XL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



Mr. John A. Ryder showed some microscopical sections of her- 

 maphroditic oysters.-"^ 



A specimen of a fossil log of the Cretaceous age, showing the 

 borings of a ship-worm, was exhibited by the President, and re- 

 marks upon similar borings in recent times were made by Mr. A. 

 B. Johnson. 



Mr. George P. Merrill exhibited a nodule and microscopic section 

 of carbonate of iron (Siderite) occurring in coal. 



Mr. Hornaday read a paper on The Mental Capacity of the 

 Elephant,! which was discyssed by Messrs. Ward, Elliott, and 

 Mason. 



Forty-Fourth Meeting, March 30, 1883. 



The President occupied the chair. Thirty-eight members were 

 present. 



Mr. Newton P. Scudder made a communication upon The 

 Length of the Hatching Period of the Domestic Fowl. In 

 the experiments which he made, the period varied from 17 to 21 

 days. Remarks were made upon the paper by Messrs. Hough, 

 Ellzey, Mason, and Schaeffer. 



Dr. Thomas Taylor read a paper upon A New Parasite in Fowls 

 OF THE Nature of Trichina, | and also made some remarks upon 

 Section Cutting and the Mounting of Hard Woods, which 

 were supplemented by Dr. F. B. Hough, who exhibited sections of 

 woods prepared in Japan and Germany. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas exhibited drawings showing the results of acci- 

 dents upon the bones of wild animals. Mr. Frederick W. True ex- 

 hibited bones of the extinct arctic sea-cow, Rhyiina, collected by Dr. 



* 1882. RydfR, John A. The Microscopic Sexual Characteristics of tlie 

 American, Portuguese, and Common Edible Oyster of Europe Compared. 

 <fBulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission, II, pp. 205-15, 18S2; and Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History, London, Oct., 1883. 



f 1883. Hornaday, Wiixiam T. The Mental Capacity of the Elephant. 

 <^Popular Science Monthly. August, 1883, pp. 497-509. 



\ 1883. Taylor, Thomas. Internal Parasites in Domestic Fowls. <^De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Washington, 1S84, 5 pp. ; Proc. Am. Micro. Soc, 1883. 



