NotesSource: The American Naturalist, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Feb., 1872), pp. 124-128Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of NaturalistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2446806 .

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124 NOTES..

not of negative, knowledge- a conclusion reached from what we see, and not from what we fail to see.

PURE WATER. -Dr. Burdon Sandersoll, F.R.S., found it impos- sible to obtain optically pure water. The fusion of ice furnished the nearest approach to this standard.

RAILWAY DUST. - The "Manchester Guardian" publishes a study of railway dust made by Mr. J. Sidlebothaum, who finds it to consist, in the case examined, about one-half of particles of iron, and the other half of cinders, sand, etc. Some of the particles of iron were magnetic, and most were sharp, rough and irritating.

NOTES.

W: v make the following extracts from a letter to one of the edi- tors from Mr. Dall, Chief of the Coast Survey Expedition to ex- plore the hycdrog-raphy and natural history of Alaska. It is dated Harbor of iliuliuk, UnTalashka, Alaska Terr., Oct. 30, 1871

"We arrived here on the 23d of September after a disagreeable passage of twenty-six dlays from San Francisco, durillng which, however, we obtained some very interesting observations on the currents. We have been very busy since we arrived, and have accumulated abundance of material to keep us busy all winter, both ill regard to Natural History and Hydrography. This harbor is a fine one, and we have a chart well under way and hope by spring to have' it approximately comnl)lete. Ticdal and current observations are going on, we have taken many hundreds of an- gles and shall go to sounding bye and bye.

The island when we came was a mass of verdure uip to the snow caps of the highest peaks. There are no trees, except. half a dozen planted by Veniaminoff, the apostle of the Aleuts, in 1805. They are Sitka spruce, very stout anlld thick, but only about fifteen feet high. The indigenous shrubs and willows are seldom more than six feet high and an inch or two thick. I went on an explor- ing trip the other day in the interior of the island and with the exception of some wood which we packed on our backs for kindling, we had to boil our tea with green huckleberry bushes! Bnt the herbage is very rich and rank. Sheep andl pigs do exceedlingly well here with less care than they need at home and I believe hardy cattle wotould do the same. Trhe winter is wet and windy, but not cold ; there is a good deal of snow but it melts very quickly after it falls and rarely lies on the ground any length of tirme except in severe seasons. The waters abound with fish but there are no land -animals, except spermophiles and foxes.. Whales are very

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NOTES. 125

often seen inside the harbor. Birds are rather plenty at this sea- son and probably much more so in summer.

This month and the next are the worst of the year. We have had more or less rain almost daily, but also a good deal of sun- shine, more indeed than I anticipated. The weather has been comfortable, temperature averaging 44? Fahr. It has not been lower than 32? yet and that only once, still the snow has crept down the mountain sides a thousand feet and we have had several real old fashioned snow storms.

All hands have worked together harmoniously and with energy. I think the prospects for a good season's work are very favorable." -WM3. 1-I. DALL, Actg. Asst. U. S. C. Surrvey.

T. STERRY HUNT, LL. D., chemist to the Canadian Geological Survey, has been appointed to the chair of Geology in the Massa- chusetts Institute of Techlology.

Soer, one writes -to " Land and Water" that though the menage- rie at the Jardin des Plantes is at a low ebb, still specimens are being forwarded by the various agents with all speed,. and we may hope soon to see it with some of its former glories.

Pnor. C. F. Hartt has recently returned from his explorations in Brazil, having specially studied the supposed Amnazonian drift beds; and Prof. Marsh has returned to New Haven, with immense collections of fossil vertebrates, etc., from the Rocky Mountains.

PROv. H. Jam es Clark, of the University of Kentucky, has been appointed Prof. of Veterinamy Science in the Massachusetts Agri- cultural College.

DR. G. 1-Jartung, the well known geologist and author of the splendid works on Madeira, Lanicerota, Teneriffe and the Azores, has recently mna de a geological trip through this country, so as to be able the better to study - American works on geology. We also learn from Prof. Flagen that two other Ger-rman geologists of good reputation, Drs. Reiss and Stuebel, authors of works onl Teneriffe, and Santorin, have been geologisinog for two years past on the west coast of South and Central America, and travelling thence from New York to California, design to go to the Hawaiian Islands to investigate their geology with a view to publication.

I-ow interesting a collection illustrating the products, habits and homes of insects, as well as the relations of zoolooy and bot- any to agriculture an-d the arts may be, is to be seen in a visit to the Museum of the Agricultural Department at Washington, the

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126 NOTES.

result of many years' work of Mr. Townend Glover, to whose un- requited labors in practical entomology we have previously called attention.

