paronymy was approved by the Committee on Biological Nomenclature in the Report adopted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August, 1892. Naturally the application of the principle has been easier with the French and Italian than with the German. Yet nearly all recent works in this language contain paronyms either unchanged (excepting for capitalization), e. g., Dura, or with slight changes, e. g., Hippokamp for hippocampus.

The last example of Germanization to come under my notice is in Eisler's 'Das Gefäss- und periphere Nervensystem des Gorilla," where the customary heteronym, Herzbeutel, is abandoned for the regular paronym of pericardium, Perikard. Curiously enough in English we have hitherto retained the useless termination, but analogy with pericarp (from pericarpium) not only warrants but demands the abbreviated form, pericard. BURT G. WILDER.

ITHACA, N. Y.

THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. THE annual announcement of the 'Marine Laboratory' for the eighth season, 1895, has recently appeared.

The officers are as follows: Dr. C. O. Whitman, Director, Head Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago, and editor of the Journal of Morphology; Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Assistant Director, Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Brown University.

ZOOLOGY.

A. Investigation. Howard Ayers, Professor of Biology, University of the State of Missouri; E. G. Conklin, Professor of Biology, Northwestern University; S. Watase, Assistant Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago; M. M. Metcalf, Professor of Biology, The Woman's College of Baltimore; C. M. Child, Fellow in Zoology, University of Chicago; F. R. Lillie, Instructor in Zoology, University of Michigan; O. S. Strong, Instructor in Zoology, Columbia College;

H. S. Brode, Fellow in Zoology, University of Chicago.

B. Instruction. W. M. Rankin, Instructor in Zoology, Princeton College; J. L. Kellogg, Professor of Biology, Olivet College; P. A. Fish, Instructor in Physiology and Anatomy, Cornell University; A. D. Mead, Fellow in Zoology, University of Chicago; H. E. Walter, Chicago.

BOTANY.

W. A. Setchell, Instructor in Botany, Yale University; W. J. V. Osterhout, Instructor in Botany, Brown University.

PHYSIOLOGY.

Jacques Loeb, Associate Professor of Physiology, University of Chicago; W. N. Norman, Professor of Biology, University of Texas.

The work of the laboratory is definitely organized with reference to the needs of three classes of workers, namely, (1) students, (2) teachers of science, and (3) investigators. There are regular courses of instruction, consisting of lectures and laboratory work under the supervision of the instructors, given in Zoology, Botany, Embryology and Physiology. In addition to these, there will be courses of lectures on special subjects as follows: Embryology, by the Director, Professor C. O. Whitman; on Botanical Museum Development, by J. M. McFarlane, and on Matter and Energy, by E. A. Dolbear.

There will also be evening lectures on biological subjects of general interest. Among those who contribute these lectures may be mentioned: G. F. Atkinson, E. G. Conklin, Northwestern University; J. M. Coulter, President Lake Forest University; A. E. Dolbear, Tuft's College; Simon Flexner, John Hopkins Hospital; E. O. Jordan, University of Chicago; William Libbey, Jr., Princeton College; F. S. Lee, Columbia College; W. A. Locy, Lake Forest University; J. M. MacFarlane, University of Pennsylvania; C. S. Minot, HarvardMedical School;

E. S. Morse, Peabody Academy of Science; H. F. Osborn, Columbia College; W. B. Scott, Princeton College; W. T. Sedgwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; William Trelease, Director Missouri Botanical Garden; S. Watase, University of Chicago; E. B. Wilson, Columbia College; B. G. Wilder, Cornell University; W. P. Wilson, University of Pennsylvania.

The laboratory has been considerably enlarged and now consists of four two-story buildings, with forty private rooms for the exclusive use of investigators, and seven general laboratories. It is supplied with aquaria, a steam launch, boats, dredges, and all the apparatus necessary for collecting and keeping alive material reserved for

class work or research.

A Department of Laboratory Supply has been established in order to facilitate the work of teachers and others at a distance who desire to obtain material for study or for class instruction. Circulars giving information, prices, etc., may be obtained on application.

