The diagnoses of most of the species were published in the Revue Zoologique for the year 1857. In that journal two new genera were described; Pseudotelphusa, which Mr. de Saussure now considers identical with Potamia (Boscia); and Halopsyche, referred to Gebiens, which is now acknowledged to be Alpheus. In fact Halopsyche lutaria is closely allied if not identical with Alpheus heterochelis of Say. In describing new species it is always a great aid to their subsequent recognition, to mention those forms to which they most approximate in character, and if closely allied, to indicate the differences. But the author even when describing species apparently identical with previously described ones well known in this country, neglects to make such comparisons.

We should scarcely have ventured upon the following criticisms were it not for the excellent figures which adorn the work, and enable us to recognise several of the species with considerable certainty. The author has failed to apply some of the recent improvements in the science, neither De Haan's subdivision of Lupa nor Dana's of Pagurus being adopted, while more doubtful Parisian novelties of classification, as in Grapsus, are fully recognised. Pericera bicornis De S., seems to be very near to P. bicorna (Edw.) Gibbes; if distinct it should certainly receive a more diverse name. Lambrus crenulatus is interesting as being the first species found on the American shores, of a genus so abundantly represented on those of the old world. Chlorodius americanus seems to be one of the numerous varieties of C. floridanus Gibbes. Three new species of Panopeus are described, P. occidentalis, serratus, and americanus, from Guadeloupe, all closely allied to P. Herbsti, (with which they should have been compared,) but apparently distinct. We have specimens of P. serratus from Florida. The genus Portunus is new to our waters; the author describes one species, P. guadulpensis (guadelupensis?). The three species referred to Milne Edwards' genus Metopograpsus will not probably fall into that group; at any rate M. dubius De S., is identical with Pachygrapsus transversus Gibbes, a common West Indian species, and the other two species seem to be closely allied, and also referable to Pachygrapsus. In the Metopograpsi, an East Indian and Pacific group, the internal suborbital lobe is joined to the front. Plagusia gracilis appears to be a good species, differing from P. Sayi in the quadrilobate margin of its epistome. Hepatus tuberculatus De S. should be compared with the young of H. decorus. Remipes cubensis is a good species, characterized by the marginal band of lineola uninterrupted by a longitudinal sulcus. We had almost simultaneously indicated this species as R. barbadensis, it being the Squilla barbadensis ovalis of Petiver. Pagurus cubensis De S. is probably Clibanarius sclopetarius, as the characters agree except in one point; it is said of the feet that "La première paire atteint un peu au delà du milieu du troisième article de la deuzième paire." We presume however that the author means the third of those joints which project from beneath the carapax. Caridina mexicana would be more properly referred to Atyoida, for in Caridina the second pair of feet have a long slender carpus not bifurcated at the extremity. (See M. Edwards; Hist. Nat. des Crust., pl. 25bis, f. 4.) Seven new Palemons are described, which we should have judged to be freshwater species, but our author says that they, as well as P. jamaicensis

are found on the coasts. Of Tetradecapoda twelve species are described, —one Amphitoe, seven Porcellios, one Armadillo, one Pseudarmadillo, (a new genus between Armadillo and Armadillidium,) one Anilocra, and one Cymothoa. The only Entomostracan is Chlamydotheca azteca, of a new generic type forming a subdivision of the old genus Cypris.

W. S.

10. Observations on the Genus Unio; by ISAAC LEA, LL.D.-In our notice of Dr. Lea's Memoir we stated that the embryonic form of the shell in the case of 38 species of Unionidæ is figured without details on one of the plates. We intended to say without details on the plates. There are detailed descriptions occupying eight pages of the memoir.

11. Catalogue of the Described Coleoptera of the United States; by FRIEDRICH ERNST MELSHEIMER, M.D., revised by S. S. HALDEMAN and J. LECONTE. 174 pp. 8vo.

12. Catalogue of the described Diptera of North America; prepared for the Smithsonian Institution by R. OSTEN SACKEN. 92 pp. 8vo. These two works were issued the past year by the Smithsonian Institution. They are of great value to all interested in these departments

of Entomology.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. Appendix to the Article on Fluctuations of the Water Level of the Lakes (p. 305); by C. WHITTLESEY. (Received too late for insertion in connection with the article.)-Since this article was written I have seen the following notices of the discovery of a lunar tide on Lake Michigan, by gentlemen who have made observations at Milwaukee and at Chicago.

It may not be improper for me to add, that very numerous observations have been made here to ascertain the character of the fluctuations of the level of Lake Michigan, one of the results of which was announced by me in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel & Gazette, of Sept. 3d, 1849, in the following words:

'An Important question settled.-By a series of observations made every three hours during the month of August, 1849, I have ascertained that there is a slight lunar tide on Lake Michigan.

