The experiments on kites at Blue Hill have led me to the conclusion that the conditions which confront the experimenter are not so favorable as suggested by Professor Bell, nor so hard as suggested by Professor Newcomb.

I made some experiments in 1898 with a compound kite built up of a number of small rectangular kites such as are called the Blue Hill Naval Kites. In addition to the necessity of giving greater space between the cells with increasing size, I found two other difficulties: (1) When several small kites are combined into one, the pull of all the kites is concentrated on certain points which need to be strengthened by using larger sticks. This may be partly overcome by tying a string to each unit and bringing the separate strings to a single flying line at some distance from the kite. But in such a case there is a crushing strain on the central units due to the inward pressure of the outer units, so that the kite must be strengthened by trusses or larger sticks if the compound kite is to fly through the same range of wind-velocity as the unit. (2) When a compound kite strikes the ground the unit which first reaches the ground has above it the combined weight of all the other units and is instantly crushed in conditions where the unit flying alone would not have been injured in the slightest. This effect was so serious an objection that it led me to abandon the effort to build a compound kite out of units.

On the other hand, the weight of kites built on the same model does not increase so fast in practice as Professor Newcomb's law implies. The experience at Blue Hill is that if one can build a kite four feet high sufficiently strong for practical work, and it weighs one and one half ounces per square foot, then one can build a similar kite eight feet high which will weigh two

ounces per square foot and be sufficiently strong for practical work. Mr. C. H. Lamson built a kite thirty feet high with two cells similar to the kites used at Blue Hill, and it weighed only about four ounces per square foot. This kite easily lifted a young man weighing about 130 pounds into the air, and, unloaded, flew beautifully in a wind of fifteen to twenty miles an hour, as witnessed by Mr. A. L. Rotch, Mr. S. P. Fergusson and myself.

The reason of this departure from Professor Newcomb's law is that only the sticks of the kites increase in size (and the necessity of this is usually partly overcome by internal bracing), while the thickness of the surfaces remains the same through wide limits.

But independent of these considerations, Professor Bell's principle of tetrahedral construction seems a promising one and further experiments are awaited with much interest, while the structure he has already developed may be found of great use by experimenters.

BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY.

H. H. CLAYTON.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. The Role of Diffusion and Osmotic Pressure in Plants. By BURTON EDWARD LIVINGSTON, of the Department of Botany. The Decennial Publications, Second Series, Volume VIII., Chicago. The University of Chicago Press. 1902. 8vo. Pp. xiv +150. As stated in the preface: "The present volume will deal with the past and present of diffusion and osmotic pressure from the standpoint of plant physiology. It has a double raison d'être. First, it was felt that there was need of some direct and not too exhaustive account of the essential physical facts and theories of the subject. The interest of the physical chemist here has lain mainly in the light which these phenomena have been able to throw upon the ultimate nature of matter and upon electrolytic proc

esses. It has thus been difficult for the student of physiology who is not at the same time well versed in physical chemistry to obtain the information required for the prosecution of work in this field. Secondly, it seemed desirable to bring together in a general review the literature of this subject in its biological aspects, so that the promising and unpromising points for future research might become more apparent."

Opening the book, we find that it consists of two parts; the first of forty-eight pages devoted to 'Physical Considerations.' This includes what are properly physical discussions. There is first a discussion of matter in its several states, and this is followed by a chapter on diffusion and diffusion tension.

In

The third chapter is devoted to 'Liquid Solutions,' the fourth to 'Ionization' and the fifth and sixth to 'Osmotic Phenomena.' the treatment no attempt has been made to be exhaustive. Only certain aspects of the present conceptions of these matters among physicists and chemists are discussed, and their discussion is presented with the aim of clearing the way for the physiological discussions which make up the body of the book. The author especially disclaims any originality in this portion of his book, but it must be said that he has done a very great service to botanical science by making available here, for the first time, a summary treatment of these physical phenomena.

