July 11, 1884.] 



SCIENCE 



45 



that demands of our western fauna this abnormal 

 frontal development, the heavy tibial armature, and 

 the corneous, lengthily extruded ? ovipositor ? 



Torrey botanical club. 



June 10. — Mr. P. H. Dudley exhibited specimens 

 and gave a brief account of his recent studies of wood 

 sections. A large number of micro-photographs of 

 transverse, radial, and tangential sections of our tim- 

 ber-trees were shown. Among the specimens were 

 Sequoia sempervirens, in which attention was called 

 to the very large cells (none less than a tenth of an 

 inch in length), and to the fact, that, in this and other 

 conifers examined, the pits in the cell-walls are only 

 seen in abundance in the radial sections; Catalpa 

 speciosa, which has lately been extensively employed 

 for railroad-ties in the west; Ailanthus glandulosus, 

 which the speaker stated he had found to contain the 

 greatest number and largest ducts of any wood yet 

 examined; Liriodendron tulipiferum, in which the 

 ducts are very numerous but small; Madura auran- 

 tiaca, in which the parenchymatous tissue within the 

 ducts was plainly noticeable. In the white oak, 

 chestnut, and black walnut, it had been observed that 

 these parenchyma cells shrink away, in drying, from 

 the inside surfaces of the ducts and from each other, 

 then appearing as separate vesicles. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A list of the published writings of Spencer Fuller- 

 ton Baird from 1843 to 1882, with indexes, compiled by 

 George Brown G-oode, the first of a proposed series 

 of bibliographies of American naturalists, forms Bul- 

 letin No. 20 of the U. S. national museum. In a 

 prefatory note, Mr. Goode explains that since 1874 he 

 has been collecting materials for ' An index-bibliog- 

 raphy of American ichthyology,' which will embrace 

 "not only anatomical and descriptive ichthyology, 

 but the literature of the fisheries, angling, fishery 

 legislation and diplomacy, fishery statistics, and the 

 commerce of the fisheries." Besides the titles and 

 references, notes upon what each paper contains, 

 and, in case of important papers, synopses of their 

 contents, will be given : these notes will include refer- 

 ences to every published engraving. It is hoped to 

 finish this work in 1884, including in it material pub- 

 lished before July of that year. The bibliography of 

 Professor Baird' s writings is apparently in part mate- 

 rial collected for the above-mentioned work, although 

 notes are wanting to many titles. Other special 

 bibliographies of prominent naturalists are in prepa- 

 ration, among which one of Charles Girard and of 

 Theodore Gill, by Mr. Goode, and one of Isaac Lea 

 by Mr. Newton P. Scudder, are announced. 



The articles recorded for Professor Baird number 

 1,063 titles; the numerous notices, abstracts, and re- 

 views which appeared in Harper's magazine and in 

 Harper's weekly being cited only in their reprinted 

 form in the Annual record of science and industry. The 

 general plan of this special bibliography is commend- 

 able. An excellent biographical sketch of Professor 



Baird follows the prefatory note, and is supple- 

 mented by a portrait, which Professor Baird refused 

 to allow to be inserted in the work, but which Mr. 

 Goode has kindly sent to as many as possible of the 

 recipients of the bibliography. It is the same which 

 appeared in Science, No. 5. The list of genera (1) and 

 species (32) named in honor of Professor Baird is par- 

 donable material, perhaps, with which to fill three 

 pages of a government publication. This form of 

 honoring the names of naturalists means little, and 

 has just reached the maximum of its absurd develop- 

 ment in England, where an entomologist has calmly 

 named a butterfly after himself. The real honor due 

 Professor Baird as organizer and scientific worker is 

 not enhanced by this valueless list. The chronological 

 catalogue of papers occupies 246 pages of the work. 

 In some cases the notes are long, and embrace lists 

 of the genera and species, and even of the varieties, 

 treated of in some of Professor Baird' s more extensive 

 works. This may be a practicable or even a desirable 

 method in bibliographies of workers in vertebrates, 

 but would become unwieldy were it carried out for 

 those whose work lay in some other portions of the 

 animal kingdom. Following the chronological cata- 

 logue are a systematic catalogue and a list of species 

 discussed and illustrated, both referring, by number 

 and by condensed title, to the list of titles. An alpha- 

 betic index of subjects — not scientific names — closes 

 the bibliography. 



A commendable feature of this bibliography is the 

 complete independence of each entry, allowing the 

 catalogue to be cut and pasted on cards without addi- 

 tional writing. There are points in which the mode 

 of recording might be bettered. Initial capital letters 

 are very properly discarded, although with some 

 inconsistency of usage, from numerous words in titles 

 of papers, following the practice of many modern 

 bibliographers; but why should the compiler retain 

 initial capitals in such unimportant parts of the title- 

 page as ' With Eighty-seven Plates of Original figures,' 

 on p. 83 ? Considerable condensation might be made 

 by using only arabic numerals, and by considering 

 p., pi., fig., and like abbreviations, plural as well as 

 singular. Thus 'pp. i.-xvii., 1-496, pll. i.-xxxii.,' 

 would be more tasty, and more easily read, if printed, 

 'p. 1-17 + 1-496; pi. 1-32.' The space occupied by 

 | ... |, in recording titlepages, might be given to more 

 practical purpose, for indicating the actual size of 

 volumes in centimetres (or even in inches), instead 

 of using, as was done, the indefinite indications Svo 

 and 4to. 



— Nature, June 19, states that letters addressed to 

 the secretary of the committee of the British asso- 

 ciation for the exploration of Kilimanjaro have just 

 been received from Mr. H. H. Johnston, dated from 

 the British residency, Zanzibar, May 13. After con- 

 sultation with Sir John Kirk, Mr. Johnston had 

 selected the Mombasa route for Kilimanjaro, and 

 was expecting to depart for that port in about a fort- 

 night's time. The country between Mombasa and 

 Chaga was said to be quiet, and to present no serious 

 difficulties in the way. Mr. Johnston had succeeded 

 in obtaining the services of three of the same bird- 



