aquainted with 
the facts will use such means and influence as may be at their command 
to help in the accomplishment of this end. 
For the guidance of those who will aid in the manner suggested, a 
translation of the original French text of the amendment referred to is 
as follows : 
“Amendment to Article XIX (samples) 4, of the Regulations of 
Details and Order 
p, Objects of natural history, dried or preserved animals 
and plants, geological e ~_ etc., of which the trans- 
ission has no commercia l interest, and the e packing of which 
conforms to the general A aa concerning packages of 
samples of merchandise 
If this amendment be siat by the Postal Congress, specimens of 
Natural History can be sent to countries of the Universal Postal Union 
at the rate of one cent for every four ounces. 
The directorship of the U. S. National Museum has been acceptably 
filled by the appointment of Dr. C. D. Walcott director of the U. S. 
Geologic Survey, but the appointment is said to be a temporary one. 
Mr. Richard Rathbun has been appointed Assistant Secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Rathbun has especial qualifications for 
the directorship of the U. S. Fish Commission and it is to be hoped 
that President McKinley will make him his appointee. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Sudworth’s Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora of 
the United States.'—If it were necessary to prove the increase in 
* Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora of the United States, by George B. 
Sudworth, Dendrologist of the Division of Forestry. Prepared under the direc- 
tion of B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry. [Bulletin No. 14, U. 
S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry]. Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1897. Issued January 21, 1897, 8vo, pp. VIII+319. 
