MUSEUM NEWS NOTES 29 
On Saturday evening, December 29, a reception to the visiting 
delegates of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences 
and affiliated societies was given at the Museum by the trustees in co- 
operation with the New York Academy of Sciences. One of the features 
of this reception was a series of brief lectures with lantern slide illustra- 
tions which were given in the large lecture hall according to the follow- 
ing programme: 
“Mt. Pelé and St. Pierre,” by E. O. Hovey; 
“The Fur-Seal Islands of Alaska,” by Charles H. Townsend; 
“The Home-Life of the Brown Pelican,” by F. M. Chapman; 
“The Fire-Walking Ceremony of Tahiti,” by H. E. Crampton; 
“Tilustrations of Wild Flowers used in Lectures by the Society 
for the Preservation of Native Plants,”’ by Charles L. Pollard; 
“Recent Explorations and Results of the Department of Verte- 
brate Paleeontology,” by Henry F. Osborn. 
THe American Bison Society held its annual meeting at the Museum 
on Thursday, January 10. ‘This society has for its object not only the 
prevention of the extermination of the Bison, but also the encourage- 
ment of the raising of the animal as a commercial proposition. A 
generation ago the Bison, or American Buffalo, roamed over the west- 
ern plains in vast herds, estimated to contain more than ten million 
individuals, while to-day, on account of the merciless and wanton slaugh- 
ter practised in the early eighties, scarcely two thousand are known to 
be in existence. ‘The society proposes to encourage the establishment 
of Bison reservations in each state where climate and other conditions 
are favorable for the maintenance and increase of herds. For New 
York the proposition is that, as a beginning, the State set aside nine 
square miles in one of the reserved areas of the Adirondack region and 
appropriate $15,000 for the purchase and maintenance of a herd of 
fifteen Bison. Dr. William 'T. Hornaday, director of the New York 
Zoological Park, is the president of the society. 
