proceedings: anthropological society 169 



fessional experimenters throughout the country. It has recognized the 

 clangers to our important crop industries and has endeavored to take 

 such steps as, in the light of our present knowledge, will insure that 

 nothing but plants free from parasitic enemies and transmissible dis- 

 eases are distributed. 



The practical questions now confronting the office are as follows: 

 (1) The organization, development, and equipment of a central plant 

 and seed receiving station where plant introductions and plant mater- 

 ials of all kinds may be received, inspected, treated, and held if nec- 

 essary, under conditions that will safeguard the country, and at the 

 same time not prove to be a bar to a safe and constructive development 

 of new plant industries; (2) The discovery and application of methods 

 of treating seeds and plants, cuttings, buds, bulbs, etc., in such fashion 

 as will free them from parasitic enemies and transmissible diseases, 

 and at the same time not injure them or completely destroy them; (3) 

 The discovery and application of improved methods of reproducing 

 plants by seeds and vegetative parts in such manner that they will be 

 free from parasitic enemies and transmissible diseases; (4) The con- 

 ducting of field tests and trials for the purpose of determining the 

 healthfuhiess of new or promising plant immigrants, and their suit- 

 ability for general distribution; (5) The great need of further knowledge 

 of plant propagation and plant and soil sterilization in order to pro- 

 vide methods which are less empirical than those in use at the present 

 time. 



H. L. Shantz, Corresponding Secretary. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



■ 



The 506th meeting of the Society was held in the Lecture Hall of 

 the Public Library, Tuesday evening, February 6, 1917, at 8 o'clock. 



Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 read a paper on Prehistoric rains of the Mesa Verde National Park. 

 This communication was mainly taken up by an outline of the work 

 accomplished by him, in the summer of 1916, under direction of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, at the request of the Department of 

 the Interior. After a brief introduction on the situation and physical 

 features of the Park and a short account of archeological work already 

 accomplished, the speaker described in detail the uncovering and re- 

 pair of one of the large pueblo-like buildings of the Mummy Lake 

 group, situated on the Government road, 4| miles from the ruin known 

 as Spruce-tree House. 



The mound excavated is one of the largest of the group, and when 

 the work began gave no indication of the form, size, and architectural 

 features of the building it covered. After three months' work there 

 was brought to light a rectangular structure, 113 feet long by 100 feet 

 wide, three stories high, with an enclosed court on the south side. The 

 ground plan showed the existence of four circular, ceremonial rooms 

 compactly embedded in fifty rectangular enclosures which were for- 



