and is well adapted for museums and large collections, where the labor of individual cleaning would be too great. But so far as regards mites this is not necessary if the drawers or boxes only fit moderately closely. Then it will be found sufficient to expose a few crystals of pure naphthaline for an hour or two in the drawers. This is the simplest, easiest, and most effectual of all contrivances to destroy mites.

Where it is necessary to treat the insects in detail, another effective but more troublesome plan is to expose the infected insect to the vapor of liquid ammonia, by placing a morsel of sponge in a paint saucer and moistening it with a few drops of powerful liquid ammonia. The insect is placed on a bit of cork alongside of the sponge, and the whole covered by a tumbler or small bellglass, so as to keep in the vapor; and in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour the cure is generally complete. Sometimes it must be repeated; but this is rarely necessary.

Insects should never be put away until they have been well dried, and, if necessary, freed from fatty visceral matters. This is particularly necessary for kinds brought up in captivity or full of juice at the moment of their capture.

RECENT LITERATURE.

MURRAY'S ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY.1- While this work refers at length to such myriopods, spiders and Thysanura as in any way affect man, it is mainly devoted to the mites and ticks, and as such is the only recent and complete manual treating of these important animals which is accessible to the English student. The collections forming the basis of the work are in the Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum, and must form a curious department of the museum. This collection is designed for the instruction of the people, and the specimens illustrative of insects injurious to vegetation, or obnoxious to man and the domestic animals, are openly exposed in cases along with colored figures of them, often more or less magnified according to the size of the insect, a practice particularly useful in such minute beings as the mites. Models of injuries done to perishable objects have also been added. It is doubtful, judging by the author's statements, whether there is any other museum either in Europe or America where such a mass of information regarding the habits of troublesome or injurious insects have been spread before the people.

1 South Kensington Museum Science Handbooks. Branch Museum, Bethnal Green. Economic Entomology. Aptera. By ANDREW MURRAY. Prepared at the Request of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, and Published for them by Chapman & Hall, 193 Piccadilly, London. 1877. 12mo, pp. 433.

In the case of the mites, not only are European species, but a few of the more prominent North American species are described or referred to, and figures given of them copied from illustrations by American authors.

Not only are the human parasites, as the itch mite, etc., figured, but those infesting our domestic mammals and birds; and the leaf and gall mites and allied forms are noticed at greater or lesser length. As an example of the author's mode of treating his subject, we have reprinted in the preceding pages of this number, an account of a mite which injures dried insects in museums in Europe, and which is undoubtedly the species which occurs under similar circumstances in this country. It appears from Mr. Murray's statements that the flour mite (Tyroglyphus siro Linn.) and Acarus farinæ or cheese mite, and the milk mite (Acarus lactis) are all different names for one and the same species, as is also the Acarus dysenteria of Linnæus, this mite having in one case caused the dysentery in Rolander, a student of Linnæus. Figures and an interesting account is given of Cross's famous Acarus.

The plan of the work is excellent and well carried out, and we sincerely trust that the author will be able, as he designs doing, to furnish us with similar treatises on the "bug, locusts, grasshoppers, cockroaches, and earwigs; the two-winged flies, the bees, wasps, etc.; the dragon-flies and May-flies; butterflies and moths; and lastly, the beetles." These manuals are prepared at the request of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, and give evidence of the liberal spirit now pervading the minds of the public men of Great Britain.

BAIRD'S ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY FOR 1876.1 - This is the sixth volume of the series, and presents a summary of the most important discoveries in natural and physical science during the year 1876. In addition, a large portion of the book is devoted to abstracts, more or less systematically arranged, of special memoirs, while there is appended a necrology, and a list of the more important scientific publications for the year. Such a book needs a detailed index, and a systematic and analytical table of contents, and we doubt if much fault will be found with the manner in which they have been prepared. Professor Baird has been aided by a number of scientists, whose names are given with the departments which they have reported upon, so that the book carries besides the authority of the name of the editor that of the specialists who have assisted him.

