• proceedings: botanical society 187 



The above theory was mdependently formed durmg the summer of 

 1914, after nine summers in the field. In reviewing the Hterature it 

 was found that von Bunoe in 1884 had proposed a similar theory for 

 the ground ice in Siberia. Frost cracks which divide the tundra into 

 polygonal blocks are mentioned by several other Siberian investigators. 

 Wedge-shaped and cylindrical earth inclusions are described and shown 

 in photographs and drawings of the same region. Parallel ridges en- 

 closing frost cracks and surrounding potls are also mentioned. 



Polygonal surface markings underlain by ice are described in Spitz- 

 bergen, photographs of which might well serve for northern Alaska. 

 At Eschscholtz Bay in Alaska, pot-like earth-inclusions in the ice are 

 mentioned, as well as vertical dikes of ice and upturned muck beds. 

 Excellent photographs taken recently upon the Noatak River, Alaska, 

 show wedges of ice 8 to 10 feet wide, separated by from 50 to 100 feet 

 of silt or muck. 



Discussion: H. M. Eakin said that in places in Alaska there are 

 actual strata of buried ice of considerable horizontal extent, although 

 the phenomena described by Leffingwell often gave a false impression 

 as to the prevalence of such strata. He thought the burial of snow- 

 accumulations under dunes would produce such buried lenses of ice. 

 A. H. Brooks thought that there might be different methods by which 

 buried wedges and strata of ice might be formed in different regions in 

 Alaska under different climatic conditions. F. L. Hess spoke of a 30- 

 foot mine shaft which had been sunk on one of these ice-wedges, and 

 described similar wedges, now empty of ice but filled with peat. 



C. N. Fenner, Secretary. 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 100th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington 

 was held in the Crystal Dining Room of the New Ebbitt Hotel, at G 

 p.m., December 1, 1914. One hundred and four members and eight 

 guests were present. A dinner was served at which were featured 

 several dishes made from plants which have been introduced to this 

 country by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Drs. W. Ralph 

 Jones, J. S. Cooley, H. V. Harlan and Messrs. G. F. Gravatt, 

 G. H. Godfrey, L. M. Hutchins, Paul Popenoe and R. G. Pierce 

 were unanimously elected to membership. The remainder of the 

 evening was given to a special program deahng with the early his- 

 tory and growth of the Society with the following papers: 



Mr. M. B. Waite, The Botanical Seminar and the early development 

 of plant pathology in Washington. The Botanical Seminar was founded 

 in 1893. The purpose of the members was to make the meetings as 

 informal as possible. The monthly meetings were held at the rooms 

 of the various members. There were no officers other than the speaker 

 of the evening who usually was the person entertaining the Seminar. 

 There was no constitution or by-laws. Refreshments were served 

 and very frank discussion and criticisms was encouraged. In 1901 the 



