ocT. 4, 1923 PROCEEDINGS: BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 373 
A. B. Mann: The usefulness of diatoms (lantern). The value of diatoms 
as a source of polishing powders, in the manufacture of dynamite (formerly) 
and filters, as a source of petroleum, and as the basic food of practically all 
sea animals, was described. The geographical distribution of diatoms is 
very definite, and their occurrence in the ocean and in the air promises to be 
of great importance in the future in the study of aerial and oceanic currents. 
They will also come to be of great significance in the discovery of new petro- 
leum areas, supplementing the Foraminifera, the group now used for this 
purpose. The shapes and pattern of ornamentation of the different forms 
offer a valuable field for those interested in the development of new patterns 
to be used in decorating and in the mechanical arts. In conclusion, the 
speaker showed a number of slides illustrating a few of the 8000 known species. 
654TH MEETING 
The 654th meeting of the Biological Society was held in the lecture room of 
the Cosmos Club April 28, 1923, at 8 p.m., with President Hrrcucock in 
the chair and 38 persons present. CARLYLE Carr, K. Mcl. Smoot, and 
Percy Viosca, JR., were elected members of the Society. 
Under Short Notes, Dr. A. D. Hopxtns stated, with reference to the belled 
turkey buzzards reported at a previous meeting, that he is informed that Ext1 
Hamrick, a mountaineer of Webster Springs, West Virginia, has for some 
years been in the habit of attaching bells to turkey buzzards. This probably 
explains the occurrence of such birds in this region, 
AcNnres CHAsE: Hunting types of planis in European herbaria (lantern). 
The speaker visited European herbaria last year in quest of types of grasses. 
The important Hackel herbarium is deposited in the Naturhistorisches 
Museum of Vienna, making this probably the finest grass collection in Europe. 
Permission was given to take spikelets for the U.S. National Herbarium and 
many duplicates of classic collections were obtained. <A brief visit was made 
to Professor Hacker at Attersee. Munich, Florence, and Pisa were visited. 
An important collection of grasses made by Raddi in Brazil in 1817-1819, 
and preserved at Pisa, is the basis of a small and rare work on the grasses 
of Brazil. The Delessert herbarium at Geneva, the Berlin herbarium, the 
Rijks Herbarium at Leiden, the Botanical Garden at Brussels, the Paris 
Herbarium, and the Kew Herbaiium and British Museum in London, were 
visited. The paper was discussed by Messrs. OBERHOLSER and PALMER. 
S. Prentiss Baupwin; Bird banding—a new method of bird study (lan- 
tern). Most of the speaker’s work in bird banding has been done at 
Thomasville, Ga., and Gates Mills, near Cleveland, Ohio. The methods 
of attaching bands to birds legs and the different types of traps used 
were illustrated by numerous colored lantern slides. The breeding rec- 
ords of a number of House Wrens were shown on the screen, and attention 
was called to the fact that after raising the first brood of the year, the 
pair almost invariably separate and take different mates for the second 
brood. The use of the bird banding method is of great value in indicating 
the extent to which individual birds return to the same locality to nest, and 
also in its application to the study of wintering birds and of migrants. Very 
frequent visits are made to the traps, and as the birds appear to appreciate 
thesupply of food found in these, it frequently happens that the same individ- 
ual enters a trap several times a day. It has been found that individual 
Chipping Sparrows not only remain in a closely restricted locality during a 
whole winter, but also return to the same winter quarters in succeeding years. 
A large proportion of the specimens of this species are found to be afflicted 
