260 proceedings: Washington academy of sciences 



Engineers, Gen. William H. Bixby, Calvin W. Rice, and Joseph A. 

 Holmes; Anthropological Society of Washington, D. S. Lamb, Donnel 



F. Hewett, and Daniel Folkmar; Archaeological Institute of Ameri- 

 ca, John W. Foster, Herbert Putnam, and Mitchell Carroll; 

 Biological Society of Washington, F. H. Knowlton; Chemical Society 

 of Washington, F. W, Clarke, William Blum, F. K. Cameron, and 

 W. F. Hillebrand; Colmnbia Historical Society, Theodore W. Noyes, 

 W. B. Bryan, and M. I. Weller; Explorers' Club, Rear Admiral 

 Robert E. Peary, D. L. Brainard, and Henry Brevoort Kane; 

 Lake to the Gulf Deep Waterways Association, W. K. Kavanaugh, 



G. A. BuDER, Edwin S. Munroe, Major Wood, T. Edward Wilder, 

 E. S. Conway, William F. Bourland, William H. Russe, W. M. 

 Kavanaugh, George B. Logan, John F. Messmore, J. F. O. Reller, 

 Arthur Leach, E. H. Deffenbaugh, Lyman E. Cooley, H. H. 

 Walker, Alexander Y. Scott, James S. Warren, and H. F. Auton; 

 National Conservation Association, Herbert A. Smith, Philip P. 

 Wells, and H. A. Slatterly; National Conservation Congress, 

 Thomas R. Shipp; Philosophical Society of Washington, L. A. Bauer, 

 J. H. Gore, and C. K. Wead; Sequoia League, Alice C. Fletcher, F. 

 W. Hodge, C. Hart Merriam; State Historical Society of Iowa, The 

 Hon. H. M. Towner; Upper Mississippi River Improvement Associa- 

 tion, Thomas Wilkinson; National Rivers and Harbors Congress, 

 Col. S. A. Thompson. 



The 89th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences was 

 held in the Lecture Hall of the National Museum, Thursday evening, 

 January 8, 1914. Prof. John C. Merriam, of the University of Cali- 

 fornia gave an illustrated lecture on the Fauna of the Pleistocene asphalt 

 at Rancho La Brea, California. It was explained that, when cool, tar 

 is so firm that animals can walk over it safely but that, on being warmed, 

 especially on summer days, it softens and entraps any animal that 

 attempts to cross it. Animals caught in this manner attract others, 

 and thus the asphalt deposit has become filled with the bones of thou- 

 sands of animals in which canid forms, such as the Great Wolf, largely 

 predominate. Many of the species preserved in this death trap of the 

 ages are extinct, while others, representing later catches, belong to the 

 present fauna. 



The 90th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the 

 16th annual meeting, was held at the Cosmos Club, Thursday evening, 

 January 15, 1914, with President Tittmann in the chair. The fol- 

 lowing were elected officers for the ensuing year: President, David 

 White; Corres-poyiding Secretary, George K. Burgess; Recording 

 Secretary, W. J. Humphreys; Treasurer, E. W. Parker. Resident 

 Vice-Presidents from local societies: Anthropological, F. W. Hodge; 

 Archaeological, Mitchell Carroll; Biological, Paul Bartsch; 

 Botanical, F. L. Lewton; Chemical, M. X. Sullivan; Electrical 

 Engineers, E. B. Rosa; Engineers, G. W. Littlehales; Entomological, 

 A. L. Quaintance; Foresters, W. B. Greeley; Geological, F. L. 



