selves with all previous literature on the same subjects; but notwithstanding the elaborate bibliographies now so commonly appended to papers on special topics, the crediting and utilization of the more remote publications seems in danger of falling into innocuous desuetude. E. W. HILGARD.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,

December, 1906.

CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY.

BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY.

VOL. LVIII., Part II., of the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory contains 'Observations and Investigations made at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in the Years 1903 and 1904.' From the introduction we learn that Mr. H. H. Clayton, well known as one of the foremost meteorological investigators in the world, has completed twenty years of service at Blue Hill, and that Mr. S. P. Fergusson, who, by his skill as a mechanician and his general ability along many lines of meteorological inquiry has contributed largely to the success of the Blue Hill work, has completed eighteen years of service. The introduction also contains a review of the principal work done at Blue Hill in the twenty years since its opening, but as readers of SCIENCE are familiar with much of this, we do not summarize here. Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, the founder of the observatory, without whose untiring devotion to his science and unfailing readiness to assume the increasing financial burden of maintaining this institution the United States would occupy a far less prominent place in meteorological advancement, may well look back on the past twenty years of work at Blue Hill with pride and satisfaction. American men of science can have but one hope and wish in connection with the Blue Hill Observatory: that its next twenty years may be as fruitful in results as the last twenty have been.

THUNDER-STORMS AND THE MOON. MUCH time has been spent by various investigators in the attempt to show some relation between the occurrence of thunder-storms and the phases of the moon. The latest con

tribution to this discussion comes from C. W. Hissink, of Zutphen, who in the September number of Hemel en Dampkring' presents the results of a study of thunderstorm days in Holland for the period 1883-1903. The means for these years show so complete an agreement for different phases of the moon that there can be no question that no lunar influence is shown. Evidently the supposed connection between moon and thunder-storms depends for the results obtained upon the period which any investigator uses, and upon the length of the series of observations. When a long series of observations is available, no lunar influence is, on the whole, manifest.

LANTERN SLIDES ILLUSTRATING CLIMATE.

We note the publication, by the Diagram Company, of New Malden, Surrey, England, of the seventh issue of 'The Diagram Series,' designed by B. B. Dickinson, assistant master at Rugby, and A. W. Andrews, extension lecturer. This series comprises a considerable number of lantern slides illustrating the cli mate of the world as a whole, and of the separate continents. Among these we observe charts of isotherms, isobars, winds, ocean cur rents and rainfall. It is encouraging to see the rapid increase in the demand for such teaching materials in meteorology and climatology for use in colleges and schools.

R. DEC. WARD.

NOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY.

A MOST interesting and attractive paper is that of Arnold Pictet,' on the influence of food and humidity on Lepidoptera. A great number of experiments were made by the author on the larvae of twenty-one different species of Lepidoptera, among them the gipsy and brown-tail moths. His results show that changing the usual food is apt to cause variation in adults. A food difficult of assimila tion hinders the growth of the caterpillar and lengthens larval life; in consequence the pupal

'Influence de l'alimentation et de l'humidité sur la variation des papillons,' Mém. Soc. Phy sique et d'Hist. Nat. de Geneve, Vol. 35, pp. 45127, 4 pl., 1905.

period is shorter and there is a scarcity of pigment at emergence, resulting in a more or less albinic specimen. Insufficience of the normal food will produce the same result. On the contrary, abundant and rich food shortens larval life, lengthening the pupal period, so that there is an abundance of pigment, and a highly colored or melanic specimen appears at emergence. Color varieties of

larvæ are often associated, but not always,

He finds

with color varieties of the adults. Some caterpillars feeding on the same food may be either brown or green. The development of secondary sexual characters is also influenced by the kind and abundance of food. that the size of the adult is proportioned to the size of the caterpillar; and that males vary more than females. Varieties produced by feeding increase in intensity and distinctness at each generation on the same food; however, there is always some tendency to revert to the normal form. Humidity in larval life is a partial factor in melanism, but much depends upon the temperature of the humidity and the time of its application. some cases of cold humidity paler and more spotted forms were produced in a rather dark butterfly. The variation from humidity appears mostly on the front wings, and melanism usually starts along veins. Four fine plates illustrate the results of his experiments.