Other subsequent observations made hourly both day and night, for two months, fully confirmed this conclusion. I. A. LAPHAM.

Milwaukee, Dec. 24th, 1858."

At a meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, Nov. 30th, 1858, I find among the proceedings the following report:

"An interesting announcement was made at this meeting by Lieut. Col. J. D. Graham, U. S. A., of the recent discovery of the operation of lunar attraction upon the waters of Lake Michigan.

A series of accurate tidal observations has, during the last four years, been prosecuted under the superintendence of Col. Graham, resulting in the discovery above noticed. The supposed influence is more noticeable at the period of the moon's conjunction or opposition, and in tranquil weather, the observed extent of it being about two-tenths of a foot.

The brief announcement by Col. Graham will, it is hoped, be followed by a detailed statement of facts and data at a future day."

2. Report on the History and Progress of the American Coast Survey up to the year 1858, by the Committee of twenty appointed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the Montreal meeting, August, 1857. 88 pp., 8vo.-The committee of twenty appointed by the Association, consisted of Judge J. K. Kane, Pres. Amer. Phil. Soc. Pa., Gen. J. G. Totten, Chief Engineer U. S. A., Prof. Benjamin Peirce, Harvard College, Mass., Prof. John Torrey, U. S. Assay Office, N. Y., Prof. Joseph Henry, Sec. Smithsonian Institution, D. C., Prof. J. F. Frazer, University of Pennsylvania, Pa., Prof. Wm. Chauvenet, U.S. Naval Academy, Md., Pres. F. A. P. Barnard, University of Mississippi, Miss., Prof. John Leconte, College of South Carolina, S. C., Prof. Wm. M. Gillespie, Union College, N. Y., Prof. F. H. Smith, University of Virginia, Va., Prof. W. H. C. Bartlett, U. S. Military Academy, N. Y., Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, Free Academy, N. Y., Prof. Stephen Alexander, College of New Jersey, N. J., Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes, Charleston College, S. C., Prof. Joseph Winlock, Sup. Am. Alm., Ky., Prof. James Phillips, University of North Carolina, N. C., Prof. Wm. Ferrel, Nashville, Tenn., Prof. Edward Hitchcock, Amherst College, Mass., Prof. James D. Dana, Yale College, Conn. After the death of Judge Kane in February, 1858, Pres. F. A. P, Barnard was appointed chairman of the committee.

The Report treats of the methods of coast survey in different countries, the history of the Coast Survey in this country, the results up to 1858, and the benefits to navigation, commerce, and general science. We have presented in a recent article a review of some of these results. This Report gives a broader and fuller exposition of the whole subject, and exhibits in a strong light the indebtedness of the country to the ability and excellent management of Prof. Bache, the Superintendent. It is only necessary to cite here from the concluding pages of the Report the recapitulation of the conclusions concurred in by the Committee with entire unanimity."

46

"1. The American Coast Survey, in its inception, was a work imperatively demanded by a due regard to the industrial interests of the country, dependent, as they are, greatly upon the prosperity of commerce for their free development.

2. The indecision which marked the early policy of the government in regard to this Survey, and the consequent delay of its efficient operations, and postponement of its beneficial results, were of manifest disadvantage to the material welfare of our people, and cannot but be still subjects of serious regret.

3. The economical value of such surveys is attested by the universal voice of all commercial men, and by the concurrent practice of all commercial nations, no less than by the melancholy records of marine disaster annually occurring upon every unexplored coast.

4. Their scientific value is witnessed, in the instance of the American survey, by the spontaneous tributes of approval frequently and freely bestowed upon it-no less in regard to the ability, energy and skill displayed in its management, than to the magnitude, variety, and oftentimes curious interest of the results it has wrought out-by individuals and organized bodies of men, whose high position as scientific authorities renders their opinions upon subjects of this nature entirely conclusive.

5 This work has conferred many valuable benefits upon science, indirectly and incidentally, in the invention or perfection of instruments, in the improvement of methods of observation or of computation, in the development it has given to special subjects of interesting inquiry, and in the stimulus which it has furnished to the scientific talent of the country, especially in the field of astronomical observation and investigation. 6. A careful study of the progress made from year to year, especially since the enlargement of the scale of operations under the present superintendent, affords ample evidence that the work has been expeditiously prosecuted, and the amount accomplished up to the present date is materially greater than has ever been accomplished in any other country in the same length of time, and with the same means.

7. Compared with the same surveys executed or in progress of execution by foreign governments, the American survey has been conducted with remarkable economy.

