658 proceedings: biological society 



inclusive. Dr. Palmer continued with an account of a visit to the 

 New York City Marble Cemetery, where he saw the grave of Dr. 

 David Hosack. Dr. Hosack, a physician, came to this country from 

 Scotland in 1794, and was instrumental in founding the first Botanical 

 Garden in America, in 1801. Dr. Palmer also announced that re- 

 cently, in Philadelphia, he had examined a slate over the grave of 

 Rafinesque, a site that previously had been unmarked. A suitable 

 tablet has now been installed through the generosity of Messrs. Hand, 

 Mercer and Rhoads. 



Dr. C. W. Stiles remarked that he had recently seen the grave of 

 E. A. de Schweinitz in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Stiles 

 also announced that recently two manatees {Trichechus manaUis Linn.) 

 had appeared in Wrightsville Sound, eight miles from Wilmington, 

 N. C, a northern record for this mammal. One of these manatees had 

 been captured and was now on exhibition in Wilmington. 



Dr. H. M. Smith exhibited a recent publication by Dr. R. E. Coker 

 on The fresh water mussels and the nmssel industry of the United States, 

 published in the bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries. This paper was 

 excellently illustrated and embodied a most thorough and compre- 

 hensive treatise on the subject. Dr. Smith also announced that the 

 steamer Albatross had sailed for a cruise along the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts as far as Yucatan. The vessel has been refitted recently 

 with greatly improved apparatus. He also remarked that a recent 

 communication from the agent of the Bureau of Fisheries on St. George 

 Island, Alaska, announced the finding of a dead specimen of the bearded 

 hair seal [Erignathus harhatus (Erxleben)] on the beach. The animal 

 measured 93 inches long and appeared to be very old. 



Rear Admiral Baird exhibited an interesting collection of sea-weeds 

 made thirty years ago by Mrs. Baird under the instruction of the elder 

 Verrill. 



The regular program was introduced by the President, Dr. H. M. 

 Smith, who stated that the present meeting was to be celebrated as the 

 sixth meeting-centenary of the Society. The Biological Society was 

 founded on December 3, 1880, with 44 founders and original members. 

 With 35 of these the speaker had had personal acquaintance. The 

 custom had arisen of setting aside each hundredth meeting of the 

 Society as a commemorative meeting, of which the present was the 

 sixth. The first commemorative meeting (one hundredth meeting) 

 had taken place on November 27, 1886, with Dr. G. Brown Goode 

 in the chair, and the fifth on October 19, 191 2, at Plummers Island, 

 Maryland, where the Society had been entertained by the Washington 

 Biologists' Field Club. 



The Secretary then read a letter from Dr. F. A. Lucas congratulating 

 the Society upon the occasion and regretting his inability to be present. 



Dr. L. O. Howard presented a paper entitled Early days of the So- 

 ciety. The speaker remarked that in 1880, at the time of the formation 

 of the Biological Society, Boston w-^ considered the scientific center of 



