26 proceedings: biological society 



Mr. W. L. McAtee exhibited six rare bird papers which ho wished 

 to dispose of for the benefit of the Society. 



Mr. William Palmer made comments on some of the papers re- 

 ferred to by Mr. McAtee. 



Lieutenant Lyon remarked that among the comparatively small 

 number of stools of patients that he had examined at the Walter Reed 

 General Hospital he had found seven containing ova of Necator 

 americanus. 



The regular program consisted of three communications: 



Dr. T. S. Palmer: A key to ornithological literature. This review of 

 the literature of birds was discussed by Dr. L. O. Howard and by Dr. 

 Frank M. Chapman, who mentioned particularly the literature and 

 the active workers on South American birds. 



Mr. A. S. Hitchcock: The alpine flora of the Adirondacks and the 

 White Mountains. During August Mr. Hitchcock visited the Adiron- 

 dack Mountains in New York and the White Mountains in New Hamp- 

 shire for the purpose of studying the alpine grasses. In the former 

 region collections were made on Mt. Mclntyre and on Whiteface 

 Mountain, both of which support an alpine flora at the summit above 

 tree line. Mt. Marcy, the highest peak of the Adirondacks (5344 feet), 

 was not investigated because it was impracticable to make the trip 

 in one daj^ from an}^ of the surrounding bases. However Mt. Mc- 

 lntyre (5112 feet), being nearly as high, presents the same conditions 

 as those to be found on Mt. Marcy. Four days were spent among the 

 high peaks of the White Mountains. Entering from the east by way 

 of Crystal Cascade, the speaker ascended through Tuckerman Ravine 

 to the summit of Mt. Washington, passing the night at the Lake of 

 the Clouds Hut (Appalachian Mountain Club). The second day's 

 trip was to the A. M. C. Madison Huts, passing the peaks of Clay, 

 Jefferson, and Adams. The third night was spent at Lake of the 

 Clouds Hut, but the return trail was to the east through the Great 

 Gulf. On the fourth day the descent was made through Huntington 

 Ravine over a difficult trail. Nine species of grasses may be classed 

 as alpine, though a few others extend into the alpine zone from the 

 lower zones (e.g., Deschampsia flexuo.sa, Calamgrostis canadensis). 

 The alpine species are Torresia (Hierochloa) alpina, Phleum alpinum, 

 Agrostis borealis, Calainagrostis langsdorfii, Trisetum spicatimi, Des- 

 champsia atropurpurea, Poa laxa, P. glauca, Agropyron violaceum. 

 Most of these are circumpolar species which extend southward in 

 the mountains. The distribution of each species was discussed. 



Dr. R. W. vShufeldt: Notes on some United States hatrachians. 

 Dr. Shufeldt gave life histories and the peculiar habits of a large num- 

 ber of North American forms of this interesting group, all the facts 

 presented having been obtained through personal observations, either 

 upon captive specimens or on the animals in their native habitats in 

 the field. Among the forins touched upon were Jefferson's Amby- 

 stoma, which the speaker has reared in captivity, and which he illus- 

 trated with lantern slides, showing the eggs in the process of hatching 