8. Compared with such foreign surveys, the quality of the work done in this will bear the test of any standard that has ever been anywhere set up, and is such as to reflect honor on the scientific character of our country in the eyes of the world.

9. Every consideration of economy, of humanity, and of regard for the reputation of the country, demands that the work should be prosecuted with undiminished activity, until every portion of our coast shall have been as thoroughly explored and mapped as those have been already in which its operations commenced.

10. Conclusive reasons, involving other weighty public interests no less than this, but connected also with the project of verifying in the happiest manner the geodesy of our extended and circuitous coast, conspire to render the triangulation of the great Appalachian chain of mountains a most desirable undertaking, and encourage the hope that our government will very early direct that most important work to be executed.

11. The publication in full of all the observations upon which the published results of the Coast Survey are founded, together with the methods employed in the reduction and discussion of the observations, would be a contribution to science, and especially to the science of geodesy, of inappreciable value, besides being necessary to secure the records against loss; and the cominittee earnestly hope that the government may not fail to provide the means for the adequate and rapid prosecution of the work.

12. The existing organization of the Survey, judged in the light of the experience acquired by our own and by foreign governments in the management of such works, is, in the deliberate opinion of the committee, preferable to any other that has ever been suggested."

3. Note on the Height of the Atmosphere.-A letter from Mons. Emm. Liais published in the Comptes Rendus (Jan. 10, 1859, p. 109) gives the results of his inquiries into the height of the atmosphere as deduced from observations on polarization made at the tropics at the commencement of dawn and the end of twilight. The letter is dated San Domingos, Bay of Rio Janeiro, Dec. 6, 1858. His observations at that place, Dec. 1, 2, and 3, indicated that the limit of atmospheric polarization was 9m 40 in passing from 20 degrees east of the zenith to 20 degrees west. But at San Domingo, of which the latitude is 23° S., the limit of the

SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXVII, No. 81.-MAY, 1859.

shadow passes over 256 kilometres per minute, or 247.5 kilometres in 9m 40s. From this the height of the atmosphere is calculated to be 340 kilometres or 211 miles.

4. Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge.-Since our last (see pp. 295-299 this vol.) a new and most encouraging aspect has come over this important movement. The legislature of Massachusetts, after listening to the persuasive eloquence of Agassiz, exhibiting in the most catholic and unselfish spirit the claim of the subject upon the public purse, has appropriated one hundred thousand dollars for a zoological museum, on the condition that as much more should be subscribed, including the legacy of Mr. Francis C. Gray of $50,000, for the same purpose. The subscription soon amounted to $80,000 besides this legacy, or in all, including the bounty of the State, to the magnificent sum of $230,000 (two hundred and thirty thousand dollars). It is now proposed to make up the whole amount to a quarter of a million.

It will be remembered that the legacy of Mr. Gray is for the expenses of the museum exclusive of salaries or buildings.

This bounty of the State is derived from the sales of a large tract of land in the city of Boston reclaimed by the commonwealth from the "Back Bay," and hence called the "Back Bay lands." The whole proceeds of this noble domain so far as by partition with the city and the contractors they belong to the State (and they are estimated by millions) are solemnly dedicated to the cause of education-ever held most sacred in great-hearted Massachusetts. Were it pertinent to our pages we should delight to transfer to them all that relates to this subject, but we will content ourselves by giving the act of incorporation for the "Museum of Comparative Zoology, passed April 6, 1859."

"AN ACT to incorparate the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Board of Education, the Chief Justice of the highest Judicial Court, ex officiis, and Louis Agassiz and William Gray, together with Jacob Bigelow, James Walker, George Ticknor, Nathaniel Thayer, Samuel Hooper, Samuel G. Ward and James Lawrence, and their successors, are hereby made a body politic and corporate, by the name of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology,' with all the powers and privileges set forth in the Forty-fourth Chapter of the Revised Statutes, so far as the same are applicable to the purpose for which said Corporation is established, as hereinafter mentioned, and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 2. Said Corporation may receive, hold, purchase and possess real and personal property not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars in value, to be used and improved for the erection, support and maintenance of a Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, in this Commonwealth; and the sum of fifty thousand dollars, heretofore contributed in aid of the Museum of Comparative Zoology by William Gray, shall be deemed to be a part of the sum required to be raised by private subscription for the said Museum, as a condition precedent to the payment by the Commonwealth to said Trustees of any part of the avails of the sales of land in the Back Bay.

SECTION 3. The places of Louis Agassiz and William Gray, whenever the same or either of them shall become vacant by death, resignation or otherwise, shall be filled by a concurrent vote of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the