The forty private laboratories are distributed as follows: Zoology, twenty-two; Physiology, eight; Botany, ten. These rooms are rented at one hundred dollars to colleges, societies or individuals.

The general laboratories for research are for the use of students engaged in special work under the supervision of the Director and his assistants, and for advanced courses preparatory to beginning investigation, such as the course in Embryology. There are forty-two tables, of which Zoölogy has twenty-two, Physiology ten, and Botany ten. Applications should be made to Professor C. O. Whitman, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

EMBRYOLOGY.

THE Course in Embryology extends from July 10th to August 17th. The aim is not only to master the details of development,

but also to acquire a thorough knowledge of preparing surface-views, imbedding in paraffin and celloidin, staining, mounting, drawing, reconstructing modeling, etc. The study is mainly confined to the fish egg as the best type for elucidating vertebrate development; but the eggs of amphibia and other vertebrates as well as some invertebrates will receive attention. The fee is $50.

INVESTIGATION.

THE Course in Investigation extends from July 3d to August 17th. For those prepared to begin original work, ten tables are reserved in Zoölogy, and the same number in Physiology and Botany.

Special subjects for investigation are assigned to the occupants of tables, and the supervision of the work is so divided that each instructor has the care of but three or four students. In this way all the advantages of individual instruction are secured. The fee is $50.

SEMINAR.

A SEMINAR has been instituted, and, though specially designed for members of the class in Embryology and beginners in investigation, it is open to all. The third volume of the Biological Lectures will be made the basis of discussion. Most of the authors of these lectures will be present; and from two to three mornings will be devoted to the consideration of each lecture and such questions as may be raised.

LABORATORY FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN ANATOMY.

IN the Laboratory for Teachers and Students in Anatomy, which is open from July 2d to August 30th, two courses are offered the first, in Invertebrate Anatomy, and the second, a newly arranged course in Vertebrate Anatomy. The fee for either course is $40.

VERTEBRATE ANATOMY.

THE list of lecturers on Vertebrate Anatomy will be as follows: Professor H. P.

Bowditch, Harvard Medical School; Dr. F. S. Lee, College of Physicians and Surgeons; Dr. C. F. Hodge, Clark University; Dr. O. S. Strong, Columbia College; Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School; Dr. J. S. Kingsley, Tuft's College; Dr. J. P. McMurrich, University of Michigan; Dr. H. F. Osborn, Columbia College.

Applications for admission to the laboratory for students and teachers should be made to Prof. H. C. Bumpus, Brown University, Providence, R. I.

BOTANY.

THE laboratory work in Botany (July 10-August 17) will be restricted to the study of the structure and development of types of the various orders of the cryptogamous plants, and especial attention will be given to the study of the various species of Marine Algae which occur so abundantly in the waters about Woods Holl.

The following colleges and societies controlled private rooms or tables during the season of 1894:

Boston University School of Medicine, Brown University, Bryn Mawr College, College of Medicine, Syracuse University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia College, Hamilton College, Harvard University (Professor Farlow), Lake Forest University (President Coulter), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Miami University, Mt. Holyoke College, Missouri Botanical Garden, Northwestern University, Princeton College, Smith College, University of Chicago, University of Cincinnati, University of Pennsylvania (Provost Harrison), Vassar College, Wellesley college, Williams College, Women's College Baltimore, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Naturalists, Beta Alpha Chapter of the K. K. G. Fraternity of the University of Pennsylvania, Lucretia Crocker Scholarship, Woman's School Alliance Milwaukee.

THE GENERIC NAMES OF THE THREE-TOED ECHIDNA.