He has a beautifully illustrated man uscript work on the insects injurious to cotton and other crops, which thus far Congress has been asked in vain to publish. To the great value of the museum Prof. Hagen of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge bears the following testimony. " I find no notice in the NATURAL-

IST of the Museum of the Agricultural Department in Washing- ton, D. C., the admirable work of Mr. T. Glover. I was really astonished at going through this valuable collection. The plan upon which Mr. Glover works is his own, and the arrangement of his own devising. When fish, fruits, etc., cannot be preserved, excellent casts beautifully colored are made and exhibited. Plates illustrating injurious aud beneficial insects and their transforma- tions, drawn, engraved and colored with his own hand, are mount- ed in the halls,so that if any one wants to know about the insects injuring certain crops or plants, he can obtain very complete infor- mnation. I know not which the more to admire, the extensive, really vast plan of the institution, and the elegant completion of the design, or the modesty of the learned naturalist who has con- ceiveci and clone it all entirely without aid, in the agricultural inter- ests of this great country; meanwhile supported by means really ridiculously small, compared with the results. I confess that the Agricultural Museum in Washington has no superior in the world, and even no rival either in England, Franice or Germany."

THE authorities of Brown Uniiversity are beginning to form a museum of natural history. During the last year several additional large cases were placed in Rhode Island Hall, and between three and four hundred specimens of birds and aninials were added to the previous collection. A large collection of the implements of Amer- ican Indians was also added, together with several small though valuable collections of coins, both ancient and modern. The ex- pense incurred by these improvements was met by a few friends of the College, interested in this department. Arrangements have now been inade for adding to the Cabinet an extremely valuable collec- tion of birds, numbering about forty-five hundred; and also such specimens in Mamnmalogy, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Conchology ancd Comparative Anatomy, as will meet tlme wants of instruction.

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NOTES. 127

The mounting and arrangement of the specimens is entrusted to the care of Mr. J. W. P. Jenks, A.M., a well informed prac- tical naturalist, and a most skilful taxidermist. 'Mr. Jenks was one of the party assembled by Prof. Baird, U. S. Fish Comrais- sioner, at Wood's H-ole, during the last summer, and spent six weeks in making full collections of the marine animals of that coast, so that this department usually so incomplete in. outr colleges, will be well represented at Brown.

AMioNG the losses sustained by the burning of the Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences was that of 'i the State collection of insects, recently purchased by the State from the heirs of the late State Entomologist, Mr. B. D. Walsh, for two' thousand dollars, but of great scientific value from the number of types it contained.

" The Smithsonian collection of Crustacea, undoubtedly the larg- est alcoholic collection in the world, which filled over ten thousand jars, and contained the types of the species described by Prof. Dana and other American authors, besides hundreds of new spe- cies, many of which were described in manuscripts lost by the same fire.

"The invertebrates of the United States North Pacific Exploring Expedition, collected in great part in Japanese seas by the Secre- tary in 1853-56, which, besides crustacea, included ini the last item, embraced great numbers of anuelides, mollusca, and radiata, most of which remain undescribed, except in manuscripts also lost.

" The collection of the marine shells of the coast of the United States, made by the Secretary and his correspondents during twenty years of dredgings and general research on every part of the coast from Maine to Texas. Nearly every species was illuis- trated by specimens from every locality in which it occurs, not only on oU1r own shores, but on those of Europe and the Arctic Sea, and in the Tertiary and Quaternary formations, showing the effect of climatic influences, geological age, etc. This collection embraced about eight thousand separate lots of specimens.

"The deep-sea crustacea and mollusca dredged in the Gulf Stream by Ml. Pourtales, of the United States Coast Survey, in the years 1867, '68 and '69, which had been placed in the hands of the Secretary for description.

"Time manuscript of the Invertebrate Zoology of the North Pa- cific Exploring Expedition under the command of Capts. Ringgold ancl Roclgers, in 1853-56 ; the shells by the late Dr. A. A. Gouikf; the Cruistacea, Annelida, Nudibranchiate and Tunicate Mlollusca, Holot-hurians and Starfishes, by Win. Stimpson. These manu- scripts were illustrated by nearly three thousand (Irawings by A. SchCenborn and WV. Stimpson, many of which were colored. This material was awaiting an appropriation from Congress for publica- tion. A portion thereof (that on the Brachlyurous Crustacea) was

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128 BOOKS RECEIVED.

saved, havilng fortunately been in the 'Smithsonian Institution at the time of the fire.

