Annual Reports 135 



members of the museum staff from other sources, inasmuch as all the 

 reports referred to the same vicinity, 



Mr. Charles L. Pollard showed a box of Diptera belonging to the 

 museum, the specimens in which had recently been identified and named 

 by Mr. Charles W. Johnson, of the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 who wrote that the collection included some excellent specimens. 



Mr. Stafford C. Edwards gave an account of his experiences while on 

 a visit to California, principally in Humbolt Co., from August to Novem- 

 ber, 1912. Specimens collected were mostly fungi. A number of photo- 

 graphs taken on the trip and lantern slides made from them were shown. 

 Bears were stated to be not uncommon and deer plentiful. The hides of 

 the latter are not permitted, by law, to be shipped outside of the State, 

 and at many of the ranches quantities of the hides were going to waste. 



Mr. William T. Davis read the following papers : " The Seventeen Year 

 Cicada on Staten Island in 1912 (see this issue, p. 99), "The Allegheny 

 Cave Rat at West Point, N. Y." (see this issue, p. 100), and exhibited 

 specimens of seventeen year cicadas secured on the island in 1912; also 

 the skins of three cave rats and a red-backed mouse, with examples of 

 the food of the cave rat. 



May 12, 1913 



The annual meeting of the section was held on the above date in the 

 library of the museum, with the chairman, Mr. William T. Davis, pre- 

 siding, and the following members present : Charles W. Leng, John A. 

 Grossbeck and Howard H. Cleaves. 



The minutes of the meeting of December 11, 1912, were read and ap- 

 proved, as amended. 



The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows : chair- 

 man, Charles W. Leng; recorder, Howard H. Cleaves. 



Mr. William T. Davis exhibited a large fungus from the farm of 

 Howard R. Bayne at East Jewett, Catskill Mountains. The specimen 

 had been observed during a period of some eight or nine years on an 

 upright trunk of a sugar maple tree. Within the past three or four years 

 the tree had fallen to the ground and the fungus had continued to grow 

 in its new position, with the result that annual additions were made at 

 right angles to the original growth in the effort of the fungus to maintain 

 a horizontal position. 



Mr. Davis read a paper, illustrated by photographs, acorns and leafy 

 twigs, on "Additional Facts Concerning the Hybrid Oak, Quercus nana 

 X Quercus marylandica (= Q. Brittoni Davis)" (see this issue, p. no). 



Mr. Davis also called attention to a pamphlet issued by the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, by W. H. Long, on 

 damage by forest fires. 



Mr. John A. Grossbeck exhibited specimens of Schiaiira apicaulis G. & 

 R., Cleora takenaria Pears., and Selidosema humarhim Gr., taken respec- 

 tively at Clove Valley, August 12, 1912, New Brighton, July 27, 191 1, and 