As a handbook of scientific progress this series of annual records is not only indispensable to the general reader, but we doubt not that the specialist who would not be ignorant of what has been done in other departments of science than his own, will find these volumes better fitted to satisfy his thirst for general knowledge than any other with which we are acquainted. The plan of the work leaves in its present state little

1 Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1876. Edited by SPENcer F. Baird, with the assistance of eminent men of science. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1877. 12mo, pp. 609.

room for criticism, and the execution seems as a general rule quite worthy of the plan.

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. - The Antelope and Deer of America. A Comprehensive Scientific Treatise upon the Natural History, including the Characteristics, Habits, Affinities, and Capacity for Domestication of the Antilocapra and Cervidae of North America. By John Dean Caton, LL.D. New York: Hurd & Houghton. Boston: H. O. Houghton & Co. 1877. 8vo, pp. 426. $4.00.

Lists of Elevations Principally in that Portion of the United States West of the Mississippi River. Fourth Edition. Collated and arranged by Henry Gannett, M. E. (Misc. Publications, No. 1, U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist in charge.) Washington. 8vo, pp. 167.

Les Arachnides de France. Par Eugène Simon. Tome 2me. Contenant les Familles des Urocteidæ, Agelenidæ, Thomisida, et Sparassidæ. Paris, Roret. 1875. 8vo, pp. 358. Four plates. Tome 3me. Contenant les Familles des Attidæ, Oxyopidæ, et Lycosida. Paris, Roret. 1876. 8vo, pp. 370, with 4 plates.

Notes on the African Saturniidæ, in the Collection of the Royal Dublin Society. By W. F. Kirby. (Transactions Entomological Society of London. 1877. Part 1, April.) 8vo, pp. 21.

Ueber die in München Gezüchtete Artemia fertilis aus dem Grossen Salzsee von Utah. Von Prof. C. v. Siebold. Basel. 1877. 8vo, pp. 16.

Das Thierleben im Bodensee. Gemein Verständlicher Vortrag. Von August Weismann. Mit einer Tafel. Lindau. 1877. 8vo, pp. 31.

Fragmentarische Bemerkungen über das Ovarium des Frosches. Bemerkungen über die Eifurchung und die Betheiligung des Keimbläschens an Derselben. Von Alexander Brandt. (Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft. Zoologie. Bd. XXVIII.) Leipzig. 1877. 8vo, pp. 31, with a plate.

United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part III. Report of the Commissioner [Prof. S. F. Baird] for 1873-4 and 1874-3. Part III. Washington. 1876. 8vo, pp. 777.

Brehm's Thierleben. Band 9, Heft 8-13. Leipzig. 1877. New York: B. Westermann & Co. 8vo. 40 cents a Heft.

On the Origin of Kames or Eskers in New Hampshire. By Warren Upham. (From the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Aug. 1876.) Salem. 1877. 8vo, pp. 10.

A brief Comparison of the Butterfly Faunas of Europe and Eastern North America, with Hints Concerning the Derivation of the Latter. By S. H. Scudder. (From the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Aug., 1876.) Salem, June, 1877. 8vo, pp. 6.

The Influence of Physical Conditions in the Genesis of Specics. By Joel A. Allen. (From the Radical Review, Vol. 1. No. 1, May, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 33.

Lobre Algunos Aracnidos de la República Argentina. Por el Dr. D. T. Thorell. (Periodico Zoologico, II., pp. 201-218.) 1877.

Études Scorpiologiques. Par T. Thorell. (Extrait du Vol. xix. des Actes de la Sociéte Italienne de Sciences Naturelles. Milan. 1877. 8vo, pp. 198. Liste Générale des Articulés Cavernicoles de l'Europe. (Extrait du Journal de Zoölogie, IV. 1875.) 8vo, pp. 69.

Par L. Bedel et E. Simon

First Annual Report of the Ohio State Fish Commission for the Years 1875 and 1876. Columbus. 1877. 8vo, pp. 96, with cuts.

On the Inhabitants of the Admiralty Islands, etc. By H. N. Moseley. (Reprinted from the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. May, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 52, 4 plates.

The Early Stages of Hippa talpoidea, with dibles and Maxillæ in Hippa and Remipes. tions of the Connecticut Academy, Vol. iii.

a Note on the Structure of the ManBy S. I. Smith. (From The Transac1877.) 8vo, pp. 31, 4 plates.

