238 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 13, No. 11 
in the chair and 88 persons present. W. H. CHresMAN and CHaRLEs P. 
HarTLeEy were elected to the Society. 
Under Short Notes, Dr. R. W. SHuretpt mentioned that “Nature Maga- 
zine,” a Washington publication which was started in January, 1923, 
already has 11,000 subscribers. 
Mr. Vernon Baiuey spoke of the travels of Prince MaxrmiuiAn in North 
America and his work among the Mandan Indians. 
J. C. Merriam: The cats of Rancho La Brea (lantern). In the fauna of 
the Pleistocene asphalt beds of Rancho La Brea carnivorous mammals and 
birds make up a very large percentage of the great accumulation of remains. 
This is due in considerable measure to the attraction of flesh-eating and 
carrion-eating animals to the asphalt beds by the struggles of animals 
recently entrapped or by the carcasses of those partly buried in the brea. The 
body of one animal may have served as a lure to many carnivores, each of 
which in turn possibly attracted many others. In some parts of the 
deposits the carnivores have greatly overbalanced in number the total accu- 
mulation of remains from all other groups. Although the fossil wolves of 
Rancho La Brea are individually the most numerous of the carnivorous 
animals, the relative abundance of cats is almost unbelievable. Of the 
great sabre-tooth tiger many more than one thousand specimens are known 
in the several available collections. The sabre-tooth is not only the most 
numerous of the forms found but gives a representation of this group greater 
than all the other collections of the world combined. The great lion-like 
form, Felis atroz, is less abundant than the sabre-tooth but is known by some- 
thing more than fifty specimens. This is the largest of all the cats. It is 
fortunately known by material which makes possible the study of the entire 
skeleton in perfectly preserved condition. Other felines include one or more 
pumas and at least one species of wild cat. This paper was discussed by 
Messrs. Bartey, Howarp and SHUFELDT. 
F. A. McCuure, Canton Christian College: Observations of a plant col- 
lector on the island of Hainan (lantern). In the fall of 1921 and the spring 
of 1922 the speaker made two expeditions to the island. On these trips 
he increased the known flora of Hainan from 350 to about 1350 species 
(of which over 75 were new to science). He was also successful in making 
the first ascent to the summit of the highest peak of the Five Finger Moun- 
tains, altitude 7,300 feet. The topography and native tribes of the island 
were described and illustrated by numerous colored lantern slides. The 
following new plants worthy of special notice for economic reasons were 
mentioned: Taractogenos hainanensis, Ficus palmatiloba, and Schizostachyum 
hainanense. 
S. F. Buaxsn, Recording Secretary. 
BOTANICAL SOCIETY 
163D MEETING 
The 163d meeting of the Botanical Society was held at the Cosmos Club 
at 8 p.m. Tuesday, December 5, 1922, with Dr. L. C. Corserr in the chair. 
The following members were elected: WiLBuR BroruErToN, Lewis T. 
Lronarp, Cuuross Peatris£, Dr. Roprert. D. Ranps, and Dr. J. R. ScHRAMM, 
Brief Notes and Reviews of Literature: Dr. Hitchcock presented the book, 
The mind in the making, by JAMEs Harvey Rosinson. Mr. Waire showed 
acorns of the bur oak, Quercus macrocarpa. This oak is a native of the 
