356 PROCSEIDINGS: BIOI.OGICAI, SOCIETY 



H. C. Ob^rholskr: Remarks on ornithological activities during 

 1918 in which year 26 subspecies and 3 distinct species (one of the latter 

 an extralimital straggler) had been added to the North American avi- 

 fauna, while 8 forms were removed from the list. 



T. S. PaIvMER: Remarks on the rare New Caledonian bird, kagu, 

 RhinochiUis jubatus, but few specimens of which are found in collections, 

 none in the U. S. National Museum, although it is frequently seen in 

 zoological gardens there being at present a specimen living in the col- 

 lection of the New York Zoological Society. 



T. S. PaIvMER: Remarks on the number of bison in North America 

 thirty years after the first census in 1889. There are at present 7300 

 individuals of which 4300 are in Canada as against a total of 1091 in 

 1889. There were born in 1918 iioo calves. The government owns 

 eight herds, embracing 850 animals. 



A. Wetmore: Remarks on the shape and size of the pupils of birds, 

 particularly of the black skimmer, Rynchops niger, in which the con- 

 tracted pupil is a vertical slit. 



N. Dearborn: Remarks on the apparent preference by a pair of 

 bluebirds for a newly-painted blue-colored box over an old weather- 

 worn greenish one. 



H. Smith: Exhibition of drawings of the deep-sea fish, Gargariscus 

 semidentatus. 



The regular program consisted of two communications: 



Agnes Chase: Oil grasses and their uses in perftimery. Four 

 grasses, native of the Hast Indies, furnish essential oils. All belong to the 

 Andropogoneae. Cymbopogon nardus, citronella grass, and C. citratus, 

 lemon oil grass, are not known in the wild state. They are cultivated 

 throughout the tropics, but on a commercial scale mostly in the Hast 

 Indies. From 1909 to 191 7 experiments were carried on with C. citratus 

 by the Department of Agriculture in Florida. It could be grown on 

 sandy pineland at a fair profit. In these two species the sterile plants, 

 cut above the base, are distilled. The oil is used for scenting soap and 

 for adulterating other oils. Cymbopogon martini, rusa grass, is not cul- 

 tivated, but harvested from the wild plants common in India. Only 

 the inflorescence is distilled. Rusa, or palmarosa, oil is used chiefly 

 for adulterating attar of roses. This is the Andropogon schoenanthus of 

 pharmacopoeias, but not the real species. Anatherumzizanioides, Khus- 

 Khus or Vetiver, is both wild and cultivated, now spread throughout 

 the tropics and grown sparingly in southern Louisiana and southern 

 California. The oil is obtained from the roots. Its volatility is 

 low and it is used as a fixative for other oils. The roots are woven into 

 mats, screens, fans, etc., in India, and are made into perfume powder. 



Discussion by Messrs. H. M. Smith, and A. S. Hitchcock. 



R. M. Anderson: Recent zoological exploration in the western Arctic. 

 Dr. Anderson, who was in Washington to attend the organization meet- 

 ing of the American Society of Mammalogists, gave an account of several 

 years of zoological exploration along the western coast of Arctic America. 

 He described his itinerary and referred to the difficulties of zoological 



