May 19, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



787 



new species, all from the Philippine Islands, 

 and also by his treatment of Spiranthes, in 

 which he distinguishes thirteen species for all 

 of North America north of Mexico. That 

 this promises a reduction in the number of 

 catalogued species in North America is sug- 

 gested by the fact that in the last edition of 

 Gray's ' Manual ' (covering only the northern 

 United States east of the 100th meridian) 

 there are six species ; in Britton's ' Manual ' 

 (covering but little more territory) eight ; and 

 in Small's ' Flora of the Southeastern United 

 States,' sixteen. 



In regard to nomenclature the author says, 

 ' the first specific name of each species under 

 the correct generic interpretation, wherever 

 this could be determined with reasonable 

 surety, or employed without leading to com- 

 plications, has been revived.' While this is 

 probably too lax an application of the law of 

 priority, the carefulness of the author in veri- 

 fying every citation and in studying herba- 

 rium material will enable every orchid student 

 to make any corrections that might be neces- 

 sary under a stricter construction. Taken all 

 in all this work is one which must be very 

 highly commended, and which all botanists 

 who are interested in orchids must look upon 

 as a welcome addition to botanical literature. 



Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The American Naturalist for April has but 

 two articles, an annotated list of ' Birds of 

 the Isle of Pines,' by Outram Bangs and W. 

 R. Zappej', and ' Studies on the Plant Cell — 

 v.,' by Bradley Moore Davis, dealing with 

 cell unions and nuclear fissions in plants. 



The Zoological Bulletin for April tells of 

 ' Further Improvements at the Aquarium ' 

 and of ' Photography at the Aquarium,' this 

 being illustrated by many reproductions of 

 photographs of fishes, that of the large spotted 

 moray being particularly good. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain has 

 articles on ' The Relationship existing be- 

 tween Statue and Pedestal in Classical and 

 Renaissance Times,' ' Educational Museums 



as Schools ' and ' The Management of Na- 

 tional Museums.' In the ' General Notes ' is 

 noticed the gift to the British Museum of a 

 collection of 10,000 specimens of eggs of 

 Palsearctic birds, and to the United States of 

 the collections of etchings and paintings by 

 Whistler, presented by Charles L. Freer, of 

 Detroit. As the United States is the only 

 great nation without a picture gallery it will 

 be interesting to see what disposition will be 

 made of this collection. The sale of a mount- 

 ed specimen of great auk to an American 

 museum is recorded, the price being £450, or 

 about $2,200. This is the highest price ever 

 paid for a specimen of the great auk. 



The Popular Science Monthly for May con- 

 tains : 



E. Rutherford : ' Present Problems of Radio- 

 activity.' 



Frank Waldo : ' The Harvard Medical School.' 



A. D. Mead : ' Alpheus Spring Packard.' 



Wm. E. Ritter: 'The Organization of Scien- 

 tific Research.' 



T. H. Morgan : ' I'lie Origin of Sjiecies through 

 Selection contrasted with their Origin through 

 the Appearance of Definite Varieties.' 



Edward S. Holden : ' Galileo,' continued from 

 the February number. 



Charles E. Bessey : ' Life in a Seaside Sum- 

 mer School.' 



The Museum News for April contains a 

 number of short articles referring to exhibits 

 recently added to the collections of the Mu- 

 seums of the Brooklyn Institute. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE biological SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 401st regular meeting of the Biological 

 Society of Washington was held April 8, 1905, 

 with President Knowlton in the chair and 

 43 persons present. 



The first paper of the evening was by Pro- 

 fessor W. P. Hay, on ' A Class of Arthropoda 

 New to the District of Columbia.' 



The paper began with a brief description of 

 a new species of Macrohiotus, a genus of Tar- 

 digrada, discovered in December, 1904, in an 

 aquarium at Howard University. Attention 

 was called to the fact that this is the first 



