262 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 946 



Total receipts, as above $407.29 



Deduct total disbursements 116.00 



Balance in current funds $291.29 



The report was approved by an auditing com- 

 mittee and accepted by the society. 



The treasurer reported the failure of the In- 

 dustrial Savings and Loan Co. in vrhich the per- 

 manent funds of the Eastern Branch had been 

 invested by a former secretary-treasurer. The 

 treasurer, Professor J. H. Gerould, was appointed 

 custodian of the claim on the fund so invested in 

 order that legal processes incident to the change 

 of treasurers might be avoided.' 



Mr. Mayer offered resolutions upon the deaths 

 of Professors T. H. Montgomery and Nettie Ste- 

 vens. These were adopted by the society and the 

 secretary instructed to publish them in Science 

 and transmit copies to the families of the deceased 

 members. 



The society passed the following resolution by 

 unanimous vote: 



Whereas: It is essential to the advancement 

 of the interests of American fisheries both at home 

 and abroad that the commissioner of fisheries 

 should be a man of the highest scientific attain- 

 ments, as well as one of wide practical experience 

 in the varied activities of the Bureau; therefore, 

 Be it Resolved, That the American Society of 

 Zoologists, in session at Cleveland, Ohio, without 

 expressing preference for any particular candi- 

 date, earnestly urge upon the President-elect, in 

 the event that a change be made in the admin- 

 istration of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, 

 the selection of a person for this office who is 

 recognized as a trained zoologist, who has shown 

 marked ability in the practical application of 

 zoological methods and results, who is thoroughly 

 familiar with the problems of American fisheries, 

 and who possesses the ability so to organize and 

 administer the affairs of the bureau as to bring 

 the efficiency of its work to the highest develop- 

 ment. 



'At a meeting of the executive committee it 

 was resolved that the funds of the society should 

 for the present be invested only in savings banks 

 or other institutions recognized as suitable deposi- 

 tories for trust funds and that the treasurers of 

 the two branches should confer during the coming 

 year and present recommendations for the invest- 

 ment of the society's funds not held for current 

 expenses. 



A committee consisting of E. G. Conklin (chair- 

 man), H. V. Wilson and A. G. Mayer was ap- 

 pointed to present this resolution to the President- 

 elect. 



After consideration and discussion of a motion 

 by Professor C. C. Adams, the society voted to 

 give the officers power to act for them in the 

 support of both state and national legislation 

 looking toward the protection and conservation of 

 wild animals. 



The following papers were presented at the 

 meeting, either in full or by title: 



ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR 



A. S. Pearse (University of Wisconsin) : The 



Beaches at Nahant, Mass, 

 S. R. Williams (Miami University) : Notes on 



the Distribution of Thermobia domestica and 



Lepisma saccharina. 



These two Thysanurans are common in the house 

 in Oxford in which I live, Thermobia in the attic 

 and Lepisma in the cellar. The conditions of 

 moisture and temperature are of course very dif- 

 ferent at the two levels. Daily records from July 

 11 to September 11, our hottest weather, gave the 

 following results : 



Cellar. — Highest record of maximum thermom- 

 eter, 27° C, July 15. Lowest record of the min- 

 imum thermometer, 17° C, August 6. Average for 

 two months, maximum, 22.7°; minimum, 19.5°. 



Attic. — Highest record of maximum thermom- 

 eter, 41° C, July 14. Lowest record of minimum 

 thermometer, 11.5° C, August 4 and 5. Average 

 for two months, maximum, 33.9° ; minimum, 20.7°. 



Animals of both species were kept in jars in 

 the attic. It was found that when the tempera- 

 ture reached 40° C. or more, as it did July 14, 15^ 

 24 and September 3, the Lepisma died, the last 

 to succumb being young which hatched from eggs 

 laid in the jars. To test this experimentally some 

 Lepisma and Thermobia were heated over a water- 

 bath in a flask with a thermometer passing 

 through the cork. It is difficult to keep the ani- 

 mals from burning to death on the hot glass of 

 the flask but an insulating material was put in 

 the flask. All Lepismas died while the air-tem- 

 perature of the flask was not beyond 40° to 43° C, 

 while Thermobia — known in England as the "fire- 

 brat" — died at 47° to 48°. This indicates experi- 

 mentally that Lepisma is unable to withstand the 

 heat of an average summer in an attic at our 

 latitude and hence does not go there, while Ther- 



