Mr. G. Brown Goode read a paper entitled THE MACKEREL,* * and was followed by Captain J. W. Collins who explained and illustrated the uses of the various kinds of apparatus used in the mackerel fishery.† FIFTEENTH MEETING, June 17, 1881. The President occupied the chair. present. Fifty-two members were Mr. Robert Ridgway exhibited a collection of wild and domesticated turkeys. Mr. Newton P. Scudder made a communication upon the breeding habits of the Painted Tortoise, Chrysemys picta. Dr. Thomas Taylor exhibited some specimens of a tapeworm from the common hog. Mr. Frederick W. True exhibited the first volume of the new annual, Zoologischer Fahresbericht, published in Leipzig, and compared its merits with those of the London Zoological Record Prof. C. V. Riley exhibited specimens of the seventeenyear locust, and the Rocky Mountain locust, explaining the difference between them and describing their habits.§ The Society then adjourned to the basement of the Smithsonian. Building, where Col. Marshall McDonald described some recent black in a patient while under treatment by | pilocarpin.-Report of a | pyelo-nephiritis, with unusually prolonged anuria. | 2. | Care of membranous croup treated suc- | cessfully by pilocarpin. | By | D. W. Prentiss, A. M., M. D., | Professor Materia Medica and Therapeutics, National Medical College, Washington, D. C. |- | Printed by | J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. | 1881. 8vo., pp. 15+1. - Also-Change in the color of the human hair under the use of pilocarpin. <Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic. XLVI. 1881. (Sept. 3.) pp. 202-205; colored plate and Proceedings of American Association for the Advancement of Science, XXX, (Cincinnati Meeting,) 1881. * 1882. GOODE, G. BROWN. Natural History of the Mackerel. <<<Materials for a History of the Mackerel Fishery in Report U. S. Fish Commission. Part VII for 1881, pp. (1)-(48.) † 1882. COLLINS, JOSEPH W. (With G. Brown Goode.) The Mackerel Fishery of the United States. Ibid. pp. (49)-(140+.) 1882. TAYLOR, THOMAS. On a tape-worm from the common hog. <Report of the Commission of Agriculture for 1882, pp. (In press.) 1881. RILEY, CHARLES V. The Periodical Cicada alias "Seventeen-year Locust." <American Naturalist, XV, 1881, pp. 479-481, one figure. experiments in fish culture, illustrating his remarks by apparatus in which the eggs of the shad, Clupea sapidissima, were in process of hatching. He announced that he had succeeded in keeping shad eggs for twenty-four hours in a half dry condition in moist cloth, and in thus transporting them from place to place, instead of the old cumbersome vessels filled with water.* Mr. John A. Ryder exhibited, under the microscope, eggs of the shad in various stages of development, and announced the discovery of teeth in shad four or five days old. † SIXTEENTH MEETING, October 28, 1881. The President occupied the chair. Thirty-two members were present. This evening the Society met for the first time in the Archive Room of the National Museum. Prof. Lester F. Ward exhibited a supposed petrifaction, resembling the hand of a mammal, from near Granger's Station, Wyoming. A discussion followed upon the phenomena of opalization, and the formation of pseudomorphs, in which Messrs. Taylor, Gill, Schaeffer, Dall, and Ulke participated. Mr. Henry W. Elliott read a paper ON THE HABITS OF THE SEA OTTER, (PUSA LUTRIS,) OF THE NORTHWEST COAST, illustrating his remarks by specimens and sketches on the blackboard.‡ Dr. Thomas Taylor exhibited a new form of freezing microtome, invented by himself, and demonstrated its manner of working. S SEVENTEENTH MEETING, November 11, 1881. The President occupied the chair. present. Twenty-eight members were * See Report of the U. S. Commission of Fisheries for 1881, (Part VIII,) and Transactions of the American Fish Cultural Association for 1882. †1882. RYDER, JOHN A. The Protozoa and Protophytes considered as the primary or indirect source of the food of fishes. <<Bull., U. S. Fish Comm., I, 1882, pp. 236–251. (Eggs and food of young shad, pp. 248-9.) To be printed in the forthcoming Census report on the Fisheries of the United States. 1882. TAYLOR, THOMAS. On a new form of freezing microtome. <Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., XXX, (Cincinnati Meeting,) 1881, p. 119. Prof. C. V. Riley read a paper entitled ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE RETARDATION OF GROWTH AMONG LOWER ANIMALS.* A discussion followed, participated in by Messrs. Ulke, White, Gill, Earll, King, and Ward. Dr. C. A. White read a paper entitled ANTIQUITY OF CERTAIN TYPES OF NORTH AMERICAN NON-MARINE MOLLUSCA, AND THE EXTINCTION OF OTHERS.