Part II. is devoted to 'Physiological Considerations,' and here in about one hundred pages the botanist will find some important discussions. The author first takes up 'Turgidity,' and follows this with a discussion of 'Absorption and Transmission of Water and Solutes,' 'The Influence of Osmotic Pressure on Organisms.' The treatment is eminently satisfactory and will prove to be very helpful to the physiological student. To show the range of the discussion in the book we may quote from the author's summary at the close of the book as follows:

As far as investigation has gone, it has been found that growth is accelerated in weak solutions and retarded in concentrated ones. The term growth' here includes, not only enlarge

Also,

ment, but also the process of cell division. in some cases at least, the direction of new walls is profoundly influenced by the concentration of the surrounding medium. In general, all vital processes are retarded in concentrated solutions. Reproduction, being a peculiar form of cell division, appears in some cases to be entirely dependent upon the osmotic pressure of the surrounding medium. Irritability is also greatly influenced by external pressure. Not only is this function

retarded in concentrated solutions, but in some forms the direction of response to a given stimulus may be reversed by a sudden change in the osmotic surroundings. The comparative concentration of the external and internal solutions acts, in many cases, as a stimulus upon the organism, giving rise to the phenomena of osmotaxis.

All the effects of high concentration of the surrounding liquid seem to be due to extraction of water from the living cells. They may be due either to a drying-out process or to decrease in turgidity. That they are sometimes due to the former is proved by curious analogies between the various processes which extract water from the protoplasm. Whether or not this extraction of water from the protoplasm itself is the direct cause of the responses to concentrated solutions, is not yet known. The effect may be a chemical one, due to the increased concentration of the contained solutions.

This book will at once take its place as a standard work in all institutions where any attention is given to plant physiology.

CHARLES E. BESSEY. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY, VOL. II., NUMBER 3, JULY, 1903.

A. M. MILLER: The Development of the Postcaval Vein in Birds,' pp. 283-299, with 10 Textfigs.

G. L. STREETER: 'Anatomy of the Floor of the Fourth Ventricle,' pp. 299-315, with 4 Plates and 2 Text-figs.

F. P. MALL: The Circulation through the Pulp of the Dog's Spleen,' pp. 315–333, with 1 Plate and 1 Text-fig.

F. P. MALL: The Transitory or Artificial Fissures of the Human Cerebrum,' pp. 333-341, with 1 Table.

rant, during Prolonged Normal Stimulation,' pp. 341-349, with 1 colored Plate.

R. H. WHITEHEAD: A Study of the Histogenesis of the Adrenal in the Pig,' pp. 349-361, with 6 Text-figs.

E. L. MELLUS: On a Hitherto Undescribed Nucleus Lateral to the Fasciculus Solitarius,' pp. 361-365, with 3 Text-figs.

KATHERINE FOOT AND E. C. STROBELL: "The Sperm Centrosome and Aster of Allolobophora foetida,' pp. 365-371, with 1 Plate.

C. F. W. MCCLURE: Contribution to the Anatomy and Development of the Venous System in Didelphys marsupialis (L.)-Part I., Anatomy,' pp. 371-405, with 5 colored Plates and 11 Textfigs.

W. H. Lewis: 'Wandering Pigment Cells Arising from the Epithelium of the Optic Cup, with the Development of the M. Sphincter Pupillæ in the Chick,' pp. 405-417, with 15 Text-figs.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ST. LOUIS.

THE Biological Society of St. Louis was organized March 3, 1903. Dr. A. W. Greeley was elected president. The membership numbers about fifteen at present and increases at each meeting. It speaks well for the future of the society that the present membership is exceptionally homogeneous and harmonious, and that a place is rarely vacant at the meetings.

Although but four meetings have been held, and the society is yet in the formative stage, gratifying progress has been made. Current literature in botany, zoology and physiology has been reviewed. Several of the reviews have been given by members whose personal and professional relations with the authors gave to the reviews an unusual interest. Considerable original work will doubtless be presented during the next year.

At present steps are being taken looking toward closer relations with the Academy of Science of St. Louis. The meetings of the society are held on the last Tuesday evening of the year excepting in the months of June, July and August. Visiting biologists are cordially invited to attend.

