800 The American Naturalist. _ [September, 
vents plants from gaining a foot-hold on the eastern shores 
where the lakes are of considerable size. 
6. The flora of the moor has among its species some of the 
rarest plants of the region. | 
7. A considerable number of species otherwise confined to 
the Atlantic coast occur here. It does not follow, as Paine as- 
serts (l. c., p. 92), that a maritime bay occupied this depression. 
. The distribution of moor-loving plants suggests that once 
conditions of humidity and temperature enabled them to grow 
very much more abundantly than now. 
9. The commercial value of the moss bids fair to devastate 
the moors, and their recovery will, of necessity, be very slow. 
EDITOR’S TABLE. 
With the present number the Amerrcan NAruRALIsT comes into 
the possession of new proprietors and under the charge of new editors. 
We do not propose to make promises of improvement; but shall leave 
the journal to speak for itself upon that score. We do think it due to 
our readers, however, to state our convictions as to the position the 
Natura ist should occupy in the future. | 
As we see it, there are, under existing conditions in science, only 
three kinds of scientific serials that can hope to prosper. There is, on 
the one extreme, the technical journal devoted to a single strictly defined 
subject and intended as a repertory of the results of research. At the 
other extreme is the popular scientific journal which seeks to interest 
and instruct those who are without specific scientific training. Lastly, 
between these extremes, comes the general scientific journal which holds 
a distinct position; it is intended for the students and workers in 
science—a constituency which has already attained considerable size 
in this country and is rapidly growing. The Naruraist aims at 
being such a journal with such a constituency. 
The objection may be made, however, that this constituency is an ill 
defined one and is without common needs. There are two answers tO 
this objection; the á priori answer and that of experience. The á 
priori answer is that, despite the fact that science is becoming more 
differentiated, its separate disciplines are expanding and coming to 
