THE MID-WINTER MEETINGS. 



Though abstracts of the proceedings of most of the socie- 

 ties, which met during convocation week have already 

 been pubHshed, it may be of interest to enumerate in a single 

 list the more important papers read which bear upon our prob- 

 lems, as an aid to the annual invoice of scientific achievement 

 which one naturally makes at this time of year. 



At St. Louis the zoological section of the American Asso- 

 ciation and the Central Branch of the American Society of 

 Zoologists held joint sessions at which the following papers of 

 neurological interest were read : 



Fiuther Obsci rations on the Breeding Habits and on the Functions 

 of tlic Pearl Organs in Sei'eral Species of EventognatJii, by Jacob 

 Reighard. The breeding habits of certain shiner.^ and .suckers Avere 

 described and illustrated by instantaneous photographs. 



Phototaxis in Ranatra, by S. J. Holmes. Ranatra is positively 

 phototactic and a great variety of reactions can be produced at will 

 with mechanical precision. 



The Correlation of Brain J J 'eight witJi Other Characters, by Ray- 

 mond Pearl. A statistical review of the data for the human brain. 



The Morphology of the Vertebrate Head from the Viewpoint of the 

 Functional Divisions of the Nervous System, by J. B. Johnston. This 

 paper will appear in full in this Journal in the course of the current 

 year. 



The Brain and Nerve Cord of Placobdella pediculata, liy E. E. 

 Hemingway. AVax models of the nervous system of this new leech 

 were jiresented. The results in general confirm those of Whitman 

 for Clepsine. 



The Mechanism of Feeding and Breathing in the Lamprey, by Jean 

 Dawson. The anatomical work was controlled by observations on 

 the living animals which add to our knowledge of the habits of the 

 species, notably the fact that the lamprey feeds on the soft tissues as 

 well as the blood of its host. 



