proceedings: biological society 291 



On Tuesday, January 19, 1915, at 8.30 p.m., the Society held a joint 

 meeting with the Washington Academy of Sciences in the Auditorium 

 of the National Museum. Dr. Johan Hjort, Director of Fisheries of 

 Norway, delivered an illustrated lecture on Migrations and fluctuations 

 of the marine animals of western Europe. About 200 persons were 

 present. 



The 53-lth meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos Club, 

 Saturday, January 23, 1915, with President Bartsch in the chair and 

 75 persons present. Mr. R. A. Ward was elected to active membership. 



Under heading Brief Notes etc., Dr. Johan Hjort, Director of 

 Fisheries of Norway, called attention to the large numbers of herring 

 caught in Norwegian waters during the last few years, most of them 

 belonging to what he termed the " 1904 Class." Dr. Hjort attributed 

 the great success of the "1904 Class" to the known lateness of season 

 when it had been spawned and when the plankton was abundant. 

 Early in spring the sea is practically barren of plankton and fish hatch- 

 ing at that time have little food. 



The regular program consisted of an illustrated paper by Mrs. Agnes 

 Chase on Developing instincts of a young squirrel. Mrs. Chase had 

 made careful observations and notes on the bringing up of a young 

 gray squirrel during the spring and summer of 1914. The animal was 

 very young when received, needing to be fed on milk with a medicine 

 dropper. Mrs. Chase described its growth and its acquisition of 

 squirrel-like habits and instincts. It was not brought up as a pet, but 

 was given every freedom to develop its natural traits. At maturity 

 it met with wild members of its own species, at first returned home, but 

 finally remained away. 



The rest of the evening was given over to an exhibition of lantern 

 slides on biological subjects. W. W. Cooke showed views of bird life; 

 H. M. Smith, of the Japanese silk industry; Wm. Palmer, of seals and 

 birds of Pribilof Islands; Paul Bartsch, of local birds. 



The 535th meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos Club, 

 Saturday, February 6, 1915, with Vice-President Hopkins in the chair 

 and 35 persons present. 



Under heading Book Notices and Brief Notes Dr. Ransom called 

 attention to a new biological journal under the editorship of Professor 

 Ward, of the University of Illinois, to be devoted to animal parasites. 

 Mr. CooKE read a letter from Dr. B. W. Evermann, now of San Fran- 

 cisco, a former president of the Society. 



The first paper of the regular program was by T. Wayland Vaughan : 

 Remarks on the rate of growth of stony corals. Dr. Vaughan reviewed 

 the work done by previous investigators and gave results of his own 

 carefully conducted experiments at Tortugas. The paper was fully 

 illustrated by lantern slides showing apparatus and methods employed 

 in planting corals and results of one and of several years' growth of 

 various corals. 



