MAR. 19, 1923 PROCEEDINGS: BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 111 
In the Department of Agriculture figures were obtained from four bureaus 
only. It was found that the average salary of men with doctor of philosophy 
degrees was $3372, with masters’ degrees $2905, and with bachelors’ degrees 
$2535. In connection with these figures, the speaker noted that many of the 
older men do not have the higher degrees, but have attained higher salaries 
through experience and seniority, so there would be a wider difference between 
the holders of different degrees, if only men of equal age and experience 
could be compared. 
In conclusion, the speaker said the three objects of graduate study are the 
following: (1) to broaden the field of view; (2) to come in contact with great 
minds; and (8) to learn methods of research in the specialty involved. 
G. N. Conus: Maize and its wild relatives (lantern). Maize is the only 
cereal whose wild prototype is unknown. The only wild plant known which 
is close enough to maize to give a clue to the origin of the latter is teosinte, 
a large Mexican grass of the genus Huchlaena There are two species, one 
perennial, the other annual. The latter hybridizes freely with maize, and 
all intergrades can easily be produced, but none of them maintain themselves 
in nature. Teosinte is a more highly specialized grass than maize, hence 
evolution must have gone backward if teosinte changed into maize. The 
theory that maize may have originated from teosinte by crossing the latter 
with some unknown plant similar to sorghum seems to accord best with the 
known facts. 
N. A. Coss: Nematodes inhabiting trees (lantern). After a general account 
of nematodes or nemas, the speaker described in detail an outbreak of nemas 
on the coconut palms in the Canal Zone and vicinity. The nema was found 
in the roots and in a Certain cylinder of trunk tissue; the latter turning red 
has given the name “red ring”’ to the disease. As there was no way to 
destroy the nemas within the tree, the speaker had turned his attention to 
methods of infection, and had found that the large palm weevils carry the 
worms from tree to tree. The gathering and destruction of the weevils on a 
large scale is believed to have checked the spread of the attack. 
643D MEETING 
The 643d regular meeting of the Biological Society was held at the Cosmos 
Club November 25, 1922, with Vice-President Hircucock in the chair and 
76 persons present. 
The following new members were elected: J. C. BRIDWELL, 8. C. Brooks, 
E. F. Friptgty, L. G. Hoover, P. B. Jounson, and EpMunpD PuatrT. 
L. W. STEPHENSON gave a short account of the discovery of cypress stumps 
in an ancient swamp opened in excavating for the new Hotel Walker on 
Connecticut Avenue. As examined by the speaker, the top layer showed a. 
recent fill of 10 to 12 feet; below this 7 or 8 feet of clay, then 5 to 8 feet of 
swamp deposit, then gray micaceous sand 12 to 15 feet deep, the lowest 3 to 
5 feet becoming gravelly. The swamp layer, which is of the Pleistocene age, 
is a peaty clay, containing cypress stumps and knees with some seeds, balls 
and scales. Only a few logs were horizontal, most of them being vertical and 
truncated a little above the base. When dry, the wood burns freely. The 
only tree occurring is Taxodium distichum, the bald cypress, the present range 
of which extends to within twenty miles of the District. The speaker thought 
the estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 years as the age of the deposit was far too 
little. He illustrated the strata by means of a chart. 
