next seventeen years practiced his profession in Lynn, Massachusetts, of which city he was elected the second Mayor. In 1859 he went West, and tools the position of chemist for the Breckenridge Oil and Iron Company in Kentucky. When the war broke out he removed to Kansas, and in 1863 received the appointment of State Geologist. In 1865 he was elected Professor of Geology and Associated Sciences in the State Agricultural College, a position he continued to fill for eight years. Since 1874 Professor Mudge has thoroughly explored the geology of Kansas, describing for Professor Hayden the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of the State, and making extensive collections for Professor Cope, including among other interesting fossils the discovery of one of the earlier if not the earliest specimen of toothed birds found in this country. More recently he was employed by Professor Marsh as field geologist of Yale College> and has since made large collections in the West for the Peabody Museum. Professor Mudge was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and was one of the founders of the Kansas Academy of Sciences, and its first President. He also took a deep interest in the cause of general education, and was offered the position of State Superintendent of Schools in Kansas; this, however, he felt obliged to decline, in obedience to his preference for active scientific work. Indefatigable as an observer. Professor Mudge was also a clear and interesting writer; and it is to be hoped that his numerous scientific papers will yet be brought together for permanent preservation in book-form.
Zoölogical Work at the Chesapeake Laboratory.—In a brief report to the President of Johns Hopkins University, Professor W. K. Brooks, of that institution, gives an interesting outline of the investigations carried on during the past summer in the Chesapeake Zoölogical Laboratory of which he was in charge. The laboratory opened at Crisfield, on the eastern shore of the bay, June 25th, having its quarters in three barges belonging to the Maryland Fish Commission. There were a dozen gentlemen in attendance, most of them trained observers, and the amount of work accomplished during the session Professor Brooks describes as very satisfactory. Later in the season the mosquitoes made the barges uninhabitable, and the party was obliged to move to Fort Wool, where its work was continued until September 15th, making the length of the session eleven weeks. Dr. S. F. Clarke, assistant in the Zoölogical Laboratory of Johns Hopkins, devoted most of the season to the study of hydroids, and found that many of the species which occur in the bay are new to science. Besides describing a number of these, he was able to make important observations on their structure, manner of growth, and other points of interest. Professor E. A. Birge, of the University of Wisconsin, made a very complete series of observations on the larval stages of two genera of crabs, tracing them from the egg to the adult form; and prepared a full set of drawings showing each appendage at each stage of development. A careful study of the development of the edible crab was attempted, but stormy weather prevented a completion of this work, which it is suggested should be taken up again another season. Concerning his own investigations, which were mainly directed to the development and artificial propagation of the oyster. Professor Brooks states that he obtained information on a number of obscure points in molluscan development, and also reached very unexpected conclusions regarding the breeding habits of the American oyster which he believes will prove to be of great economic importance. Owing to the difficulties attending such investigations at the ocean, much of the work begun was left incomplete; several of the researches, however, were carried far enough to warrant publication, and a number of papers have been prepared that are now ready for the press.
Progress of the Electric Light.—Mr. Edison has been vigorously prosecuting his investigations in relation to this subject, in the laboratory at Menlo Park, and has lately announced an important step forward. His task has been to get an electric lamp that would work satisfactorily in giving out only the light of a common gas-burner. The carbon-points and arc would not answer. He labored a long time to make