In

Dr. O. M. Reuter has presented an important work on the classification of the Hemipterous family Capside. The author, who has spent much of his life studying this one family, gives a long historical, critical and constructive account of the classification of these plant-bugs. He devotes considerable attention to a criticism of Mr. Distant's work on this family. After an examination of the structures most useful for genera and higher groups, he divides the family into twenty divisions,' or tribes, an elaboration of his previous classification, in the 'Hemiptera Gymnocerata Europæa.' He finds the best characters for the divisions in the pronotal carina, the cell of the wing-membrane, the tarsal joints, and especially in the arolia of

"Die Klassifikation der Capsiden,' Festschrift für Palmén, No. 1, Helsingfors, 1906.

the claws. Genera are based largely on shape of the head and the antennæ. Following this there is a phylogeny of the family, and a 'tree' to illustrate his views.

Dr. Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan have published a revision of the American swallow-tail butterflies. It is based on the collections in the Tring Museum and that of Oberthür. Full references and synonomy are given for all species and varieties. There are descriptions of some new species and many new subspecies, mostly from South America and the West Indies. Three new names are given to forms from the United States: P. thoas subsp. autocles from Texas; P. glaucus subsp. canadensis from Canada and Newfoundland; and P. marcellus subsp. lecontei, from various parts of the United States, to replace the P. ajax marcellus of Edwards, the true marcellus applying to the P. ajax walshi of Edwards.

The second report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum, Egypt, 1906, contains a number of interesting papers. Theobald makes an additional report on the mosquitoes of the Sudan. He gives also notes on the 'maggot fly' (Bengalia depressa), the larvæ of which live under the skin of man, and other animals; also notes on the Congo-floor-maggot' (Auchmeromyia luteola), the larvæ of which crawl at night from crevices in the floor to suck blood from

sleeping persons. sleeping persons. He also gives notes on some stingless bees, a new pupiparous fly from the ibex, some Sudanese Hippoboscidæ, a melon fruit-fly (Dacus sp.), and on the Dura plantbug (Lygaus militaris). Mr. E. E. Austen treats of several blood-sucking Diptera, describes two new species of Tabanidæ, and gives notes on various other species.

A little-known phase of entomology is touched by K. Leinemann in his article on the number of facets in the eyes of insects.

He

has had the patience to count the facets in the eyes of 150 species of beetles. He finds that the larger the specimen, the more numerous are the facets, and that usually there is not much difference in the sexes. The male in many cases, however, has more facets than the female. In Lampyris splendidula the male has 2,500 facets, while the female has but 300. Melolontha vulgaris has, male, 5,300, female, 4,850; and Saperda carcharias, male, 2,200, female, 1,800. There is no general reduction in nocturnal species.

South American termites are the subject of an exhaustive paper by Dr. N. Holmgren." It is based on collections made in parts of Peru and Bolivia. Out of the thirty-nine species taken, twenty-six are described as new. adopts the genera of Wasmann. Nearly one half of the article treats of the ethology and

He

postembryonal development; the latter subject being almost entirely new. There are chapters on swarming, the founding of colonies, the enlargement of the nest, the use of the soldier, symbiosis of different species, classification by the nesting habits, and the geographical distribution of all the species known from South America.

Dr. K. Escherich describes some interesting new genera of exotic Thysanura," the most remarkable being Assmuthia, with two new species from India. This genus bears much general resemblance to some Collembola, with nearly equal segments, a strongly convex body, and very short anal stylets. It occurs in ants' nests.

A. Dücke publishes a supplement to his former article on the habits of Brazilian social wasps.' The nests of nearly ninety species are now known to him. He gives a key to the genera of South American Vespidæ, and a

'Studien über südamerikanische Termiten,' Zool. Jahrb., Abt. Syst., XXIII., pp. 521-676, 60 figs., 1906.

classification by nests and habits. Photographs of nests are on four double plates. NATHAN BANKS.

BOTANICAL NOTES.

PROGRESS OF BOTANY.'

