Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/81

 the spM^imens sent by Servant Applegale with Ihuse coll(?cted b; LleuL Stoiiey, ind found Uiem to be the uune, born blende andeaite.

Wlien we compare the lava from BogosloS with the Tolcanii? sand which fell at Uualashka, tre find them identical in mineraiogiCHi composition. Both ore composed of triclinic felspar, with promiDent tonal ■tmcture, auglle, hornblende, magnetite, and ground- mass, with microlltei and a small proportion of amorphous matter.

Dr. T. U. Chatard, of the geological survey, made a partial analysis of the volcanic sand from Unalaahka ai well as of the lava from liogoaloS. The former contains 52.48%, and the latter 51.85%, of silica. Fearing that au error bad been made in the analysis of tiieTaTa, Dr. Cbalard repeated the determination, and obtained the same result. That the percentage of si lies contained by each should be nearly the same, can be readily understood; but that the lara should con- tain less than the -volcanic sand which Is composeil of the same material, apparently with a la^r propor- tion of bask minerals, was unexpected. Homblende- andesite lavas rarely occur with such a low percent- age of silica, and in this respect the one from Aluka is closely related to those In the Sieijengeblrge and Hungary. It is evident that the felspar contained must be very basic, probably anorthlte. The optical properties of the felspar point in Itae same direction for the angle of extinction when symmetrical is over 80". Hypersthene, which is such an important eon- Stttnent of the laras In the Cascade Range, has not '"*ZSBot (talk)Ti dlacovert^d in any of the lavas yet examined 1 Alaska. J. S. Dii.i.En.

9. gEOl. lursoy, Wu«l,lii([Uni. D.C.

k Action of pollen on seed-ooatB and perioaipa,

I am confounded by u atalement, given na if of a

)l-kiiown fact, which I read In the 'Science bulle-

I'of So. 101. Ala meeiingof the Academyof nnt-

kI MJenecs, Philadelphia, Dec. K, —

" Mr. Thomas Meehan called attention to an ear of

u) cum received from Mr. Landreth, the grains

•ne aide of which were of a rich brownish-red

r. while thow on the other aide were of the usual

S yellow tint. On the Imundary-lines seTcral of

■ ^nins were partly red and partly yellow, thus

niDg that the result was not the effect of cross-

'Ulixallon, as had been asserted in other instances

r ObangB at color- It would indeed be strange It

■~ ■« the only plant in which such change of

B produced by croES-fertlllzalion ; !/et In the « other i^eeien had an^ »tieh ehanije beea oh-

j,~ TbQ sentence I have italicised iij the confounding It is hard to believe that such a veteran hortl- ■Itursl editor and copious writer as Mr. Meehan is M acquainted at first hand with some of the liorti- lltaral literature upon this curious BUbject (extend- ~f[.tmn the year ITiO down to our own days), and Uch asserts that In various instances just sucii ,1 has t>een obsen-ed. It Is harder to believe _ a writer who has sbown such a critical fauiil- ' terity with Mr. Darwin's writings should have vn- tlnty overlooked a section in cbapier xi. of ■ Variation under domestlCBtion,' vol. 1., beginning on p. 3UT. In which the principal observations (convincing to Uar-

��•ome of tlin grains of com were party-colored

• case d(^scribl^, jn-ova ' that the result was not

fi effect of crosB-fertltiiation,' party-coloration in

ja Howera beinu a well-luiown effect of cross-fertil-

latlon, according to good autliorltiea. A. G.

��The PeRl>ody museum in New Haven stnnds on the corner of Elm and High atreetB, jusl without the campus or Yale college. Like moat buildiogB devoted to science in America, it occnpiea only a part of the lai^e lot, — a fact not designed t^ typify the unBnished state of zo61ogj-,biit merely resulting from lack of fbiida. In the present case there would, perhaps, have been do building at all, and the collections, had any of consequence been accumulated at Yale, would have remained stuffed into garrets 'and cellars, had not the philanthropic George Peabody given a sum of money, in 1866, to erect a house for Ihem. Thanks to the finan- cial prosperity of Massachusetts, the bonds for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars bad grcntl,^' increased, nod those set aside for the tir^t wing of the building had become worth a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars when the trustees began to build. With that Bum they have erected one of the finest build- ings, for its purpose, in the United States, — a lofty and ornamental structure of red brick and cream -colored stone, whose broad and numerous windows express the desire of the investigators within for all the light they o&u get.

I^t UB begin our suney at the bfttlom. Entering the basement-door, a blind man, or at aD,v rate a blind naturalist (if such there be), would know where he was by that smell of old alcohol with which biologists are so familiar. It is safe to wager, ten to one. that every visitor to these lower regions will re- member and quote a certain line from -The tempest,* act ii. scene 2.

This pungent odor rises chiefly ft-om the pos- sessions of the U. S. fish- commission, depos- ited for sorting and examination tnider the eye of Prof. A. E. Verrill. who is chief of the zoological part of the museum, or by some of his associates. Duplicates of these sub- marine and littoral specimens, secured in the government's deep-sea dredgings, go to Pro- fessor Verrill, and large quantities deposited by him in the museum have been arranged for exhibition.

In another part of the basement, Prof. 0. C. Marsh keeps 'greate store' of fossils, cleaning the giganUc bones from Rocky-Mountain quarries preparatory to study and display. Considerable paleontological property of the U.S. geological survey is under insjiection here also. A score of expert helpers, with Oscar Ilarger as chief of staff, assist ; one of whom

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