XXXVI BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



Thirty-Seventh Meeting, December 22, 1882. 



The President occupied the chair. Thirty-four members were 

 present. 



Dr. T. H. Bean read a paper On the Occurrence of the Ale- 

 wife IN CERTAIN Lakes of New York.* The alewife {Cliipea 

 venialis) which is identical with the branch herring of the Potomac, 

 has been observed in immense numbers in Lake Ontario, and Cay- 

 uga and Seneca Lakes, New York — its first appearance having 

 been in 1873. It is supposed to have been accideiitally introduced 

 by fish-culturists when planting young shad. \\\ the discussion of 

 this paper Messrs. Smiley, Barnard, True, Ryder, and Goode partici- 

 I)ated. Mr. Ryder spoke of observations on a supposed hybrid be- 

 tween the shad and the rock-fish. 



Prof. Riley read a paper on The Lignified Serpent of Bra- 

 zil, f a curious object lately discussed in scientific journals in 

 France and the United States, and pronounced by M. Olivier, a 

 French savaiit, to be an actual seri)ent converted into woody tissue. 

 This he demonstrated to be a woody formation developed in the 

 burrow of the larva of a wood-boring insect, which, by some slight 

 artificial changes, had been made to resemble a serpent still more 

 than in its original condition. 



Thirty-Eighth Meeting, January 5, 1883. 



(Third Annual Meeting.) 



The •President occupied the chair. Sixty-six members were 

 present. 



The following board of officers was elected : 



President — Prof. C. A. White. 



* 1884. Bean, Tarleton H. On the Cccurrence of the Branch Alewife in 

 Certain Lakes of New York. <^The Fisher)' Industries of the United States. 

 Part L pp. 5S8-593. 



f 1883. Riley, Charles V. The Lignified Serpent of Brazil. <;Washing- 

 ton Evening Star,^f■ax\. 20, 18S3 ; Scie)itiftc American Supplement, Feb. 17, 

 18S3, and various other journals. 