† This paper was discussed by Messrs. Gill and Dall. EIGHTEENTH MEETING, November 25, 1881. The President occupied the chair. present. Thirty-four members were Mr. Richard Rathbun presented a communication ON THE RECENT EXPLORATIONS OF THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION. After sketching the history of the Commission since its organization, in 1871, and describing the new exploring steamer "Fish Hawk,” he spoke at some length of the wonderful wealth of life discovered in 1880 and 1881 on the inner edge of the Gulf Stream, about one hundred miles off Newport and Martha's Vineyard. Mr. Rathbun's remarks were illustrated by numerous specimens, and a large model of the steamer "Fish Hawk." Messrs. Gill, Dall, Goode, and Schaeffer took part in the discussion of this paper. The President occupied the chair. Forty members were present. Col. Marshall McDonald described some recent observations upon young shad in confinement. Prof. L. F. Ward read a paper on THE CAUSES OF THE ABSENCE OF TREES ON THE GREAT PLAINS.‡ *1882. RILEY, CHARLES V. Retarded Development in Insects. <Proceedings, Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., XXX, Cincinnati Mecting, and in separate "Retarded Development, &c.," pp. 4. (February, 1882.) †1882. WHITE, CHARLES. A. On Certain Conditions attending the Geological Descent of some North American types of Fresh-water Gill-bearing Mollusks. <American Journal of Science and Arts. XXIII. 1882, (May.) pp. 382-6. Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey for 1882. 1882. WARD, LESTER F. On the Cause of the Absence of Trees on the Great Plains. <Kansas City Review of Science and Industry. V. 1882, pp. 697-702. (March.) Prof. Gill read a paper entitled ON THE AFFINITIES OF THE "GREAT SWALLower," CHIASMODUS NIGER.* He stated the genus Chiasmodus to be the representative of a peculiar family, Chiasmodontida, and not at all allied to the Gadida. Its first dorsal has inarticulate spines and its ventrals are of the Acanthopterygian type. The group is indeed related to the Harpagiferida and Chanichthyida and should have been referred by Dr. Günther to his heterogeneous "family Trachinida." TWENTIETH MEETING, December 23, 1881. The President occupied the chair. Thirty members were present. Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A., read a paper entitled ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE GLASS SNAKE, (OPHEOSAURUS VENTRALIS.)† Prof. Otis T. Mason read a paper entitled THE INVASION OF THE DOMAIN OF BIOLOGY BY ANTHROPOLOGISTS. Mr. Frederick W. True read a paper entitled THE LAND TORTOISES OF NORTH AMERICA. TWENTY-FIRST MEETING, January 6, 1881. (Second Annual Meeting.) The President occupied the chair. Thirty-five members were present. The following officers were elected for the year 1882: President-Prof. THEODORE Gill. Vice Presidents-C. V. RILEY, Prof. J. W. CHICKERING, Jr., LESTER F. WARD, and HENRY ULKE. Secretaries-G. BROWN GOODE and RICHARD RATHBUN. Members of Council-Dr. J. H. KIDDER, U. S. N., Dr. GEORGE VASEY, Dr. T. H. BEAN, Dr. D. WEBSTER PRENTISS, Prof. O. T. MASON. *1879. GILL, THEODORE. The Great Swallower. <Forest & Stream. XIII. 1879, p. 906, (Dec. 18,) with figures. (A part only of the remarks made to the Society.) +1882. SHUFELDT, ROBERT W. saurus ventralis. <Proceedings U. 392-400. Nine figures. Remarks upon the Osteology of Opheo- 1882. TRUE, FREDERICK W. On the North American Land Tortoises of the Genus Xerobates. <Proceedings U. S. National Museum. IV. 1882. PP. 434-449. Three figures. TWENTY-SECOND MEETING, January 20, 1882. The President occupied the chair. Forty-five members were present. The President delivered the annual address on the topic THE HISTORY OF Classification in Zoology. In his introductory remarks he congratulated the Society upon its present flourishing condition, stating that during the year its membership had nearly doubled. He also reviewed the history of other scientific societies of the city, mentioning the National Institute, the Botanical Society, the Potomac Side Naturalists' Club, the Physical Club, and the Geological and Geographical Society, all now extinct, and the existing Philosophical, Anthropological, and Biological Societies. He also spoke of the eminent zoologists who had been, in the early days of its history, identified with the Potomac Side Naturalists' Club, the predecessor of the Biological Society, mentioning the names of Prof. S. F. Baird, Count L. F. de Pourtales, Dr. William Stimpson, Mr. Robert Kennicott, Prof. J. S. Newberry, Mr. H. Ulke, Dr. Harrison Allen, Dr. Elliott Coues, Dr. D. W. Prentiss, Dr. F. V. Hayden, Mr. F. B. Meek, Baron R. von Osten Sacken, Dr. William A. Hammond, Prof. Burt G. Wilder, Dr. George Suckley, Mr. Titian R. Peale, and others. TWENTY-THIRD MEETING, February 3, 1882. Prof. Lester F. Ward, V. P., occupied the chair. Thirty-three members were present. Mr. Frederick W. True read a paper ON THE ARCTIC SEA Cow, (RHYTINA STELLERI.)* Mr. Henry W. Elliott exhibited drawings of the same extinct animal, and submitted a restoration by himself, the merits of which he advocated. Mr. Frederick W. True exhibited an immense specimen of Siren lacertina, twenty-six inches in length, captured in the mud flats in front of the city of Washington. This species had not previously been recorded north of North Carolina. *To be published in the forthcoming Census Report on the Fishery industries of the United States. |