SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Preparations are being made for another expedition to the Mt. 

 Katmai district in Alaska, under the auspices of the National Cico- 

 graphic Society- Professor Robert F. Griggs, of the Ohio State 

 Ihnversit)^ is director of the expedition, which will consist of photo- 

 graphic, surveying, topographic, and scientific parties. The scientific 

 work will include studies of the revegetation of country devastated 

 by aslifalls, and the /.oology of the region at the foot of the Valley of 

 Ten Thousand vSmokes. In addition, a cooperating party from the 

 Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, consisting of 

 Iv. T. Allen, C. N. Fenner, and K. G. Zies, will study the physics 

 and chemistry of the fumaroles and the petrology of the Valley. The 

 expedition will leave in May and return in vSeptember. 



A joint influenza committee has just been created to study the recent 

 epidemic and to make comparable, so far as possible, the influenza 

 data gathered by the government departments. The members of this 

 committee are: Dr. William H. Davis, chairman, and Mr. C. vS. 

 Sloane, representing the Bureau of the Census; Dr. Wade H. Frost 

 and Mr. Edgar vSydenstricker of the Public Health vService; Col. 

 D. C. Howard, Col. F. F. Russell and Lieut. Col. A. G. Love, United 

 States Army; Lieut. Commander I. R. Phblps and Surgeon Carroll 

 Fox, Ihiited States Navy. 



The proposed American vSocicty of Mammalogists has issued an 

 invitation to join in a movement to organize a society for the promotion 

 of the interests and study of mammalogy. It is intended that the 

 society shall devote itself to the subject in a broad way, including 

 studies of habits, life histories, evolution, ecology, and other phases. 

 Plans call for the publication of a journal in which both popular and 

 technical matter shall be presented, for holding meetings, both general 

 and sectional, aiding research and engaging in such other activities 

 as may be deemed expedient. The organization meeting will be held 

 in the New National Museum, Washington, D. C, April 3 and 4, 

 1919, sessions commencing at 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.nu No program 

 of papers has been planned for this meeting. 



The Committee on Organization is: Hartley H. T. Jackson, 

 Chairman, U. vS. Biological Survey; Walter P. Taylor, Secretary, 

 U. S. Biological Survey; GlovER M. AllEn, Boston Society of Natural 

 History; J. A. Allen, American Museum of Natural History; Joseph 

 Grinnell, University of California; N. Hollister, National Zoological 

 Park; Arthur H. Howell, U. vS. Biological Survey; Wilfred II. 

 Osgood, Field Museum of Natural History; Edward A. Preble, 

 U. vS. Biological vSurvey; Witmer Stone, Academy of Natural vSciences 

 of Philadelphia. 



Mr. A. A. Benedict, formerly of the Liniversity of Pittsburgh, 

 has joined the staflf of the Bureau of Standards as physicist in the sugar 

 laboratory. 



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