ST. LOUIS, Mo.

W. L. EIKENBERRY,

Secretary.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE GOVERNMENT CINCHONA PLANTATION IN JAMAICA AS A TROPICAL BOTANICAL STATION.

IN a month's residence this spring, at Cinchona, during which time I was daily occupied in field work within a radius not greater than ten miles from the Cinchona garden, I was much impressed with the advantages of this location for a permanent tropical botanical station in America. After conversation and correspondence with botanists who have worked in this and various other tropical regions, I have become thoroughly convinced that, for such a station, no other location combines the many superior advantages of Cinchona.

A luxuriant and varied flora to meet the diverse demands of American botanists wishing to work on problems of distribution, development or physiology of tropical plants is, of course, the first requisite of a locality proposed for such a station. Associated with the extremely varied physiographic and climatic characters of the region accessible from Cinchona is a flora which makes this location preeminently advantageous for botanical work.

Cinchona is on a hill which forms a spur projecting southward from the Blue Mountain Range. Within three miles of Cinchona, in the Blue Mountains, is the well-known Morce's Gap, through which moisture-bring-. ing clouds drift almost continuously, thus giving rise, near the Gap, to a dense and greatly varied vegetation especially rich in lichens, bryophytes and pteridophytes. In the deep valley of the Mabess River, just north of this, the vegetation is even more luxuriant than about the gap itself. Other moist gaps, many high mountain peaks and several deep river valleys directly below Cinchona Hill have a luxuriant plant covering of mesophytic type. Nearer Cinchona are the more xerophytic foothills of the Blue Mountains, and below these are the still drier plains about Kingston. These different regions, to reach the most distant of which requires not more than a two-day trip from Cinchona, afford a complete series of moisture conditions and plant

formations ranging from the broom of Cinchona Hill to the dildoes and Melocactus of Port Henderson. Cinchona thus possesses the chief requisite for a botanical station in the abundance and variety of its flora. There are also numerous and important accessory advantages of an even more exceptional

nature.

The accessibility of Jamaica makes it a most desirable location for a botanical station. Six to ten steamers each week land passengers at Port Antonio or Kingston, and from either of these places Cinchona can be reached readily in ten or twelve hours of delightful travel by train, carriage and saddle. No other portion of tropical America has as fine a system of carriage roads in the lower country, and bridle paths in the mountain regions, as has Jamaica. To the collecting grounds about Cinchona one can walk or ride, in all directions, upon well-graded and well-drained mule paths. These paths lead to the thickets of Blue Mountain Peak, the dense forests of Mabess, the dry hills and the fertile bottoms of the Clyde, Yallahs and Hope valleys.

The stable government and efficient police system which make life and property secure are an advantage possessed by Jamaica over many tropical countries. The use of the English language throughout the island is a very evident advantage to the transient resident. As a consequence of superior political conditions, we find here government gardens, with corps of resident trained botanists familiar with the flora and very courteous in offering aid, which may prove invaluable to a worker on his introduction to the island. The government gardens are valuable adjuncts to the native flora in furnishing material of many exotics growing under practically normal conditions. In this connection it should be remembered that at Cinchona itself is an extensive garden with greenhouses containing many native and exotic temperate plants. There is also here a series of buildings which can readily be made to fill all the requirements of a tropical botanical station. Such an equipment, I believe, is not to be found in any other available location.

Health conditions at Cinchona, which is 5,000 feet above sea level, are most favorable, and the botanist is, therefore, not liable to be prevented by physical disability from taking fullest advantage of the excellent opportunities for botanical work. Malarial troubles are unknown, and the many dangers to health, so frequent in tropical regions, are here absent. Food in sufficient quantity and variety and pure drinking water from the source of the Clyde River are readily obtained. Moderate temperatures, ranging from 50° to 80°, prevail throughout the year, and the climate is stimulating to physical and mental effort. DUNCAN S. JOHNSON.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.

THE

SHORTER ARTICLES.

