Friends of 1st Lieut. Charles L. Camp have learned that at a recent divisional review in France he was awarded the French War Cross with gold star for services in the Argonne. Lieutenant Camp was working in vertebrate paleontology and in herpetology at the American Museum and Columbia University previous to his entering the Army. He has served with the 7th Field Artillery, 1st Division. At present he is giving courses in history to the men of the 18th Infantry. In telling his father of the honor he has received, he wrote, "Those who most deserve the decorations are, however, underground."

fighting of disease carriers occupied the attention of all governments from the very first. Body lice, carriers of typhus and, as was later discovered, of the very general trench fever, were thoroughly investigated and reported upon in England, France, and Germany before the United States began massing troops; but extensive experiments were later conducted in this country, in cooperation with the Chemical Warfare Service, as to the possible utilization of war gases as fumigants against this pest, and an overhauling of army laundering processes was undertaken with a view to complete sterilization of clothing.

The work of the Bureau in protecting crops, ground supplies, and lumber is perhaps more generally familiar to the public, although Dr. Howard says the preeminently practical men who have been working for years along this important line were "chagrined to find that even in certain high official circles the old idea of the entomologist still held— that he was a man whose life was devoted to the differentiation of species. . . ." The stimulation of food and lumber production was one of the most important of our home activities. In assisting the farmer the duties of the Bureau were, as usual, multifarious, as, for example, the heading off of a plague of grasshoppers in Kansas, thereby saving about $3,000,000 worth of wheat and $2,500,000 worth of alfalfa. The cultivation of castor beans for their oil arose as a special war measure inasmuch as the entire Mexican crop was bought up and shipped to Spain, probably to German agents. A large acreage of these beans was planted in the United States which the southern army worm and other insects quickly discovered and the entomologists were called in to prevent an insect raid. Inspection and protection of the great stores of grain, lumber, and wooden implements also fell to the entomologists and they found it necessary to investigate the ways and means of getting out logs so as to prevent their destruction by borers. Aside from this cooperative research, entomologists were also commissioned in the Army for medical work and their services received well merited praise from the Army authorities.

A TALE of "pheasant farms" in China where thousands of golden and silver pheasants supposedly are raised for their plumes

has grown up and lately been brought to the attention of the United States Treasury Department with reference to a proposed importation of the plumage. The New York Zoological Society has investigated the matter and found the report untrue. Mr. C. William Beebe, curator of birds at the Zoological Park and author of the recent monograph on the pheasants, and Mr. Roy C. Andrews, leader of the American Museum's expeditions to China, both deny the existence of any such farms in southwestern China. Dr. Hornaday wrote also to the French Consul at Mongtseu who further denied the reports.1 The golden and silver pheasants, the consul reports, have never been domesticated and usually die in captivity. Certain of the aboriginal non-Chinese tribes of Yunnan do keep male pheasants for decoy birds in order to attract the hens in spring, but such decoy birds bring $13 (Mexican) while a pheasant for the table can be purchased in the mountain country for thirty or forty cents. exportation of living pheasants or their plumage is absolutely prohibited in China and Indo-China, and the authorities are very much interested in preventing commerce in the feathers for, if the price should chance to rise, the natives would soon destroy the species.

The

A CHINESE encyclopedia2 has recently come from the Oxford Press. This is the first work of the kind that has ever appeared on China. "I send out the Encyclopædia Sinica," writes the editor, "in the sincere hope that it may help to interpret and open up China to the foreign reader, and may increase mutual respect and knowledge between East and West." Many topics on the natural history of China are included and extensive bibliographies given; for example, under "ornithology" Mr. J. D. de La Touche lists 155 articles and books. Mr. Norman Shaw, author of Chinese Forest Trees and Timber Supply, contributed most of the material on the products and exports of China and supplied many of the statistics. Many other distinguished authorities and Government Ministries and Services contributed important articles.

1 Bulletin de la Ligue Français pour la Protec tion des Oiseaux, Nov.-Dec., 1918.

2 The Encyclopædia Sinica, by Samuel Couling, formerly Honorary Secretary and Editor of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, 1917.

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In spite of revolutions and brigandage in China, the academic work at the West China Union University, Chengtu, has continued at maximum capacity. Chengtu lies not far from the inland port of Chungking. It is the capital of the rich province of Szechwan, the governmental and educational capital for 45,000,000 people and an important center of commercial enterprise and political reform. The city is located at the beginning of the ancient caravan route to Tibet and is even today the center for the great drug exporting trade from that almost unknown plateau. The last ten years have seen the creation of this modern university in Chengtu and its hearty approval by the Chinese. Not the least successful feature of the university is its buildings modeled after Chinese designs. Western attempts to imitate Chinese architecture have usually been failures, but the Chinese designs of the university's colleges and halls were an important factor in winning Chinese approval of the institution.

THE Reverend Harry R. Caldwell, representing the Methodist Episcopal Church as missionary at Yenping, Fukien Province, will join Mr. Roy C. Andrews in October for field work in China under the auspices of the American Museum. The Reverend Mr. Caldwell assisted Mr. Andrews in 1916-17 in the Fukien Province, notably in an attempt to shoot a melanistic Chinese tiger, the "blue tiger," the story of which was narrated in the AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL for May, 1918.