"1 The manuscript of the work on the shells of the East Coast of North America, prepared for the Smithsonian Institution by W. Stimpson, illustrated by drawings not only of the shells, but of the soft parts, lingual dentition, ova-capsules and other details. This work had been in course of preparation since 18449, and many of the species illustrated were new to science. About two hun- dred of the drawings had already been engLaved o0 wood, but the bloclks were destroyed with the rest of the materials. That por- tion of t-he work containing the synonymy of the species already described was saved, havingo been in the house of the Secretary at the time of the fire.

"The manuscripts and drawings of a work onl the Crustacea. of North America, ill preparation for the Smithsonian Institution byT Win. Stiinpson.. A series of dredgingig papers," containing an abstract of the result of explorations by the Secretary on all parts of the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, and in the Gulf of Mex- ico, chiefly valuable for the study of geological and bathymetrical distribution. The descriptions (as iar as completed) of the deep- sea crustacea andc mollusca dredged in the Gulf Stream by M. Pourtales, prepared by the Secretary,. A portion of these descrip- tions had been published in the 'Bulletin of the Museum of Com- parative Zoology."'

BOOKS- RECEIVED. On the Position and Heiqht of the Elevated Plateau in which the Glacier ot lNew England, in

the Glacial Er a, had its origin. By J. D Dana. 8vo. pp. 8, 1871. Maps of the Upper and Lowrer Geyser J3asin, Fire Hole River Wryomlzing Territory, and of the

Yellow Stone Lake. From Surveys under the Department of the interior. By U. S. Geological Survey under Dr. F. V. Hayden.

Pselintinary Report on the Dredging in Lake Superior, snder Bv't Brig. Gets. Comstock, U. S. A. By Si(dney T. Smiith. 8vo. pp. 8. AMonthly Report of Dpt Of Agriceslturefor Nov. and Dec. 1871. [Contains " Entomological Rec-

ord." By 'r. (lover, U. S. Eutomologist.] AIC1 RhoctiaceT and Carices Boreali-Antericanv. By Stephen T. Olney. Providence. 2

pamphlets Svo. 1871. Conchological Jremzoranda No. 8. By R. E. C. Stearns. San. Francisco, p. 1, 1871. Bulletin of HIlusenms of Coinparative Zoology. Vol. 3, No. 3. Letter concerning Deep-Sea

Dredgings. By L. Agassiz, ppi. 5, 1871. Annual Repost of the Secretary of the Interior. Goyr. jocjjnment. 8vo pampildet. 1871. Report on the Geological Structure and Mineral Resonsrces of Prince Edward Island. By J. W.

Dawson, assisted by B. J. Harrington, Svo. pp. 52. Ma) and 3 plates. Printed bsy authority of the Governmiest of Prince Edward Island. M~onltreal 1871.

Descriptions of Nev Species qf Birds of the Fanmilies Troglodytidxe and Tgyrannidvv. By George N. Lawrence. pp. 5, 1871.

Catalogue of (Jrnstacea fromi Panamna collected by J. A. Jfc Nleil. By T. H. Streets. pp. 6, 1871. Doas Gs'alerfeidhei Gauernitz. By Dr. L. W. Slshauftiss. 8vo. pp. 24. 1871. Dresden. Jahresbericht dier ANaturforochenden Geselsehoft in Esuden. 1870. 8veo. pp. 46. Sitzzingsberichte dee Akadenie der TWissenschaftess, lxi Band. 1 Heft. 1870. 1st. and 2d abthel-

lag. 8vo. Wien. Ileine Schrillen desr Natusrforshenden Gesselsehaft zeu Emden. xv. Svo. 1871. OversIt Konglelij(e Danske. Videuskabelsres Selcskabs Forhasedlinger og dets JIedlemnsess Ar-

heider. 1870). -No.3. 1871. No. 1. iohenhavrn. Xvo. Verhandlhngen ides Naturhistorischens Ve eines der preussischen Rheistlassde usnd Westphalens.

1870. 1 vol. 8vo. Boun. Archive far Anthsopologie. August 1871. 4to. Braunschweig Proceedings Academy Nat. Sieare of Philadelphia. Part 2, Apr.-Sept. 1871. (Jan. 1872.) A series of papers on Conchology and Geology. By Tsaac Lea, from tie author.

Bulletin of the Torsey Botanical Club. Bowdoin Scienttifc Review. Dec.. Jan. Jotetrnal of the Franiklin Institute. Jan. Le Naturaliste Canadien. Dec. Amer. Joutrn-al of Science and Arts. Jan. Nature. Aos. for Dec. Jan. Land and Water. Nos. for Dec. The Field. Nos, foe Dec. Jan. The Academny. Nos.,for Dec. Jant. Science Gossip. Dec. Jan. La Franee Sciestifique. Nos.for Dec. Newman's Esstomolgist. Dec. Jan.

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