428 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. .5.{3. 



tlian floor supports for apparatus. Numerous 

 other details were considered. 



The subject of stability was further dis- 

 cussed by several of the physicists and astron- 

 omers present. 



Charles K Wead, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



RECENT WASHINGTON RHIZOBIA EXPERIMENTS.* 



In 1902 Dr. Geo T. Moore published a paper 

 in which he gave a brief outline of the history 

 of the study of the free nitrogen-assimilating 

 microbes of leguminous plants. f In this paper 

 the author outlines a method for increasing 

 the nitrogen-assimilating power of rliizobia by 

 growing them upon artificial nitrogen-fi'ee 

 media, which is said also greatly to increase 

 their tubercle-forming power. According to 

 the paper by Grosvenor, Dr. Moore has con- 

 tinued his experiments along the same line 

 and has patented the process, giving the patent 

 rights over to the government for the sole 

 benefit of the farmer. It is stated that by the 

 use of these nitrogen-hungry rhizobia the yield 

 of any leguminous crop may be increased very 

 greatly (from 40 to 400 per cent.). The re- 

 sults are said to be far superior to those ob- 

 tainable from the use of the ' Nitragin,' pat- 

 ented by Nobbe and Hiltner of Germany. In- 

 stead of bottling the cultures (of nitrogen- 

 hungry rhizobia) in a dry pulverulent state, 

 as did Nobbe and Hiltner, Dr. Moore infil- 

 trates absorbent cotton with the cultures and 

 dries it, whereupon it is ready for shipment 

 to the farmer, at a nominal cost. 



If the claims of the paper can be verified by 

 further, tests, Dr. Moore deserves credit for 

 having accomplished a work which will prove 

 to be of great benefit to farmers. . It will of 

 course not do away with the necessity of crop 

 rotation. 



It is regrettable that Dr. Moore did not see 

 fit to contribute the article himself and that 



* Gilbert H. Grosvenor, ' Inoculating the 

 Ground: A Remarkable Discovery in Scientific 

 Agriculture,' The Ceniury Magazine, 68: 831-839 

 (October), 1904. 



t Geo. T. Moore, ' Bacteria and the Xitrogen 

 Problem,' Year-book of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, pp. 333-342, 1902. 



it did not appear in some scientific publica- 

 tion rather than a literary magazine. This is 

 not at all intended as a criticism of Mr. Gros- 

 venor's presentation of the work done bj* Dr. 

 Moore, only the custom prevails for those who 

 do the actual scientific work to also present it 

 to the world first-hand, nor are we in the habit 

 of looking for reports of research work in 

 publications devoted almost wholly to fiction. 



Albert Schneider. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 



A NEW CODE OF NOMENCLATIRE. 



In The Condor for January, 1905 (Vol. 

 VII., pp. 28-30), is an abstract of a new code 

 of nomenclature, "which will shortly appear 

 under the joint authorship of Doctors Jordan, 

 Evermann and Gilbert, * * * entitled ' Nom- 

 enclature in Ichthyology. A Provisional Code 

 Based on the Code of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union.' " It is said : 



The recent preparation of numerous papers in 

 systematic ichthyology has necessitated the re- 

 consideration of many problems of zoological 

 nomenclature, and as some of these are not cov- 

 ered by any canon in any recognized code, and 

 again, as certain canons in the best considered of 

 the various codes of nomenclature, that of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, are not available 

 in the study of fishes, we have ventured to draw 

 up a code for our own use in ichthyology. * * * 

 The different canons in this code are based on 

 those composing the code of the American Ornith- 

 ologists' Union, and so far as possible the lan- 

 guage of that admirable document has been fol- 

 lowed. We have, however, omitted certain mat- 

 ters which may be considered as self-evident, and 

 we have omitted all reference to groups of higher 

 than family rank. 



The points in which the ichthyological code 

 differs from the ornithological are then stated; 

 the text of these parts of the new code is given 

 apparently in full, and relates to six of the 

 canons of the earlier code. As the perfect 

 code has not as yet been devised, all improve- 

 ments on preceding codes should, of course, be 

 welcomed, but changes from well-established 

 methods of procedure should carry convincing 

 evidence that they are improvements in order 

 to secure adoption. 



Not many months ago the American 