STRATIGRAPHIC POSITION OF THE JUDITH RIVER BEDS AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH

* THE BELLY RIVER BEDS.*

THE readers of SCIENCE will recall that during last winter and spring a discussion was carried on in its pages concerning the age and relationships of the formations mentioned in the title of this note. This discussion, which was provoked by the publication of Osborn and Lamb's paper on the vertebrate fossils of the Belly River beds, was participated in by Messrs. Hatcher, Stanton, Osborn and Williston.

Since June 1 the undersigned have been engaged in an investigation of this subject in the field, and have reached some definite conclusions which are deemed worthy of prompt publication. Our field studies were begun on Milk River at Havre, Montana, and we examined the excellent exposures along that stream to the International Boundary, and beyond to Pendant d'Oreille Police Barracks, which is near one of Dawson's described localities, where the base of the Belly River beds is seen resting on the marine 'lower dark shales.' This is near Lake Pakowki of the maps, locally known as 'Badwater Lake.' We also examined the exposures of upper Belly River beds showing contact with the

*Published by permission of the Director, United States Geological Survey.

overlying 'Pierre shales' on Sage Creek, Canada, as described by Dawson and McConnell and continued our observations as far north as the Cypress Hills, where the top of the overlying marine Cretaceous is seen. Passing down Milk River below Havre and around the eastern end of the Bearpaw Mountains to Cow Creek and the Missouri River at Cow Island and thence up to Dog Creek, Judith, and Eagle Creek, Montana, we have studied the typical areas of the Judith River beds described by Meek and Hayden, and of the Eagle formation described by Weed.

We have become fully convinced that the Belly River beds are identical with the Judith River beds, as Dawson long ago suggested. Our conclusion .is based on lithologic character, stratigraphic sequence, the vertebrate and invertebrate faunas of the beds themselves, as well as on the paleontology of the underlying and overlying beds in both Canada. and Montana. We hope to present the evidence in full in a more formal paper within a few months.

Another important result of our work is the determination of the exact position which these beds occupy in the general Upper Cretaceous section of the west. For many years the Judith River beds have been generally assigned to the top of the Cretaceous and correlated with the Laramie, while the Belly River beds have been generally placed near the middle of the Upper Cretaceous, above the Benton and beneath the Pierre, though Dawson did not assert that they underlie all of the Pierre. We have found that the Judith River beds underlie about 600 feet of beds with the lithologic character and fauna of the Pierre, and that beneath them there is an equal thickness of marine beds that must also be correlated with the Pierre on account of the faunas they contain. Many of the invertebrate species from the beds underlying the Judith River have been described and figured as 'Fox Hills' species and supposed to come from beds overlying all of the Pierre.

On account of the differentiation of the beds representing the Pierre in this region into several formations, it is necessary to give

new names to two of them which have not been previously recognized. For the dark clay shales with many calcareous concretions immediately overlying the Judith River beds we propose the name Bearpaw shales, since they are well developed around the northern, eastern and southern borders of the Bearpaw Mountains. They have the lithologic and faunal characters of the typical Pierre but represent only a fraction of that formation as generally understood.

Beneath the light-colored, mostly non-marine Judith River beds is another formation, 400 feet in thickness, which in its lower half resembles the Bearpaw shales and yields a few of the same species of fossils. Its upper 200 feet, however, contain several sandstone beds which bear a fauna that has hitherto been called 'Fox Hills.' We propose the name Claggett formation for these shales and sandstones underlying the Judith River beds. It is named for old Fort Claggett at the mouth of Judith River, in the neighborhood of which the formation is well developed.

Beneath the Claggett is the Eagle formation (named by Weed in the Fort Benton folio, Geologic Atlas of the U. S.) consisting of several heavy beds of coarse, light-colored sandstone, with clay shales and lignite, and having a total thickness of 250 to 350 feet. This also yields a marine fauna that has been referred to the 'Fox Hills' and is certainly more recent than any Benton or Niobrara fauna.

The Eagle formation rests on dark shales, which are known to include the Benton and probably the equivalent of the Niobrara.

The section may be summarized and compared with the sections in South Dakota, Colorado and elsewhere as follows: