achieved from time to time, etc.; (2), to leave behind, where practicable, the buildings and other of the equipments of expeditions likely to be useful to future investigators in the same branches of science, and to take all possible precautions for their preservation; and (3), to endeavor to make arrangement with railway and steamer companies for the reduction of the cost of passages and transport. GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS.-The second Geographical Society in the United States has been organized at San Francisco, under the title of The Geographical Society of the Pacific.—The recent census of India, shows the total population to be 252,000,000.- -Russian explorers have recently visited the Bai Shan Mountain, twelve miles north-east of Kuldja and found that the fires that have been burning there from time immemorial are not volcanic, but proceed from burning coal. On the sides of the mountain there are caves emitting smoke and sulphurous gas. The question as to the existence of volcanic formations in Central Asia, may now be considered as decided in the negatative.The Nature states that "Mr. James Jackson, ArchivisteBibliothécaire' of the Paris Geographical Society, has published, in a volume of 340 pages, a Liste Provisoire de Bibliographies Géographiques Spéciales.' The list was undertaken at the instance of the Society, and was printed in some haste, we believe, for the recent Venice Congress. But when we remember that the list is only a bibliographical one, a list of lists, in fact, the accumulation of geographical literature is almost appalling. It bears evidence of extensive and careful research, though the author admits that it is by no means exhaustive. Mr. Jackson recently visited the United States to search the libraries there, and the result is a work invaluable to all students of geography. He has wisely devoted comparatively small space to Europe, because, as he states, the works relating to the countries of that continent are well known and easily accessible. Mr. Jackson gives not only bibliographies proper, but references to works on travel and geography, and to periodicals, journals, and transactions, which contain special lists. The divisions of the list are :Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Oceanica, Polar regions, Oceans and Hydrography, Peoples and Nations, Voyages, Travelers, and Geographers, and Generalities. By means of the arrangement under each division the methodical table of contents, the index to authors and periodical publications, the work is rendered easily consultable. It reflects the greatest credit on Mr. Jackson's industry and on the enterprise of the Paris Society." -A new island has been discovered in lat. 7° 48′ S, long. 83° 48′ W. and 188 miles from Punta Aguja, south of Guayaquil, the nearest land. It appears to be of volcanic origin and is only fifty feet above the sea, in its highest part. It is a mile long and about the same width. In the northern portion of the Chinese pro vince of Shensi the sand from the desert is seriously encroaching on the country and has already half buried some cities. The high walls which have hitherto kept it out of Yülin will not much longer be of any avail, as the sand is already heaped almost to the top. An expedition was sent last summer to explore the neighborhood of Bear Lake, British Columbia, which was previously quite unknown. In the Geographical Section at the Meeting of the British Association, in addition to the papers heretofore mentioned the following were read:-Progress of Arctic Research since the Foundation of the British Association, by Clements R. Markham, F. R. S; On the Island of Socotra, by Professor J. Bailey Balfour; Journey to the Imperial Mausolea, East of Peking, by F. S. A. Bourne; Comparative Sketch of what was known of Africa in 1830, with what is known in 1881, by Lieutenant Col. J. A. Grant; Some Results of Fifty Year's Exploration in Africa, by the Rev. Horace Waller; Recent Visit to the Gold Mines of the West Coast of Africa, by Commander V. L. Cameron, R. N. :0: SCIENTIFIC NEWS. -The first part of a valuable work by M. Alph. Milne Edwards, on "The Fauna of Austral Regions," has been presented to the French Academy. The geographical distribution of birds is chiefly dealt with. It is remarkable (and would hardly have been expected) that these animals are eminently adapted to reveal the existence and position of the zoological centers whence the various species have radiated. The penguins are specially interesting in this respect. They appear to have migrated from a center of production in the Antarctic islands, near Victoria land, and to have followed the great currents going northwards, reaching the waters of Cape Horn, the Falklands, New Georgia, the Cape of Good Hope, and various islands of the Indian ocean, establishing, in each case, powerful colonies, with (in time) distinctive characters. Another colony, represented by the Spheniscans, starting fron the same center, and favored by Humboldt's current, has gone to the west of Cape Horn, along the coast of Chili, to Peru and the Gallipagos islands, touching at various points. - The volume on the Vertebrata of the Western Tertiary formations on which Professor Cope has been engaged for several years, is, we understand, approaching completion. Most of the plates are drawn, and the printing of the text is well advanced. This work will cover much ground, and will furnish much detailed. information on a subject which has of later times excited general interest. The volume is No. IV of the Hayden series. Vol. III will follow. It will give a similar account of the recent discover Nearly ies in the Permian and Mesozoic formations of the West. a thousand species of Vertebrata will be described and figured in these volumes. The Hayden series, when completed, will form a monument to Dr. Hayden, who projected it, and will reflect credit on the Government, which has sustained the publication. Among recent publications of the Census Bureau is an extra Census Bulletin containing tables showing the approximate areas of the United States, the several States, and their counties. It has been prepared by Mr. Henry Gannett, the geographer and special agent of the tenth census. It appears that of several States a number of estimates of area have been in use, differing from one another by thousands of square miles, and none of them perhaps traceable to any authentic source; while many of the results are palpably wrong, being so far from the truth that it is a source of surprise that they were not corrected before. A map defining