OF WASHINGTON. 127 



With this aspect of the question he was inclined to agree, although 

 he expressed himself as dissenting from the idea of the immor 

 tality of the germ cell. In fact, Weismann himself has been 

 obliged to recede from this position and has confined the immortal 

 element to the idioplasm of the germ cell. That the duration 

 of life is determined by natural selection, and, in fact, that death 

 is, or was, brought about by natural selection, is, however, very 

 reasonable. He reviewed Weismann's objections to the old 

 theory of the relation between bulk and longevity, and spoke of 

 the shortening of life by domesticity in animals as the evidence 

 of the influence of natural selection. He also brought up the 

 point of fecundity and its influence on longevity. 



Mr. Fernow insisted upon the omission of all teleological 

 features in discussing these questions. Survival, in his opinion, 

 exists not on account of teleological aggressiveness on the part 

 of a chooser, but on account of what may be called the accident 

 of parental characters. There is no necessity for any species 

 existence is an accident. 



FEBRUARY i, 1894. 



President Ashmead occupied the chair, and Messrs. Riley, 

 Benton, Marx, Gill, Stiles, Marlatt, Schwarz, Coquillett, Hub- 

 bard, Wait, Heidemann, and Howard were present. 



Dr. Stiles presented a petition to Congress, originated by the 

 Society of American Naturalists, for the purpose of securing 

 the removal of duty from scientific apparatus. On motion, the 

 Corresponding Secretary was directed to sign one of the forms 

 on behalf of the Society, and forward it to the Hon. H. Cabot 

 Lodge, U. S. S. 



The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Mr. T. D. 

 A. Cockerell upon the Hymenoptera of Jamaica, in which Mr 

 Cockerell listed all of the species of this order found by him to 

 occur upon the Island of Jamaica, and generalized as to the 

 character of the Hymenopterous fauna, calling attention to such 

 of the genera and species as are common to Jamaica and North 

 America or the other West Indian Islands. 



