PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 570th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly 

 Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, April 21, 1917; called to order at 

 8 p.m. by President Hay; thirty-five persons in attendance. 



On recommendation of the Council, S. S. Vorhees of the Bureau of 

 Standards was elected to membership. 



Two communications were presented : 



A. H. Howell: Notes on American flying squirrels. Mr. Howell 

 spoke first of the general zoologic position of flying squirrels, then of 

 their external characters and habits, their mode of "flight," food 

 requirements, etc. He gave a brief resume of the generic names that 

 have been applied to the American flying squirrels. The main part 

 of Mr. Howell's paper dealt with his recent systematic study of the 

 group, a consideration of the various species and subspecies, their inter- 

 relationships and geographic distribution. Maps showing the distribu- 

 tion of all the American forms were exhibited as well as skins of the more 

 important members of the genus. W. P. Taylor, A. Wetmore, 

 R. W. Shufeldt, and W. P. Hay took part in the discussion, in which 

 it was brought out that flying squirrels have apparently no natural 

 enemies save certain owls, and that extraordinary numbers of individ- 

 uals of flying squirrels, at least several dozens, may be found inhabit- 

 ing a single tree. 



0. P. Hay: On the finding of supposed Pleistocene human remains at 

 Vero, Florida. 



Having described the geography, topography, and geology of the 

 region about Vero, the speaker presented his conclusions. 1 



1 . The problems to be solved at Vero concern primarily the geologists 

 and paleontologists; only secondarily the anthropologists. For, little 

 that is certain is yet known about the beginning and the course of 

 human history on this continent. 



2. Because of the small number of bones belonging to each human 

 skeleton found at Vero and their scattered condition, it is unreasonable 

 to suppose that they were purposely buried where found. 



3. These bones must have reached their recent positions before the 

 deposition of the muck layer, Sellard's No. 3, unless human bones 

 possess some unexplained means of underground dispersal. 



1 In order to understand the matters involved consult Journ. GeoL, 25: 1-62. 

 1917. 



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