the gross areas of the States and Territories accompanies this useful Bulletin. - Mr. Allen Whitman, a native of East Bridgewater, Mass., died recently in St. Paul, Minnesota, aged 45 years. He was a graduate of Harvard, and while one of the best classical scholars in the country, was one of the most valuable assistants in the U. S. Entomological Commission, having previous to the organization of the Commission, published two valuable reports on the locust as it appeared in Minnesota. The University of Cambridge, England, has conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Professor Thomas Sterry Hunt, LL.D., F.R.S., a native of Connecticut, who was for twenty-five years chemist and mineralogist to the Geological Survey of Canada, and resigned that post in 1872 to accept the Chair of Geology in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. - Professor W. N. Rice, and Mr. H. L Osborn, in their report as curators of the Museum of Wesleyan University, gives a review of the state of the museum. Many important additions have been made, and the spirit and zeal shown by the curators should result in such pecuniary benefactions as would liberally endow that department. An autobiographical sketch by Rev. Titus Coan, entitled, "Life in Hawaii," is announced by A. D. F. Randolph & Co. It includes accounts of the eruptions of the volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands, of which this missionary has been a diligent historian. since 1835. The late John Amory Lowell bequeathed $20,000 to Harvard College, for the botanical garden, on condition that it be called the "Lowell Botanic Garden," in memory of his grand father, who started the first subscription for the purpose of establishing this department. Mr. G. H. Darwin in his work on the tidal evolution of the moon has drawn the inference that geological denudation and deposition must have been vastly more active in former times than at present. Mr. C. S. Nachet, the founder of the well-known French firm of microscope manufacturers, died October 28, at the advanced age of 83. - The Census Bulletin, No. 270, refers to the production of iron ore in the United States, which was 7,971,706 tons; with a valuation of $23,167,007. :0: PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. MIDDLESEX INSTITUTE, Oct. 12, 1881.-The President, L. L. Dame, read a paper on "Botanical Nomenclature," in the course of which he alluded to the different pronunciations prevailing even among good botanists, and advocated, subjecting all names. becoming Latinized to the Latin rules of prounciation without regard to the vernacular as the only way of ensuring absolute uniformity. In the discussion which followed it was objected that under such an arbitrary rule many names derived from persons would become so disguised as to be practically lost, thus defeating the object for which they were established. But how far this objection may prevail against the unquestionable advantages of a uniform pronunciation is an open question. The paper was, however, the most important in its bearings of any yet presented to the Institute, and well calculated to set the members to thinking in the right direction. A new by-law providing for the formation of sections was adopted, and the completion of arrangements for a course of lectures announced. Prof. Edward S. Morse, and Rev. Edwin C. Bolles, D. D., of Salem; Prof. John Fiske and Prof. Wm. H. Niles, of Cambridge, Mass.; and Prof. Chas. A. Young, of Princeton, New Jersey, were elected honorary members. NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Nov. 14.-Dr. A. A. Julien read a paper on the excavation of the bed of the Kaaterskill, N. Y. Nov. 21.-Dr. Louis Elsberg remarked on the cell-doctrine and the bioplasson doctrine. Nov. 28.-Commander Cheyne, R. N., delivered a lecture entitled, "The Discovery of the North Pole practicable." Dec. 5.-Dr. A. A. Julien read a paper on the volcanic tufas of Challis, Idaho. BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, Nov. 16.-Mr. William Trelease compared the glands of plants with those of animals. He described the histology and showed the homology of the organs in question. The glands are anomalous in that a deeplying tissue secretes the fluid, which reaches the exterior through a distinct break in the epidermis—not a stoma. The secreting tissue is the end of a fibro-vascular bundle, the cambium having produced the active cells, instead of wood cells, the whole being surrounded by a thin bast sheath. He described a number of cases showing the glands to represent undeveloped flowers, as previously indicated by Delpino. Professor D. P. Penhallow then read a paper on the temperature of trees. Dec. 7.--Professor A. Hyatt described the sponge found in the Boston Water Supply, and Mr. B. H. Van Vleck discussed its distribution in Farm Pond, and the general condition of the latter; Dr. Wm. F. Whitney showed a skull of an ancient Mexican, with an arrow-head imbedded in the superior nasal fossa. AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, NEW YORK, Nov. 25.-Dr. I. I. Hayes1 delivered a lecture on the water-ways of New York, considered in relation to the transportation interests of the State, and the commerce of the city. -:0: SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Dec.-Lower Silurian fossils (Graptolites) in Northern Maine, by W. W. Dodge. A contribution to Croll's theory of secular climatal changes, by W. J. McGee. On the relation of the so-called “Kames" of the Connecticut River valley to the Terrace formation, by J. D. Dana. GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, Nov.-Evaporation and eccentricity as co-factors in glacial periods, by E. Hill. The valley system of S. E. England, by S. V. Wood. Sudden extinction of the Mammoth, by C. Reid, ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, Sept., 1881.-Observations on the development and organization of the Proscolex of Bilharzia hæmatobia, by J. Chatin. Observations on the sexual cells of Hydroids, by A. Weismann. Observations on the functions of the caudal appendage of Limuli, by J. de Bellesme. Rare or new Crustacea of the coast of France, by M. Hesse. Observations on the encystment of Trichina spiralis, by J. Chatin. ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZOOLOGIE, Nov. 1.-On the developmental history of the ophiuran skeleton, by H. Ludwig. Contributions to the anatomy and histology of Sipunculus nudus, by J. Andreæ. Comparative anatomical studies on the brain of bony fishes, with especial reference to the Cyprinoids, by P. Mayser. 1 Since suddenly deceased, Dec 17. |