Makch 3, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



311 



THE .UIEBICAN 3I0EPH0L0GICAL SOCIETY. 

 I. 



The ninth meeting of the Society was 

 hekl at Columbia University, New York 

 City, on December 28th, 29th and 30th. Pro- 

 fessor H. F. Osborn was in the chair ; Dr. 

 G. H. Parker, Secretary. In the course of 

 his introductory remarks. Professor Osborn 

 welcomed the Morphologists to the new 

 zoological laboratories at Columbia, and es- 

 pecially congratulated the Society upon the 

 rapid progress which morphology in all its 

 branches is making in this country. He 

 spoke of the important part which had been 

 played by the Journal of Morphology during 

 the past eleven years, and the debt owed 

 by American zoologists to Mr. Allis for his 

 generous support. This journal now re- 

 quires for its maintenance the financial 

 support of all morphologists of this country, 

 all of whom should assist by subscribing. 

 One of the marked features of recent 

 progress is the rapid development of fresh- 

 water and marine biological stations, all of 

 which are contributing to our detailed 

 knowledge of American fauna, and in some 

 cases extending even to the study of impor- 

 tant foreign types. The greatest defect in 

 recent work is the tendency to prolixity. 

 ' Brevity is the soul of wit,' and the very 

 expansion of zoological literature necessi- 

 tates as condensed a style of writing as is 

 consistent with completeness and clearness. 

 The recently collected papers of Huxley 

 prove that it is possible to present the most 

 important results in very condensed form. 



In the business session the following are 

 the more important transactions : A resolu- 

 tion expressing the grateful acknowledg- 

 ments of the Society to Mr. Edward Phelps 

 Allis, Jr., for his munificent gifts towards 

 the founding and maintenance of the Journal 

 of Morphology during the first ten years of 

 its existence ; the election to membership 

 of F. W. Bancroft, C. L. Bristol, G. N. Cal- 

 kins, J. J. Hamaker, Samuel Henshaw, C. 



F. W. McCIure, C. B. Wilson and M. A. 

 Wilcox ; and the election of officers : Pres- 

 ident, E. G. Conklin ; Vice-President, W. 

 M. Wheeler ; Secretary and Treasurer, 

 Bashford Dean ; Executive Committee, J. 

 P. McMurrich and G. H.Parker. 



Forty- five papers were presented before 

 the scientific sessions, of which the greater 

 number are here given in summary in the 

 order in which they were read. 



Notes on the Development of a Myxinoid. 



Bashford Dean. 



Particular reference was made to the 

 horn-like egg membrane as maternal in 

 origin ; it is traversed by pore-canals analo- 

 gous to those of the radiata of teleostomes. 

 The anchor filaments represent the greatly 

 specialized end-bulbs of the radial elements 

 of the shell. Early segmentation is confined 

 to a small but definite hillock of germinal 

 protoplasm subjacent to the micropylar 

 canal. In early blastula stages the cell cap 

 extends downward to the region of the 

 opercular ring. Gastrulation is noted when 

 a downgrowth takes place on one side ; here 

 the head of the embryo shortly appears, and 

 the trunk is laid down longitudinally as the 

 blastoderm progresses, now symmetrically, 

 toward the vegetative pole. Neural folds 

 are early apparent, and the brain is tubu- 

 lar and relatively of great length. In some 

 cases the tail buds out when the downgrowth 

 of the blastoderm has enveloped scarcely 

 more than the anterior half of the egg. In 

 others the outgrowth of the tail is notably 

 retarded. A primitive streak is present, 

 terminating behind in an ovate yolk plug ; 

 the latter is latest apparent near the vege- 

 tative pole. There is no evidence of a 

 greater number of gill slits than the normal 

 number. 



On the Reproductive Habits and Development 

 of the Calif or nian Land Salamander, Autodax. 

 W. E. EiTTER. (Presented by G. H. 

 Parker.) 



