46 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
our hands. This is No. 18, and is a “ Revision of the North American 
Bats of the Family Vespertilionide,” by Gerrit 8. Miller, Jun. This pub- 
lication has the good fortune to be founded on ample material. The collec- 
tion of Bats, which consists of more than 8000 specimens, chiefly in 
alcohol, has been brought together during the past few years by the field 
naturalists of the Survey. In addition the writer has examined the Bats 
in the United States National Museum, the American Museum of Natural 
History, and several private collections, making a total of about 2,700 
specimens of American Vespertilionide. With these animals, however, 
alcoholic preserved specimens are not the only thing needful, and Mr. 
Miller regrets that so few well-preserved skins are available for comparison. 
‘Without good series of dry specimens it is impossible to determine the 
limits of individual variation in colour, as conclusions of the most general 
kind only can be based on specimeus that have been subjected to the 
action of alcohol.” Forty-six species and subspecies of Vespertilionide 
are recognized as occurring in America north of Panama and in the 
West Indies. 
Ws have received from the “‘ Department of Agriculture” of the Pro- 
vince of British Columbia an excellent publication on “Insect Pests and 
Plant Diseases, containing remedies and suggestions recommended for 
adoption by farmers, fruit-growers, and gardeners of the Province.” Mr. 
R. M. Palmer, Inspector of Fruit Pests, in his Report for the year ending 
1896, speaking with reference to his work in visiting and inspecting 
orchards in the different section of the Province, says:—‘‘ The necessity 
of this work has been emphasized by the discovery of the most dangerous 
scale-insect enemy of fruit-trees known—the San Jose Scale (Aspidiotus 
perniciosus)—in two orchards on Vancouver Island, and although, so far — 
as known, this pest has not spread, it is hardly possible that the infesta- 
tion is limited to these cases. . .. It has cost the fruit-growers of Cali- 
fornia and Oregon hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the San Jose 
Scale, and the war against it still continues. . . . The appearance of San 
Jose Scale in orchards and gardens in Ontario, and some of the Eastern 
and Southern States, has created widespread consternation amongst fruit- 
growers there, and a demand for legislative assistance from the respective 
governments in dealing with the pest, similar to that enacted in the Pacific 
Coast States and British Columbia, has sprung up.” 
ORNITHOLOGISTS who care for the by-paths of their Science will find a 
paper on ‘“ The Mythology of Wise Birds,” by H. Colley March, in the 
‘Journal of the Anthropological Institute,’ just published (vol. xxvii. 