IN answer to a question regarding the speed of the Mongolian antelope (Gazella gutturosa), Mr. Roy C. Andrews writes from China again that he has "no hesitation in placing this at sixty miles an hour." "At one time," he says, "our car was running at forty miles (by the speedometer) and a herd of antelope which had started when nearly opposite to us and about three hundred yards away, ran parallel with us for some distance and then gradually drew ahead and crossed in front; they kept about the same distance away all the time. In other words while we were running forty miles in a straight line they were going in a semicircle about us and still keeping almost the same distance away -perhaps they lost fifty yards, but not more. When we began to shoot, the animals in

creased their speed very considerably and the man with me estimated then that they were running about seventy miles an hour; there is no doubt that they can run sixty miles with comparative ease. I never knew what running was until I saw those antelope -they simply flew, and one had a strange impression that they were skimming the ground, for their legs appeared only as a blur."

To meet the growing demand for trained gardeners, and to afford convalescent soldiers and sailors opportunity for preparation for such work, the New York Botanical Garden has inaugurated a two years' course in practical gardening. The remarkable natural facilities of the grounds comprising the Botanical Garden in Bronx Park, New York City, offer an unusual opportunity for training in this subject, while in addition the extensive library of horticultural books and the well equipped laboratories will be at the disposal of students. The instruction by the staff of the Botanical Garden will combine indoor lecture and laboratory classes with outdoor gardening. During the first year, classes will be conducted in such elementary scientific studies as elementary botany, zoology, plant physiology, and chemistry, and practical training given in greenhouse practice, flower gardening, and vegetable and fruit gardening. The second year's course has not yet been announced, but will include such advanced subjects as surveying, garden design, garden pathology, and garden mycology.

THE artistic planting of trees along roads not only adds beauty to the countryside, but also helps to preserve the roadbed and to break wintry winds. The possibilities in this form of highway improvement have just been presented for public consideration in a Circular of the New York State College of Forestry by Professor Henry R. Francis. New York State, with its network of improved highways, offers a splendid opportunity for roadside tree planting. Roadside conditions at present are entirely haphazard and the care of the trees has been neglected or left in the hands of those unskilled in either landscape gardening or arboriculture. Recently a bill has been introduced in the state legislature to amend the highway law with a view to such improvement, providing

for the appointment of a highway tree warden who shall be a scientific forester with practical experience along the lines of landscape engineering. The bill asks for an appropriation of $10,000 for carrying out the provisions of the act, and $10,000 for an initial demonstration on the state highway between Syracuse and Utica.

THE Springfield, Massachusetts, natural history museum is to have special classes conducted Saturday afternoons by the junior high school art teachers. This plan grew out of the exceptional results obtained by school children of the city who have been working with pencil, brush, and clay on various museum subjects. One boy, becoming interested in the dinosaurs, executed a clay model of such merit as to warrant its receiving a place in the permanent exhibit of the museum. The Saturday afternoon lectures which have been given on various subjects have proved an inspiration to these youthful artists and it is expected that the inauguration of art classes will attract many students. This coöperation between art and natural history is an illustration of the complementary nature of much of the work of institutions traditionally looked upon as far apart in interests.

ONE of the best known founders of the American Ornithologists' Union is Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who served as its president from 1895 to 1898. Before the organization of the Union and for many years since, Mr. Brewster has been president of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the oldest bird club in America, still in existence. He has devoted much attention to the development of his private ornithological museum, a unique institution at which the Nuttall Club holds its meetings and which recalls many pleasant memories in the minds of those bird students who have been fortunate enough to enjoy its hospitality. While primarily a systematic ornithologist, Mr. Brewster has always devoted much attention to the study of birds in the field, and as an accurate and skillful describer of their habits he is today without a peer.

THE marine research of the Carnegie Institution was somewhat modified during the

1 "Department of Marine Biology," Carnegie Institution of Washington, Year Book No. 17, pp. 149-172.

past year on account of the war, and the work begun at Tortugas, Florida, had to be postponed, the yacht "Anton Dohrn" being in the service of the Navy. The director, Dr. Alfred G. Mayor, accompanied by Professor A. L. Treadwell, Duncan Gay (artist), and Mr. John Mills (engineer), made a two months' trip to Tobago, British West Indies, where collections were obtained and extensive studies were made of siphonophores (jellyfish, etc.), and of the Eunicidæ (marine worms). Especial attention was paid to the question of the southern distribution of the West Indian marine fauna and the influence of South America upon it.