THE three-toed Echidna discovered by M. Bruijn in northwestern New Guinea, and described by Peters and Doria in 1876 as Tachyglossus bruijnii, has been commonly recognized as belonging to a different genus from the common five-toed Echidna of Tasmania and Australia. Although the species was described less than twenty years ago, four generic names have been proposed for it. Early in 1877 Dr. Theodore Gill erected the genus Zaglossus* for it, and Gervais separated it in November of the same year under the name Acanthoglossus ; but a few days later, finding that this name had been pre-occupied, he renamed the genus Proechidna. Five years later M. Dubois proposed to replace Acanthoglossus by Bruynia.s

Of these four names Proechidna has come into general use, while Zaglossus Gill seems never to have been mentioned by any subsequent author. My attention was first called to it several months ago by Dr. Gill himself, who suggested that it would probably antedate Proechidna, but no copy of Gervais' Ostéographie being at hand I could not determine which name had priority. Recently I have had an opportunity of examining a copy of the Ostéographie des Monotrèmes, and find that not only does Zaglossus antedate Proechidna, but in fact it was the earliest name proposed for the genus, and should be adopted to the exclusion of all the others.

The second chapter of the Ostéographie, apparently the only part of the text ever published, contains the name Proechidna on page 43. In the introductory foot-note on

* Ann. Record of Science & Industry for 1876, May 5, 1877, p. clxxi.

Comptes Rendus, lxxxv., No. 19, séance du 5 Nov., 1877, p. 838.

Ostéographie des Monotrèmes Viv. et Fossiles, Nov. 30, 1877, p. 43.

Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, vi. No. 6 (1881) 1882, pp. 267-270, pls. ix-x.

ball of Saturn rotates as a solid body, and the ring as an assemblage of particles, each of which moves with a velocity determined by Kepler's third law, the expressions for the ball and for the planet are very different, the former being linear, and the latter an equation of a degree higher than the second. I have determined these expressions for the special case above mentioned. They are still further simplified by assuming that plane A also passes through the center of the planet.

Now, if we bring the image of Saturn, formed by a telescope, upon the slit of a spectroscope, with the slit in the intersecting plane A, the expressions above referred to are also the equations to the curves of which the lines in the spectrum of the planet are a part, referred to an undisplaced spectral line and the perpendicular line through its center as axes; for, in these curves, a is proportional to the perpendicular distance from plane B, and, by Doppler's principle, y is proportional to the velocity in the line of sight. The simplest case is, of course, that in which the slit coincides with the major axis of the ring; this is also the condition for which the differential velocity of points on the surface of the ring is a maximum, and it is one which can be approximately realized in observation.

Hence the laws of rotation of the component parts of the system can be determined (within certain limits) by the form of the special lines, and the form can be determined with very considerable accuracy by photographing the spectrum with a suitable instrument.

According to the assumptions which have been made above, and which represent the accepted hypothesis, lines in the spectrum of the ball are straight, but inclined; as compared with their direction the general inclination of the (theoretically) curved lines in the spectra of the opposite sides of the ring is smaller, and it is reversed. The

actual aspect of the lines on my photographs is in exact accordance with that required by the hypothesis.

If the ring rotated as a whole, the lines in its spectrum would be straight, and their direction would pass through the origin; they would be very nearly prolongations of the planetary lines. Such an aspect of the lines as this could be recognized on my photographs at a glance.

The direction of a line free from displacement was obtained by photographing the spectrum of the full moon on the same plate, on each side of the spectrum of Saturn.

For further details, with the numerical results of measurement of the plates, I must refer to the May number of the Astrophysical Journal, in which I have described these observations at some length.

JAMES E. Keeler.

ALLEGHENY OBSERVATORY.

A GENERAL SUBJECT-INDEX TO PERIODICAL

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE-My Dear Sir: I notice that you are printing in SCIENCE various replies to the circular of the Royal Society of London relating to the matter of a general subject-index to all scientific publications. Your correspondents have so far been in favor of such an undertaking. As I do not believe it to be practicable, it may be of interest to some of your readers to see my own reply which I venture to send herewith. I have made a few trifling changes in the copy which I enclose. I am, very respectfully, EDWARD S. HOLDEN.

THE LICK OBSERVATORY,

March 30, 1895.

MOUNT HAMILTON, April 24, 1894. TO PROFESSOR M. FOSTER, Secretary R. S., Chairman of the Committee on a Subject-Index, etc., etc.

My Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge receipt of the circular of April 6 relating to a pro