xl Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



3rd. The heavenly bodies, especially the earth, as the home of living 

 beings. 



4th. Radiation and constitution of the sun. 

 5th. Dying of the sun. Origin of nebulae. 

 6th. Distribution of life through the universe. 



Mr. Julius Hurler read a paper on ''Cobras." 



April 21, 1913. 



President Engler in the chair; attendance 35. 



The following donation to the Library was reported : 



LeRoy McMaster. .A pamphlet on the preparation and properties of the 

 ammonium salts of some organic acids. 



Dr. B. M. Duggar addressed the Academy on "The 

 Significance of Color in Plants." 



Dr. C. A. Todd read a paper on ''Observations on 

 the Migratory Flight of a Butterfly." 



Aiiosia plexippus (Monarch) is believed not to hibernate in the colder 

 parts of the United States, and, consequently, must migrate to escape 

 frost. It migrates with the birds and much in the same fashion. A. 

 plexippus is supposed to winter in the Gulf States. Butterflies, accord- 

 ing to reasonable interpretation of their lives, are largely, if not alto- 

 gether, automatic. The autumn migration of A. plexippus over great 

 distances, always maintaining a fixed direction; when temporarily di- 

 verted or checked, with mechanical promptitude resuming that direc- 

 tion (most remarkably so in a flight specially described in the paper), 

 all this would lead logically to assume the operation of a force wholly 

 external, a force that compels the insect to continue in a fixed direc- 

 tion of line of flight, just as the magnetic needle, after having been dis- 

 turbed from a state of rest, must resume its appointed place. The pres- 

 ent trend of science aiming to obliterate the chasm hitherto supposed 

 necessarily to exist between the natures of animate and inanimate 

 things, would justify such comparison. In other words, we seem justi- 

 fied in assuming that the migratory flight of A. plexippus is purely 

 automatic, and possibly due to "magnetic" influence. 



As this flight closely resembles that of birds, if it be not identical in 

 the main features, the same theory is applicable to both. 



Owing to the lack of universal and systematic observation of the 

 flight, its full course and extent has not been mapped out. Such ob- 

 servations will require united action on the part of all scientific bodies. 

 Action in that direction should be initiated at Washington and might 

 need to be extended over several years according to results. 



Professor Robert A. Hall reported that he had suc- 

 ceeded in preparing Neutral Tri- Ammonium Citrate. 