UNDER this alternative English title Doctor J. P. Lotsy, of Leiden, has begun the publication of an annual summary of the recent advances in botany to be known under its Latin title as 'Progressus Rei Botanicae' (Gustav Fischer, Jena, 18 mk.). Only the first Heft of 317 pages has come to hand, but the prospectus promises the completion of the first volume during the present winter. Hereafter it is the intention of the editor to publish the Heften at intervals of about four months, the three Heften making an annual volume of from six to eight hundred pages. The part before us contains four articles, viz.: 'Die

Ontogenie der Zelle seit 1875,' by Professor Eduard Strasburger; 'The Present Position of Palaeozoic Botany,' by Doctor D. H. Scott; 'Bibliography of Literature on Palaeozoic Fossil Plants,' by E. A. Newell Arber, and

Les progrès de la Géographie botanique depuis 1884,' by Professor Ch. Flahault. The treatment is considerably different in these papers. The first, by Strasburger, is an admirable summary of the steps by which our present knowledge of the process of cell division, and especially of karyokinesis, has been built up by additions made by many investigators. Dr. Scott's paper is an attempt to give a sketch of our present knowledge of paleozoic plants, and his treatment is somewhat more general than the preceding one. In Professor Flahault's paper the treatment is still more general, and is much more like a somewhat popular lecture on the subject to a company of botanists who were not specialists in phytogeography. It is an admirable introduction to the present development of this branch of Botany as understood by the author of the paper. The bibliographical paper by Mr. Arber is thoroughly classified, and must prove of great service to paleobotanists.

A full review of this promising publication, which must be indispensable to every botanist,

is reserved until the completion of the volume, which is promised within a few months.

VEGETATION PHOTOGRAPHS.

ATTENTION has already been called to the admirable reproductions of photographs of vegetation issued under the editorship of Professors Karsten and Schenck, and bearing the title of Vegetationsbilder.' The publication consists of quarto Heften, each containing six plates, and as there are eight Heften for each volume, it follows that the latter will contain forty-eight plates. Three volumes are already completed, and five Heften of the fourth volume have appeared. With each plate is a short descriptive text covering a page or two. The Heften which have appeared during 1906 include Vegetationsbilder aus Kleinasien,' by Emerich Zederbauer; 'Vegetationstypen von der Insel Koh Chang im Meerbusen von Siam,' by Johs. Schmidt; 'Ameisenpflanzen des Amazonasgebietes,' by E. Vle; 'Das südliche Togo,' by Walter Busse; 'Vegetationsbilder aus Feuerland, von den Falkland-Inseln und von Sudgeorgien,' by Carl Skottsberg; 'Westafrikanischen Nutzpflanzen,' by Walter Busse. The beauty of the photographs and the admirable manner of their reproduction merit the highest praise. They must constitute an indispensable addition to every botanical library.

SHORT NOTES.

SEVERAL months ago, H. A. Gleason published in the Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden (Vol. 4, No. 13) A Revision of the North American Vernonieae' which should go far toward clearing up the confusion regarding the species of this tribe of Compositae. Seventeen genera are recognized, of which one-Orthopappus, a segregate of Elephantopus, is new. Of the 143 species here described, 99 are referred to the genus Vernonia, and of these, twenty-five are new to science. No less than ten of the genera are monotypic.-The genus Ptelea, represented in the northern states by the wellknown hop-tree (P. trifoliata) expands wonderfully in the west and southwest, where, according to a recent monograph entitled 'The

