SIXTH MEETING, February 11, 1881.

The President occupied the chair, and thirty-seven members were present.

An hour was devoted to the completion of the discussion of the presidential address, Messrs. White, Ward, King and Gill taking part. Dr. J. H. Kidder, U. S. N., exhibited a series of photomicrographs of objects obtained floating in the air of Washington. He also exhibited photo-micrographs of the dry rot fungus from the U. S. Steamer "Portsmouth," after its infection by yellow fever, of spores of various organisms collected in the yellow fever hospitals of Cuba, and of blood corpuscles from patients affected by various febrile diseases.*

SEVENTH MEETING, February 25, 1881.

Prof C. V. Riley, V. P., occupied the chair and thirty-two members were present.

Prof Riley read a paper entitled THE FERTILIZATION OF YUCCA.† Dr. C. A. White gave an account of a collection of fossils, including 1500 species, duplicates of the celebrated collection of James Hall, State Geologist of New York, recently received by the National Museum from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mr. Frederick W. True read a paper entitled SUCTORIAL PREHENSION IN THE Animal KINGDOM.‡

EIGHTH MEETING, March 11, 1881.

The President occupied the chair, and thirty-four members were present.

In discussing Mr. True's paper on "Suctorial Prehension" Prof.

* 1881. KIDDER, JEROME II. Report | on | an examination | of the | external air of Washington | by J. H. Kidder, M. D., | Surgeon, U. S. Navy. |[Extracted from the Report of the Surgeon General | of the Navy for 1880.] | | Washington: | Government Printing Office. | 1882. | 8vo., pp. 22 + 1 (+ 1), 10 plates.

+1881. RILEY, CHARLES V. Further notes on the Pollination of Yucca and on Pronuba and Prodoxus. <Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1881, Vol. XXIX, Part II, pp. 617-639, figs. 1-16. To be published in the proceedings of the U. S. National Museum.

Seaman referred to the climbing organs of the Virginia creeper, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, and of the so called "suckers" of various sea-weeds, which though perhaps not suctorial in action seem to cling to objects in a manner which is similar to suctorialism. Prof. Riley spoke of a suctorial organ of prehension in the thoracic proleg and anal pseudopod of Simulium larvæ and to the ventral branchia of the helgramite or dobson, Corydalis cornutus, larva, which are suctorial in function. Prof. Gill, speaking of the suctorial powers of young marsupiates stated that he believed them to exert an actual suctorial power, even though the teats be somewhat modified to aid them in clinging. Their first attachment to the teat is purely suctorial, though afterward probably the result of a spasm-like action. of the sphincter-oris muscle. He also referred to the suctorial organs possessed by certain bats. Mr. Patton called attention to the peculiar structure of the larva of Blepharocera which inhabits torrents and has six segments, each provided with a separate suctorial organ, probably prehensive.

Dr. A. F. A. King read a paper entitled SEPTENARY PERIODICITY IN LIVING ORGANISMS; in the discussion of which Messrs. Prentiss, Riley, Scudder, Ward, and many others participated.

NINTH MEETING, March 25, 1881.

The President occupied the chair, and thirty-five members were present.

Col. Marshall McDonald read a communication ON THE LAWS OF THE RELATION OF PERIODICITY IN DEVELOPMENT TO TEMPERATURE. This paper was discussed by Messrs. Prentiss, King, Busey, Gill and Chickering.

Prof. J. W. Chickering, Jr., read a paper entitled ROAN MOUNTAIN AND ITS FLORA.*

Prof. J. E. Todd read a paper entitled ON THE FLOWERINg of SOLANUM ROSTRATUM, AND CASSIA CHAMECRISTA.†

*See 1882. CHICKERING, JOHN W., Jr. Notes on Roan Mountain, North Carolina. Bulletin, Philosophical Society of Washington. IV. 1881. PP. 60-64. (Flora, p. 63).

1882. TODD, JAMES E. On the Flowers of Solanum rostratum, and Cassia chamacrista. <American Naturalist. XVI, 1882. (April). pp. 281287.

TENTH MEETING, April 8, 1881.

The President occupied the chair, except when reading his paper, at which time he was replaced by Vice President Ward. Twentythree members were present.

Prof. Gill read a paper entitled A CRITICAL REVIEW OF GUNTHER'S STUDY OF FISHES,* and a short discussion upon the merits of this article ensued, participated in by Messrs. Goode, Gill and Ward.

ELEVENTH MEETING, April 22, 1881.

The President occupied the chair, and thirty-eight members were present.

A committee of the Council submitted the following report upon the formation of sections, in accordance with one of the provisions of the Constitution:

The committee recommends, (1.) That five sections be formed as follows: I, Vertebrates; II, Articulates; III, Mollusks; IV, Radiates; V, Plants. For these sections the following members are suggested as chairmen: I, Mr. Goode; II, Prof. Riley; III, Mr. Dall; IV, Mr. Rathbun; V, Prof. Ward. (2.) The members of the Society shall be requested to inform the Secretary what section or sections they desire to co-operate with. (3.) New members on joining the Society shall be requested to signify to the Secretary what departments of Biology they are each respectively interested in. Signed by the Committee: C. V. Riley, O. T. Mason, George Vasey, G. Brown Goode, Robert Ridgway.

