472 JOURNAIv OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 19 



Domingo and by the downward trend of the arbitrary line dividing the 

 Miocene from the Oligocene. The article is concerned with the value of 

 Orthaulax as a kit fossil, the biological peculiarities of the genus, the his- 

 torical development of the knowledge about it, the distribution of the known 

 species and the systematic treatment of the five forms referred to it. 



Orthaulax is unique among the gastropods in that the entire spire is en- 

 cased in a shelly envelope, a modification of the outer lip analogous to the 

 finger growths and flanges upon the closely related stromb, the common 

 conch of the West Indies. As in most highly specialized groups, the term 

 of life is short, and, even with the increased knowledge, the limits of dis- 

 tribution remain comparatively narrow. The tabular occurrence of the 

 genus indicates its importance stratigraphically. 



The systematic treatment is remarkable for the refinement of method 

 emxployed. The determination of the species is based finally upon the sec- 

 tioning of the specimens, though the characteristics are, as a rule, suffi- 

 ciently distinct to justify a confident field determination. 



Julia Gardner. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 153d meeting 



The 153d meeting of the Academy was held jointly with the Chemical 

 Society of Washington in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, the evening 

 of Thursday, January 20, 1921. The retiring President of the Academy, 

 Dr. C. L. Alsberg, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, delivered an address entitled The relation of chemical structure 

 to physiological action . This has subsequently been published in the Journal 

 of the Academy.^ 



154th meeting 



The 154th meeting of the Academy was held at the Cosmos Club, the 

 evening of Thursday, February 17, 1921. Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of 

 the Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, delivered 

 an illustrated lecture entitled. How the Government is fighting insects. He 

 discussed briefly the work of the Bureau over which he has presided for the 

 last 27 years and with which he has been connected for more than 40 years, 

 and traced the extraordinary growth of the service, which has been due to 

 the increasing realization of the monetary importance of remedial work 

 against insects affecting crops, the health of man and animals, stored food, 

 and so on. From a beginning with one entomologist and an assistant, the 

 Bureau has grown to a large organization with a budget of nearly two million 

 dollars, with field laboratories scattered all over the country to the number 

 of 75 or more, and with a corps of trained expert assistants numbering several 

 hundreds. 



Lantern slides were shown of the operations being carried on at a number 

 of these stations against some of the principal crop pests, and the lecture 

 closed with a moving picture film showing the latest discoveries in the fight 

 against the cotton boll weevil. 



In the course of his talk the speaker emphasized the point that the greater 

 part of the work carried on in the Bureau is of the highest scientific character, 

 requiring men of intensive training. 



' This Journal 11: 321-341. August 19. 1921. 



