proceedings: biological society 213, 



well as vinegar, starch, fiber, etc. In 1914 the Bureau of Agriculture 

 at Manila, P. I., worked out a process by which it is possible to produce 

 a fairl}^ light-colored sugar, which crystallizes readily. The opening 

 male inflorescences of the palm are tapped in practically the same 

 way as the coconut and nipa palms are tapped. The fresh sap contains 

 about 15 per cent sucrose, and each flower-branch runs for 8 to 12 

 weeks. By bringing the fresh sap to about 95°C., then rapidly cooling 

 and treating the liquor above the albuminous predipitate, then treating 

 with lime water until considerably alkalined, then treating with carbon 

 dioxide until another heavy precipitate falls, and finally by lioiling the 

 perfectly clear supernatant liquor, — the process is completed. In the 

 Province of Cavite on the Island of Luzon, interesting customs attend 

 the preparation of the inflorescence for tapping, treatment of the raw 

 surface during the flow period, and treatment of the tree afterward. 

 Conservatively reckoned, sugar to the value of $600 to $1000 per 

 acre can be obtained from a moderate stand of Kaong; in other words, 

 without the expense of cultivation, the sugar palm yields a better crop 

 year in and year out for at least twenty years than does the much 

 more popular and better known sugar cane. Vast areas of the sugar 

 palm occur in Indo-China, the Philippines, and Malaya. The trouble 

 heretofore in making a high-grade sugar from the Arenga lay in the 

 large amount of organic impurities in the sap, which with ordinary 

 treatment turn very dark and then tend to reduce the crystallizing 

 power of the sucrose. 



Mr. Barrett's paper was discussed by Messrs. A. A. Doolittle, A. S. 

 Hitchcock, and William Palmer. 



W. C. Kendall: Some unrecognized anatomical facts and their rela- 

 tions to fish-cultural practices. The paper pertained to the peritoneal 

 membranes. Dr. Kendall said that the species of the genera On- 

 corky nchus, Salmo, and Salvelinus haye a certain extent of ventral 

 mesentery, extending from its anterior ventral and intestinal insertions, 

 just back of the base of the ventral fins, to the posterior end of the 

 abdominal cavity. The ovaries of the same species consist of perito- 

 neal folds, each of which is boat-hke in form, wi h cross-wise parti- 

 tions or ovigerous lamellae. In natural position the open or upper 

 surface is inclined inward against the mesovarium so that the ovary is 

 completely enfolded in membrane. A short but varying distance from 

 the posterior end of the abdominal cavity, the dorsal mesentery ter- 

 minates, leaving a communicating aperture from one side of the ab- 

 dominal cavifiy to the other above the intestine for the remainder of its 

 extent. With the termination of the mesenteny, the mesovarium also 

 ends. From the posterior end of each ovary, the mesovarium and 

 ovarian membrane continues as a trough-like channel as far as the 

 communicating aperture. Thence the two ovarian membranes, 

 united and attached to the median line of the upper surface of the in- 

 testine, form a common trough-like oviducal channel which a short 

 distance from the ovipore diverges to each side and becomes attached 

 to the abdominal lateral walls, thus forming a reduced homologue of the 

 so-called funnel-like oviduct of the smelt as described by Huxley 