The President announced that the temporary chairman would be authorized to call meetings of the sections, and that members were expected to hand in their decisions as to the sections which they desire to join.

Dr. George M. Sternberg, U. S. A., Secretary of the National Board of Health, read a paper entitled A FATAL FORM OF SEPTI

1881. GILL, THEODORE. Reprinted from the "Forest and Stream." | Günther's Literature and Morphography of Fishes. | A review of | Dr. Günther's introduction to the | study of Fishes. | - | By Theodore Gill, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., | Member of the National Academy of Sciences, etc., etc. |

| New York | Forest & Stream Publishing Co., | 1881. 12mo., pp. 16. See also The Critic, 1, (May 21, 1881,) pp. 132-3; The New York Times, May 29, 1881; Forest & Stream, XVI, p. 428, (June 30, 1881;) Science, VII, pp. 323-6, (July 9, 1881;) The Nation, XXXIII, pp. 120-2, (August 11, 1881.)

CÆMIA IN THE RABBIT, PRODUCED BY THE SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTION OF HUMAN SALIVA.*

This paper was discussed by Messrs. Thomas Taylor, Fletcher, King, Comstock, Ward, and Gill.

Mr. Ernest Ingersoll read a paper entitled ON THE MORTALITY OF MARINE ANIMALS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.*

At the close of the meeting the roll of members was called, and the following persons enrolled themselves as members of the several sections:

Section I. Messrs. Baker, Birney, Clark, Earll, Gill, Goode, Hoffman, King, Mason, Prentiss, Ridgway, N. P. Scudder, C. W. Scudder, Smiley, Thomas Taylor, True, Ward, Wolfley, Fletcher, Flint, Schuermann, Sternberg.

Section II. Messrs. Birney, Comstock, Merrill, Patton, Pergande, Riley, Schwarz, Marx, Howard, and Ulke.

Section III. Messrs. Gill, Sheldon, and Ingersoll.

Section IV. Messrs. Gill and Rathbun.

Section V. Messrs. Comstock, Earll, Goode, Gore, Merrill, Patton, Riley, Schwarz, Seaman, Sheldon, Smiley, Thomas Taylor, Vasey, Ward, Williams, Wolfley, Sternberg, Hawes, Flint, and Hoff

man.

FIRST FIELD MEETING, April 30, 1881.

On Saturday, April 30, the Botanical Section held a field meeting at High Island, in the Potomac River, above the Chain Bridge. Seventeen members were present.

TWELFTH MEETING, May 6, 1881.

Vice-President Ward occupied the chair. Twenty-three members were present.

* 1881. STERNBERG, GEORGE M. A fatal form of Septicemia in the Rabbit, produced by the sub-cutaneous injection of Human Saliva. <Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. II. 1882, pp. 183-200. Plate XIV. (March.)

* 1881. INGERSOLL, ERNEST. On the Fish Mortality in the Gulf of Mexico. IV. <Proceedings, U. S. National Museum, IV, 1881, pp. 74-80.

Prof. Lester F. Ward read a paper entitled A STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE FLORA OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.*

Prof. J. H. Comstock read a paper entitled NOTES ON SCALE INSECTS, illustrating his remarks by a collection of specimens.†

THIRTEENTH MEETING, May 20, 1881.

The President occupied the chair. present.

Thirty-one members were

Prof. Riley made some remarks upon Prof. Comstock's paper on Scale Insects, and was responded to by Prof. Comstock. Dr. George M. Sternberg, U. S. A., read a paper entitled ON MICROCOCCUS SEPTICUS illustrating his remarks by photo-micrographs thrown upon a screen by the lantern. This paper was discussed by Messrs. Seaman, Ward, and Taylor.

FOURTEENTH MEETING, June 3, 1881.

The President occupied the chair. Thirty-five members were present. It was announced that after the next meeting the Society would be adjourned until the first Friday in October.

Dr. D. W. Prentiss read a paper entitled THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF JABIRANDI, (PILOCARPUS PINNATIFOLIUS.)$

* 1881. WARD, LESTER F. Field and Closet Notes on the Flora of Washington and Vicinity. <Bulletin, Philosophical Society of Washington. IV. 1881. pp. 64-120. (Statistical View pp. 88-104, 116-119.) See also in Bulletin 22 U. S. National Museum, cited above, p. 26.

† 1881. COMSTOCK, JAMES H. Report on Scale Insects. <Report of the Entomologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for the year 1880. pp. 235-373. (Scale Insects, pp. 276-349. Plates III-XXII.)

STERNBERG, George M. A Contribution to the Study of the Bacterial Organisms commonly found upon exposed Mucous Surfaces, and in the Alimentary Canal of Healthy Individuals. <Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. II. 1882. pp. 157-181. Plates XI-XIII: and in Proceedings, American Assoc. Adv. Sci., XXX, 1881.

1881. PRENTISS, D. WEBSTER. Remarkable change of color of the hair from light blonde to nearly jet black in a patient, while under treatment by pilocarpin. Report of pyelo-nephritis, with unusually prolonged anuria. <Philadelphia Medical Times. XI. 1881. (No. 335, July 2, 1881.) pp. 609-12; also reprinted with following title:

1. | Remarkable change in the color of the | hair from light blonde to