Further trips to the West Indies being prevented by the appearance of enemy submarines off our coast, the director, with Professor L. R. Cary and Mr. John Mills, visited Pago Pago, American Samoa, to continue studies of the coral reefs begun the previous year. The results of these two Voyages show that certain stony corals (Madreporaria) of the Pacific grow twice as rapidly as do similar corals of the Atlantic. An Acropora, for example, increased sixty-eight ounces in the fifteen months. This genus is the most important element in the outward growth of the Samoan reefs. The Porites, which form irregularly rounded masses dangerous to navigation, grow at the rate of about one inch a year. Drilling through the fringing reef at Pagopago, Professor Cary found it to be 121 feet thick and underlain by volcanic rock. Further study will be taken up on another trip when examination of the precipitous outer edge will be made by the use of diving hoods. The more rapid rate of growth of the Pacific corals evinces the fact that the present reefs may have attained their growth during the last 30,000 years or since the last Glacial Epoch. The greater rapidity is probably due to a better food supply.

During the voyages continual tests were made of the acidity and alkalinity of the surface waters of the ocean and the results obtained may be of importance to navigators. For example, the water of the Gulf Stream is much more alkaline than that which drifts down the east coast of North America, so that a navigator, entering or leaving an Atlantic harbor, could easily determine his position with reference to it. Arctic water and water from great depths is more heavily charged with carbon dioxide

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Poh-we-ka (Little Blue Corn Flower), or Marie Martinez, a young Tewa woman of San Ildefonso pueblo who is attempting to keep alive the ancient symbolic art of the pottery of her people. Some of the best pottery of the eastern Pueblos was made at San Ildefonso. The designs are filled with meaning and refer mostly to clouds, rain, mountains, and vegetation; in fact, these designs are in part prayers for the life-giving rain. Marie Martinez and her husband are fully acquainted with the ancient pottery excavated from villages in Pajarito Park (one of our national monuments) as well with the more recent productions of San Ildefonso (Photograph by courtesy of El Palacio)

as

points out the unusual variety and completeness of the illustrations of earth sculpture within a radius of three hundred miles of the metropolis. In fact a great wealth of geological and physiographical material may be reached by half-day trips, or even within the city's limits. The various agencies of erosion are all typified in the vicinity. Both young and mature rivers are found and indeed the Bronx River alone illustrates both stages in its upper and lower stretches respectively. The Hudson presents the very old stages of river ageing with further reference to repeated uplift and renewal as is seen in the stepped peneplains of its valley walls. The relation of streams to dividing ridges and the subject of stream "capture" may also be mentioned, especially the excellent example in the Catskill Mountains where the Kaaterskill has diverted the headwaters of Schoharie Creek.

The great continental glacier reached its maximum expansion at New York so that here we find the various effects of ice erosion, terminal moraines, and erratics, or rocks carried in the ice from great distances.

Well defined coastal plains lie within easy reach to the south, especially along the New Jersey coast, and here are illustrated the economic dependence of people on topographic features and the determination of routes of travel by them. In the Alleghenies, throughout Pennsylvania and New York, we find examples of folded mountains, while among the Adirondacks, the White, and the Green Mountains stand carved and worn down masses of complex ranges. The only important feature not well represented is the phenomenon of volcanicity although there are roots of old volcanoes like Ascutney Mountain in Vermont and long intrusive ridges like those forming the Palisades.

Not only is this region most accessible to the student located in New York City, but, in addition, there is no section of the country which has been so thoroughly worked over, mapped, and described so that both the amateur and the expert geographer and geologist have at their command a great wealth of literature. Dr. Lobeck gives an extensive bibliography of the region.

MRS. HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN has recently presented to the Osborn Library of the American Museum a number of private letters written by Charles Lyell, the great

English geologist. These date from 1836 and are addressed to Dr. Benjamin Silliman, founder of The American Journal of Science (which celebrated its centenary in July, 1918), and at that time professor of "chemistry, mineralogy, etc.," at Yale.

Lyell's fame was world wide and his works on systematic geology were the standard world treatises and texts in that science. Most of the letters are concerned with business items relative to the publication and sale of these books in the United States-a matter which Professor Silliman, as America's most noted geologist, was eager to promote. Lyell's volumes were undergoing constant revision as contemporary investigation advanced and as he himself traveled into new lands, and the proposed edition of the Elements with notes and additions in American Geology came in for discussion with Professor Silliman, especially in that part of the correspondence exchanged during Lyell's American trip. Continual personal

mention of Darwin and other historical characters gives an added interest to the manuscripts. Mrs. Osborn's gift reverts attention, in these days of stenographers and typewriters, to the time when the world's greatest scientists and most industrious investigators laboriously wrote their letters with pen and ink on both sides of the paper.

M. FÉLIX SARTIAUX is preparing a French translation of the Origin and Evolution of Life, by Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn, which will be issued from the press of Masson et Cie. M. Sartiaux, the author of TroieLa Guerre de Troie (1915) and Morale Kantienne et Morale humaine (1917), is an authority both in the archæologic and philosophic fields.

THE close of hostilities has released considerable discussion on the question of marine camouflage and its relation to the theory of protective coloration of animals. There are two general types of marine camouflage: (1) the low visibility patterns intended to make the ship invisible or indistinet at medium ranges; (2) the British "dazzle," constructed of prominent patterns which serve to break the outline of the ship and to render calculation as to her length, speed, direction, and distance inaccurate. In order to "paint out" the ships it was found that monochromes were never as ef