July 23, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



87 



piece (cylinder, sphere or Bellani plate) is 

 filled with distilled water and the tube is set 

 into the porcelain piece, with the rubber stop- 

 per pressed firmly into the neck. The tube is 

 next completely filled with distilled water, by 

 pouring from the reservoir bottle (previously 

 filled), and then it and the porcelain piece to- 

 gether are quickly inverted and the free 

 end of the tube is inserted into the reservoir 

 in the usual manner, the second stopper 

 closing the reservoir. 



With the arrangement here described water 

 does not pass downward through the valve, 

 but it readily passes upward, keeping the 

 evaporating surface supplied. This mounting 

 appears to operate perfectly, just as well as 

 do the more complicated forms, it is more 

 easily installed than they, it is easily con- 

 structed and the materials are inexpensive 

 and readily obtainable. 



Burton E. LmNGSTON, 

 Frank Thone 



The Johns Hopkins "UNrvERsiTT 



THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



The thirty-fourth annual session of the Iowa 

 Academy of Science was held in Physics Hall of 

 the State University at Iowa City on April 23 and 

 24. At the opening session on Friday afternoon, 

 the twenty-third, the memorial portrait of the late 

 Dr. Samuel Calvin, formerly head of the depart- 

 ment of geology at the state university and state 

 geologist, was unveiled and presented by the Acad- 

 emy to the State Historical Department at Des 

 Moines. President Stephens then delivered his ad- 

 dress on "The Taxonomic Unit." 



After the reading of papers the academy ad- 

 journed to see the moving pictures showing the 

 University Barbados-Antigua Expedition of 1918 

 and also those showing the development of the 

 potiato disease known as "Leak" by the fungus 

 Fythium DeBaryanum. Owing to the fulness of 

 the program it was necessary to hold a short sea- 

 Hion after the group dinners, following which 

 President Jessup, of the university, and Mrs. Jes- 

 Bup received the visiting members at their home. 



Section meetings were held on Saturday forenoon 

 ftnd at the succeeding business session the follow- 

 ing officers were chosen for the coming year : Presi- 

 dent, Nicholais Knight, Cornell College, Mount 



Vernon; First Vice-president, D. W. Morehouse, 

 Drake University, Des Moines; Second Vice-presi- 

 dent, R. B. Wylie, State University, Iowa City; 

 Secretary, James H. Lees, Iowa Geological Survey, 

 Des Moines; Treasurer, A. 0. Thomas, State Uni- 

 versity, Iowa City. 



The academy ratified the action of its executive 

 camimittee in accepting affiliation with the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 which action had been taken soon after the meeting 

 of the association in St. Louis. The constitution 

 was amended to provide for the collection of dues 

 of the association by the treasurer of the academy 

 at the same time as the academy dues, and also to 

 provide for the beginning of the fiscal year on Oc- 

 tober 1. Also an amendment was passed pro- 

 viding for the selection by the academy of a rep- 

 resentative on the council of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 



The Iowa sections of the American Chemical 

 Society and the Mathematical Association of Amer- 

 ica held their meetings in conjunction with the 

 academy. 



TITLES op papers 



Botany 



The treatment of certain seed-carried diseases : Guy 

 West Wilson. 



This paper deals with work on cotton diseases 

 conducted by the author and associates at the 

 South Carolina Experiment Station. Cotton an- 

 thracnose is the most important disease of field 

 crops in the southeastern states, comparing favor- 

 ably with the wheat rust in the Mississippi valley. 

 The author and his associates have perfected a 

 method of treating the seed which is practicable 

 on a commercial scale and which bids fair to be 

 of considerable value in the treatment of seed car- 

 ried diseases of other crops. 

 Some noteworthy uredinales and ustilaginales : 



Gut West Wilson. 

 Notes on apogamous Ligulifiorce: Eatmond A. 



French. 

 Some aspects of the plant ecology of certain Kan- 

 sas sand hills : Fred W. Emerson. 

 The sand hills studied lie in south-central Kan- 

 sas along Arkansas river between Wichita and 

 Hutchinson. Dense vegetation holds the sand 

 stable wherever man permits; burning, close graz- 

 ing and attempts to plant farm crops have re- 

 moved natural vegetation from considerable areas 

 not only making them useless but threatening 

 neighboring farm lands with being covered with 



