820 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 233. 



satiou is experienced ou finding every common 

 weed under foot to be what would have been a 

 greenhouse plant at home. But he heard our 

 soldiers say: "We would rather go out and pick 

 a dandelion ouce more.'' 



Edward S. Buegess, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The May meeting of the New York Section 

 of the American Chemical Society was held on 

 the 5th at the Chemists' Club, 108 West Fifty- 

 fifth Street. 



Mr. A. H. Allen, of Sheffield, England, well 

 known as the author of the ' Commercial Or- 

 ganic Analysis,' was present as the Society's 

 guest and was warmly welcomed. In response 

 he made a short address expressing keen ap- 

 preciation of his reception by the Section and 

 his pleasure of being able to attend this meet- 

 ing. 



The papers of the evening were by : 



1. W. S. Myers : ' On the Alcoholic Content 

 of Some Temperance Drinks.' 



2. J. H. Stebbins : ' Upon the Action of Diazo 

 Compounds upon Thymol para- sulpho- Acids.' 



3. J. H. Stebbins : ' Note upon the Reichert 

 Figure of Butter. ' 



4. L. L. Van Slyke, Geneva, N. Y. : ' Some 

 Facts and Fictions about Milk.' 



5. Martin L. Griffin, Mechanicsville, N. Y.: 

 ' Comparative Value of certain Reagents for 

 removing Lime and Magnesia from Natural 

 Waters for Industrial Uses.' 



6. Charles F. McKenna : ' A New Labora- 

 tory Valve.' 



DuRAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDESCE. 

 LARVAL STAGE OF THE EEL. 



To the Editor of Science: Mr. Eugene 

 Blackfoid's ' Note on the Spawning Season of 

 the Eel ' in Science (p. 741-742) is interesting 

 as well as important. As Mr. Blackford has 

 indicated, almost "the only known instance of 

 the taking of a sexually matured eel has been 

 in waters of [nearly] one hundred or more 

 fathoms in depth." Others are rare. It 



is probable, however, that our east-coast eels 

 generally spawn in water of less depth. The 

 occurrence of an eel with well-developed eggs 

 in water only two or three fathoms deep 

 in May is, however, truly exceptional. The 

 question then arises whether the eel had ma- 

 tured eggs ' many months later than in the Med- 

 iterranean ' or earlier. I am disposed to believe 

 that the individual noticed had wandered be- 

 yond its breeding ground and abnormally re- 

 tained its eggs ou account of its uncongenial 

 environment. As Mr. Blackford also remarks 

 about New York, "it has always been sup- 

 posed that the spawning season takes place 

 within a month or so of the " descent of the eels 

 in November and December, and that ' the 

 elvers (montees) which ascend the rivers ' in the 

 next ensuing ' early spring ' are the young of 

 those that had entered the sea a few months be- 

 fore. For a long time I have been of a different 

 opinion. Inasmuch as (1) the sea-going eels do 

 not mature their ova till the winter season, (2) 

 the leptocephalus young are fouad from Febru- 

 ary to September, or later, and (3) the transi- 

 tional form between the leptocephalus stage 

 and the cylindrical stage has been found in 

 January, it appears tolerably certain that the 

 elvers which ascend the rivers in the early 

 spring are the progeny of eels that descended 

 therefrom not later than winter of the penul- 

 timate (and not last) year before. 



It may be of interest to add that brief notices 

 aud figures have been published of the develop- 

 ment of the eel in a readily accessible journal — 

 Nature— for March IS, 1897 (Vol. 55, pp. 467-' 

 468), and for May 27, 1897 (Vol. 56, p. 85). 

 Theo. Gill. 



Washington, May 26, 1899. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 At a general meeting of the members of the 

 Royal Institution of Great Britain on May 22d 

 the following scientific men were elected hon- 

 orary members in commemoration of the cen- 

 tenary of the Institution, which is being 

 celebrated this week: Professor S. Arrhenius, 

 (Stockholm), Professor C. Barus (Brown Uni- 

 versity), Professor H. Becquerel (Paris), Pro- 

 fessor G. L. Ciamician (Bologna), Professor N. 

 Egorof (St. Petersburg), Professor A. P. N„ 



