274 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 



Devils Lake was the home of millions of pickerel 

 prior to the year 1888. Carloads were shipped 

 away regularly each week during the winters 

 when they were so abundant. 



A series of dry years caused a lowering of the 

 level in some fresh-water lakes formerly connected 

 with Devils Lake. This in turn was followed by 

 the drying up of the stream connecting Devils 

 Lake with sweet water associates. These latter 

 had served as breeding grounds for the pickerel 

 which came in the autumn, like the anadromous 

 fish to the ocean. They entered water that in- 

 creased gradually in salinity. Having learned that 

 this was the history of the former occupants of 

 the lake the experiments of the North Dakota 

 Biological Station were directed toward repeating 

 artificially what had occurred in nature. Eesults 

 have finally been obtained which are wholly suc- 

 cessful. Evidences for this conclusion will be sub- 

 mitted in the complete discussion referred to in 

 this abstract. 



Sergitjs Mokgulis (Carnegie Nutrition Labora- 

 tory) : (1) The Influence of Protracted and 

 Intermittent Fasting upon Growth. (2) The 

 Nervous System and Hegeneration. 



C. C. Ndtting (University of Iowa) : Can We 



get Together on the Nomenclature Question? 



The present situation is unsatisfactory, and a 

 solution is greatly to be desired. 



Points on which both parties are agreed: (1) 

 That there should be definite laws of nomencla- 

 ture, including priority. (2) That there should be 

 a commission to interpret and administer these 

 laws. 



Position held by the International Commission 

 on Zoological Nomenclature: (1) That no excep- 

 tion be allowed to the priority rule. (2) That no 

 rule shall be modified except by unanimous vote 

 of the jommission. (3) That the commission be 

 treated with the deference due an international 

 court. 



Position held by a large number of those who 

 voted against the priority rale: (1) That there 

 should be a reasonable "statute of limitation" 

 by which names long in undisputed and general 

 use should be excepted from priority rule. (2) 

 That there should be an application of the prin- 

 ciples of equity in special cases. (3) That a 

 majority of the commission should have the power 

 to propose changes in the rules of nomenclature, 

 and to bring such changes to a vote by the Inter- 

 national Commission. (4) That we retain the 

 right of free criticism of the commission without 



being required to observe the etiquette supposed 

 to govern international courts. The commission is 

 the servant of its constituents the ' ' common 

 people ' ' among the zoologists. 



The present situation regarding the priority 

 rule : ( 1 ) The commission ' ' stands pat ' ' in ad- 

 hering to the position outlined above. (2) A 

 majority of zoologists are opposed to the priority 

 rule as administered. The commission has not 

 secured the support of its constituency, and has no 

 means of enforcing its decrees. There is a dis- 

 tinct tendency among working systematists to 

 ignore the findings of the commission. 



A tentative solution: (1) Adoption of a rule by 

 which a two thirds majority of the commission 

 can change any rule. (2) Recognition of the legal 

 principles of (a) the statute of limitation and 

 (6) the law of equity as applied to individual 

 cases. 



W. C. CUKTIS, 



Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE SOCIETT OP RESEARCH WORKERS IN 

 EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 



At the meeting of this society held on December 

 18, 1912, at the University Club, Washington, 

 D. C, Dr. William Salant, chief of the section of 

 pharmacology, Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, gave an exhaustive review of 

 the literature on creatin and creatinine metab- 

 olism. 



Especial stress was laid upon the elimination of 

 creatin in various diseases afi;ecting the muscles,' 

 the central nervous system and the liver. 



The recent work of Mendel and his collaborators 

 on the relation of carbohydrate metabolism to 

 creatin, in which it was shown that a distinct rela- 

 tion probably exists between the formation of 

 creatine and the amount of carbohydrates in- 

 gested, was discussed. In addition, the speaker 

 gave a brief rfeumS of his own work on the 

 influence of cafEein on creatin and creatinine 

 elimination, pointing out that under some condi- 

 tions, such as starvation, caffein may cause a con- 

 siderable increase in the output of creatine. 



Other conditions affecting the elimination of 

 creatine and creatinine such as temperature, the 

 amount of age, the fate of ingested creatin and 

 creatinine, and the metabolism of these substances 

 in different animals, were dealt upon with some 

 length. 



Letvis W. Petzer 



