312 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 947 



President — C. J. S. Bethune. 



First Vice-president — Philip P. Calvert. 



Second Vice-president — W. M. Marshall. 



Secretary-Treasurer — Alex. D. MacGillivray. 



Additional Members of the Executive Committee 

 —Herbert Osborn, C. P. Gillette, V. L. Kellogg, 

 J. G. Needham, C. T. Brues and Nathan Banks. 



Member of Committee on Nomenclature for 

 three years — E. P. Felt. 



Alex. D. M.\cGillivkat, 



Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



The eighty-fifth regular meeting of the Botan- 

 ical Society of Washington was held at the Cosmos 

 Club, Tuesday evening, January 7, 1913. 



The following scientific program was presented: 

 Dk. David Griffiths: Performances in Species of 

 Opuntiu. (Illustrated with lantern slides.) 

 This paper will be published in the near future 

 as a bulletin of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 Mk. J. B. NORTON: Some Interesting Facts Con- 

 cerning the Genus Asparagus. (Illustrated with 

 lantern slides.) 



This paper gave a review of the interesting 

 features connected with the work of breeding a 

 rust-resistant variety of asparagus. Asparagus 

 officinalis has never been found to be completely 

 immune to the attacks of its rust, Puccinia as- 

 paragi. Plants nearly immune to the destructive 

 summer stages show no resistance to the scidial 

 stage of the fungus. Besistance seems to be due 

 to morphological causes. Belated species are at- 

 tacked by the rust, but the members of other 

 sections of the genus seem immune. The genus 

 Asparagus and its relatives are entirely limited 

 to the old world, the majority being African. A 

 study is being made of the relationships of this 

 group and many new characters based en the 

 manner of growth, roots, stems, leaf scales, ela- 

 dodes, etc., have been found. The arrangement 

 of the stomata on the cladodes is very character- 

 istic in the various groups. The old genus As- 

 paragus contains several very distinct groups of 

 species entitled to generic rank. 



Only one hybrid form of known parentage has 

 been secured, a cross between A. officinalis and 

 A. davuricus. Many other combinations have 

 failed to produce seed. Asparagus grows rapidly 

 — some species average nine inches per day. The 

 seed germination takes from 12 days with offici- 

 nalis to 60 or more days with some African spe- 



cies. Several new ornamental forms were de- 

 scribed. 



C. L. Shear, 

 Corresponding Secretary 



THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The meeting of November 12, 1912, was held 

 at the American Museum of Natural History. 

 President Burgess presided. 



The announced scientific program consisted of 

 an illustrated lecture by Dr. J. J. Levison on 

 ' ' Tree Problems of our City. ' ' 



The meeting of November 27, 1912, was held 

 in the laboratory of the New York Botanical 

 Garden. Vice-president Barnhart presided. 



The first paper was by Dr. W. A. MurrOl, on 

 ' ' The Polypores of the Adirondacks. ' ' This paper 

 has been published in full in the Journal of the 

 Neio York Botanical Garden, 13: 174-178, No- 

 vember, 1912. 



The second number was given by Dr. A. B. 

 Stout. The subject of his discussion was "The 

 Distribution of Tissues in the Boot Tip of Carex 

 aquatilis. ' ' Several photomicrographs of sections 

 of root tips were exhibited, and drawings were 

 made to illustrate particular features in the ar- 

 rangement of the tissues. 



The meeting of December 10, 1912, was held 

 at the American Museum of Natural History. 

 President Burgess presided. 



On the motion of Dr. Southwick the treasurer 

 was authorized to draw an order for the sum of 

 twenty dollars in favor of Dr. William Mansfield 

 to cover the dues as the representative of the club 

 to the council of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences. 



The paper of the evening was on "Diatoms," 

 bj' Dr. Marshall A. Howe. It was a semi-popular 

 account of the principal structural and morpho- 

 logical features of diatoms, their distribution and 

 habitat, their geological interest and importance, 

 the various economic uses of diatomaceous earths, 

 etc. The talk was illustrated by about seventy- 

 five lantern slides from the collection of the late 

 Charles F. Cox. Many of the photographs shown 

 were made under high powers of magnification 

 and they brought out with much distinctness the 

 secondary markings and other minute structural 

 details of the walls of various types of diatoms. 

 B. O. Dodge, 



Secretary 



