4i8 proceedings: biological society 



The 323rd regular meeting of the Society was held June 5, 1919, 

 in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club. President Sasscer presided 

 and there were present 22 members and 6 visitors. 



R. H. Hutchinson: Experiments with steam disinfection in destroy- 

 ing lice in clothing. Mr. Hutchinson prefaced his paper with some re- 

 marks about the louse, showing lantern slides, illustrating sexual char- 

 acters, eggs, hatching, and the effect of steam on eggs. Further slides 

 were then thrown on the screen showing field laundry units and a large 

 delousing plant used at debarkation camps, the speaker explaining in 

 detail all the different pieces of apparatus. 



Major Harry Plotz, U. S. Army, who was among the visitors, ex- 

 pressed his appreciation of the assistance furnished by Mr. Hutchinson, 

 and told some of his experiences in connection with this work and in the 

 war zone before the United States entered the war. Dr. Baker was 

 interested in the presence, mentioned by Mr. Hutchinson, of the pe- 

 culiar yellow body in the nymphs of lice and the fact that it has not been 

 recorded in the literature of the louse. A similar yellow body always 

 occurs in several groups of Homoptera which he had studied. Its 

 forerunner is present in the egg and is carried to the interior at the time 

 of invagination. In parthenogenetic forms its history is tied up with 

 the development of the ovaries. Buckner in a rather extensive paper 

 on the subject has considered it a commensalistic organism. This 

 view, however, is not held by all embryologists. 



A. N. Caudell: Notes on Zoraptera. Mr. Caudell spoke of the 

 biology and systematics of this peculiar order of insects. A point of 

 particular interest was the finding of winged forms by Mr. H. S. Barber, 

 and the fact that the insects have the habit of dealation. 



G. C. Crampton: Phylogeny of Zoraptera. This paper was pre- 

 sented by title by Mr. Caudell, who exhibited the drawings to be used as 

 illustration in the published paper. 



R. A. Cushman, Recording Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 597th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly 

 Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, May 3, 1919; called to order at 

 8.15 p.m. by Vice-President BailEy; 30 persons present. 



The following informal communications were presented : 



A. Wetmore: Remarks on the feeding of purple finches on certain 

 plant galls. The galls were the size of a finger-end and were held in the 

 feet of the birds while being torn open. 



L. O. Howard: Remarks on the soon-expected arrival of the adults 

 of the seventeen-year locust and the desirability of securing more data 

 on the chimney-building habits of the immature insect. In this con- 

 nection Edith R. Keleher, Wm. Palmer, and A. Wetmore reported 

 their observations as to chimney building-habits. 



R. W. vShufeldT: Remarks on and exhibition of a second specimen 

 of double-headed turtle and of a double-headed snake. Both speci- 



