PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



614th meeting 



The 614th meeting of the Biological Society of Washington was held 

 October 30, 1920, at 8.10 p.m., in the lecture hall of the Cosmos Club. Vice- 

 president Ned Hollister presided, and 41 persons were present. 



Brief notes were submitted as follows: Dr. T. S. Palmer announced 

 the meeting of the American Ornithological Union in the United vStates 

 National Museum, November 9-11, with concurrent exhibits in the Library 

 of Congress and National Museum. Dr. L. O. Howard stated that during 

 the summer he witnessed a flight of grasshoppers in France. Part of the 

 army was detailed to light them. In the course of the operations they found 

 the grasshoppers to be a very desirable article of diet. 



Regular program 



Austin H. Clark: On crinoids. 



In the recent seas there are found 576 species, 142 genera, and 28 families 

 of crinoids; 76 species, 22 genera, and 6 families include stalked forms, 

 while 500 species, included in 120 genera and 22 families, are comatulids. 

 The speaker discussed the interrelationships of the crinoids; viviparous 

 crinoids; sexual differentiation; regeneration; asymmetry; the composition 

 of the crinoid skeleton ; distribution ; the paleontological history of the recent 

 crinoids and their relation to the fossils; the occurrence of the littoral crinoids; 

 the re ation of the crinoids to temperature; food, locomotion and color; 

 and the extraordinary close structural correspondence between crinoids and 

 plants, with the reasons for it. He called attention to the fact that the 

 fixed marine animals are most markedly differentiated by their food-collect- 

 ing mechanism, while the plants are chiefly differentiated by their flowers; 

 paralleli m in the conditions to be met has resulted in the polyps and the 

 crinoid crowns and the insect-pollinated flowers adopting a similar form and 

 differential value. He also mentioned that the arrangement of the gonads 

 in the crinoids is essentially similar to that of the flowers in wind pollinated 

 plants The paper ended with a discussion of the plant-like relationships 

 existing between the crinoids and the arborescent marine animals and their 

 parasites. (Author's abstract.) The paper was discussed by Dr. L. O. 

 Howard and Mr. A. A. DoolittlE. 



Walter J. vSwingle: Ch nese botany and Chinese botanists. 



Mr. vSwingle commented upon the exceeding richness of China's flora, es- 

 pecially that of trees and shrubs. China possesses all but one of the genera 

 of woody plants occurring in the United States, besides many of her own. 

 The causes were traced to the absence of natural barriers to free north and 

 south migration of species during the glacial periods. The number of species 

 in some of the genera, and the importance of many of the species to agriculture, 

 were discussed. jMr. Swingle stated that China had a very ancient botanical 

 literature. vSome of the works of great magnitude and value date back for 



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