Genus Ptelea in the Western and Southwestern United States and Mexico' (Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb., Vol. X.) by Dr. Edward L. Greene, there are fifty-nine species. In this paper, fifty-five of the species are described as new. It is noteworthy that in framing names for these species, the author has most commendably not found it necessary, excepting in one instance, to make use of the names of persons. Botanists may now read an official account of the proceedings of the international botanical congress which took place in Vienna in 1905. A committee, consisting of Professors Wettstein and Wiesner, and Doctor Zahlbruckner, has issued a thick octavo pamphlet of 268 pages, entitled 'Verhandlungen des Internationalen Botanischen Kongresses in Wien, 1905' which gives the history of the movement which culminated in the congress, its personnel, the programs of the sessions, the discussions, etc., and the resulting 'International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature.' The latter are given in French, English and German. Along with the latter is given the list of generic names (nomina conservanda') which are to be retained, the rule of priority to the contrary notwithstanding. The pamphlet may be obtained from the publisher (Gustav Fischer of Jena) for 12.50 Marks. The same committee has issued a similar but somewhat larger (452 pages) pamphlet under the title of Résultats scientifiques du Congrès international de Botanique Vienne 1905.' It is edited by Dr. J. P. Lotsy, and is published also by Fischer (20 marks). It contains twenty-seven papers, mostly in German (one in English) which were presented during the scientific sessions of the Vienna Botanical Congress in 1905. The only paper by an American botanist is one by Professor Doctor Arthur on the structure, development and classification of the Uredineae.-A little book, issued three years ago by the same German publisher entitled 'Dendrologische Winterstudien' by C. K. Schneider, should be of much value to students of trees in these days when so many are fitting themselves for work in forestry. About sixty pages are given to the general organography of trees, including their general

form, arrangement of twigs, bark, lenticels, buds, etc., and this is followed by somewhat more than 160 pages describing the species of trees arranged according to winter characters. Following this is a systematic synopsis of the species, arranged in their appropriate families. A short bibliography and a full index complete the volume of nearly 300 small octavo pages. The work is very freely illustrated with drawings or half-tones of twigs, buds, hairs, sections of buds, twigs, bark and wood.

CHARLES E. BESSEY.

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS.

THE American Association for the Advancement of Science and the national scientific societies affiliated with it are this week holding, in New York City, a meeting which promises to be one of the most important and largest gatherings of American men of science. Programs of the meetings have been printed here, and there is printed above the address of the retiring president of the association, Dr. C. M. Woodward, of Washington University. There will be published in the next and succeeding issues of SCIENCE full reports of the proceedings.

PROFESSOR J. A. BowNOCKER, of the State University, has been appointed state geologist of Ohio to succeed Professor Edward Orton, Jr., resigned.

M. VIDAL DE LA BLACHE, professor of geography at the Sorbonne, has been elected a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the room of the late Albert Sorel.

MAJOR EDGAR A. MEARNS, known for his important contributions to natural history, who has been chief surgeon of the department of Mindanao, has been relieved from duty in the Philippines and will proceed to the United States.

DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL delivered an illustrated address before the Washington Academy of Sciences on December 13 'On Aerial Locomotion, with a few Notes of Progress in the Construction of an Aerodrome.' The address was discussed by Pro

fessor A. F. Zahm, of the Catholic University, Washington, D. C., and Mr. C. M. Manly, of New York City, formerly assistant to the late Secretary Langley.

PROFESSOR R. S. CHITTENDEN, of Yale University, will deliver a series of lectures next spring before the faculty and students of the College of Science of the University of Illinois. The general subject of the lectures will be the physiology of nutrition.

ON Monday evenings in February and March Professor Henry Edward Crampton, of Columbia University, will deliver a series of lectures upon 'The Doctrine of Evolution: its Basis and its Scope,' at Cooper Union.

THE first public lecture of the winter will be delivered in the Academy of Medicine, New York City, on Saturday evening, December 29. The lecturer will be Dr. Wilfred T. Gren

fell, C.M.G., physician to the missions of the Labrador coast, who will take for his subject, 'The Work of a Labrador Doctor.'

A MAGNETIC survey of Mexico is now in progress under the joint auspices of the Mexican Government and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Mexican Government has two parties in the field under the direction of the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional Mexicano, Engineer Señor Abel Dias Covarrubias having charge of the eastern party and Señor Manuel Moreno y Anda being in charge of the western party, embracing the Pacific Coast from Manzanillo to Guay mas, inclusive of Lower California. The Carnegie Institution observer, Mr. J. P. Ault, will confine his operations to the part of Mexico north of the 25th parallel, upon the completion of which he will then proceed to Campeche, Yucatan and the Central American countries. The early completion of the general magnetic survey of Mexico being thus assured, it will be possible within the next year to construct accurate magnetic maps for the region between the parallels of latitude 20° and 49° North and meridians of longitude 65° and 125° West of Greenwich.

ON the twenty-first of August last Professor Olof Hammarsten was sixty-five years