Principal Characters of the Coryphodontidae. Characters of the Odontornithes, with Notice of a New Allied Genus. Notice of a New and Gigantic Dinosaur. By O. C. Marsh. (From the American Journal of Science and Arts, xiv. July, 1877.) 8vo, pp. 8, 2 plates.

Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Dekapoden. Von Paul Mayer. (Abdruck aus der Jenaische Zeitschrift, für Naturwissenschaft, Bd. xi.) 8vo, pp. 81, 3 plates.

On the California Species of Fusus. 8vo, pp. 5. Preliminary Descriptions of New Species of Mollusks from the Northwest Coast of America. 8vo, pp. 6. By W. H. Dall. (From the Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, March 19, 1877.)

On the Brain of Procamelus occidentalis. By E. D. Cope. (From the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.) Published June 15, 1877. 8vo, pp. 52, with a plate.

On the Vertebrata of the Bone Bed in Eastern Illinois. By E. D. Cope. (From the Proceedings of the American Philosopical Society.) Published June 20, 1877. 8vo, pp. 11.

Ueber den Ursprung der Blumen. Von Dr. Hermann Müller. (Aus Kosmos.) 1877. 8vo, pp. 14.

Ueber Bau und Entwickelung des Stachels der Ameisen. Von Dr. H. Dewitz. (Siebold und Kölliker's Zeitschrift, xxviii.)

The Tailed Amphibians, including the Cæcilians. A Thesis: Presented to the Faculty of Michigan University. By W. H. Smith. Detroit. 1877. 12mo, pp. 158. Tribes of the Extreme Northwest. By W. H. Dall. (Department of the Interior. U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. J. W. Powell, Geologist in Charge. Part 1.) 1877. 4vo, pp. 106, with a map.

History of the American Bison, Bison Americanus. By J. A. Allen. (Extracted from the Ninth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey. F. V. Hayden in charge.) Washington. 1877. 8vo, pp. 587.

Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians. By Washington Matthews. (Miscellaneous Publications, No. 7, U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey. F. V. Hayden in charge.) Washington. 1877.

GENERAL NOTES.

BOTANY.1

ILLUSTRATIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN FERNS. It gives us sincere pleasure to learn that it is proposed by Mr. S. E. Cassino to publish an illustrated popular work on our ferns. The announcement is made that the drawings will be from sketches by Mr. J. H. Emerton, and that the text will be furnished by Professor Eaton. The latter is a recognized authority thoroughly familiar with American ferns; Mr. Emerton's skill as a draughtsman is well known to our readers. The plates are to be in color, and the work is promised at an exceedingly low price.

ACER DASYCARPUM. In 1843, Mr. Emerson measured a tree of this species, growing in the town of Stockbridge, Mass., when at three feet from the ground, it girted twelve feet. In October, 1876, the same tree was measured by Mr W. R. Robeson, who reports that its circumference at the same height, was then fifteen feet and nine inches, showing an annual average increase of circumference during the last thirty-three years of a little over 1.36 inches. C. S. SARGENT.

1 Conducted by PROF. G. L. GOODALE.

OBSERVATIONS ON SILPHIUM LACINIATUM, THE SO-CALLED COMPASS PLANT.1 - For the past six or eight years there has been little doubt of the curious polarity of the root and stem-leaves of the large coarse plant known throughout the prairie regions by the name of the compass plant. It appears, however, that few accurate measurements of the bearings of these leaves have been made. So that while they are now considered as pointing more or less to the north, but little is known as to how nearly they arrange themselves upon the meridian. In order to contribute to a better knowledge of this matter, I have for several years been making observations, the results of which I herewith transmit:

TABLE I.

Bearings of the leaves of fourteen small plants, many of which had but one leaf

Fifty per cent., it will be observed, deviated less than ten degrees, and eighty-six per cent. less than forty-five degrees from the meridian.

TABLE II.

Bearings of thirteen leaves, all of which grew on one large plant:

Fifty-four per cent. of these leaves deviated less than four degrees from the meridian, and eighty-five per cent. less than forty-five degrees.

1 See an article on this subject in THE AMERICAN Naturalist for March, 1871, where may be found also references to other papers. An article appeared some years since in the American Agriculturist, and another recently in Nature, in which good cuts of the compass plant were given.