220 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 164. 



movements of the oesophagus and stomach. 

 The ingenious method, mixing food with 

 subnitrate of bismuth and observing the 

 process of swallowing and the movements 

 of the stomach by means of the X-rays and 

 the fluoroscope, had been announced pre- 

 viously. The details of the movements 

 were described. 



Professor Porter, who has been engaged 

 for several years upon an experimental 

 study of the mammalian heart, presented 

 the results of his latest work. Among 

 other things he described an ingenious 

 method which he had devised for the study 

 of the currents of blood in the root of the 

 aorta. A small cylinder, made of hen's 

 feather covered with lead foil, is fastened 

 by a very short silk tether to the end of a 

 probe, which is passed through the carotid 

 arterjr and aorta down to the semi-lunar 

 valves. The cylinder is so constructed as 

 to have the same specific gravity as the 

 blood. Its movements accordingly do not 

 differ from those of an equal mass of blood. 

 The lead foil makes the cylinder opaque to 

 the Eontgen rays, so that its movements 

 may be seen with the fluoroscope after the 

 removal of the ribs. Thus the direction of 

 the currents of the blood in the aprta is 

 made visible. 



Mr. F. "W. Barrows discussed the results 

 of his experimental studies on the effect of 

 inanition on the structure of nerve-cells. 

 In famished rats a decided shrinkage in 

 the size of the cells and the nuclei was 

 observed, and a still greater shrinkage in 

 the nucleoli. The cells stain faintly with 

 osmic acid, and the protoplasm shows a 

 fine vacuolation. The general effects are 

 similar to those produced by intense ac- 

 tivity. 



A number of papers were read by title in 

 the enforced absence of their authors. At 

 the joint session of the Afi&Iiated Societies, 

 Professor J. Loeb (Chicago) represented 

 the physiologists in a paper entitled ' The 



Physiological Problems of To-Day.' This 

 has already been published in Science, 

 p. 154. 



A revised constitution was adopted by 

 the Society. The project for a catalogue of 

 physiological literature by the Concilium 

 Bibliographicum of Ziirich was presented 

 by Professor Porter. The' cordial thanks 

 of the Society were extended to the authori- 

 ties of Cornell University for the many 

 courtesies shown during the meeting. 

 Fkedeeic S. Lee, 



Secretary. 



Columbia Univkesity. 



AMERICAN MORPHOLOGICAL SOCIETY {II.). 

 Preliminary Notice of a New Species of Endo- 



proct — Loxosoma Davenportii — from the 



Massachusetts Coast. W. S. Nickeeson. 



(Read by title only.) 



The specimens upon which this notice is 

 based were found in Cotuit Harbor, Mass., 

 and, as they differ in several important re- 

 spects from any species hitherto found, it is 

 proposed to describe them under the name 

 Loxosoma Davenportii. The specimens were 

 about two millimeters long. Each had a 

 cylindrical stalk or foot, which passed with- 

 out abrupt transition into a slightly ex- 

 panded body containing a U-shaped digest- 

 ive tube, etc. The body terminated at its 

 free end in a lophophore carrying from 

 eighteen to twenty-seven tentacles. The 

 foot was destitute of a lateral expansion and 

 of a foot gland, such as are found in several 

 other species of this genus. Buds occurred 

 attached to the anterior side of the body, 

 nearly over the junction of the oesophagus 

 with the stomach. Ovaries were present in 

 all the individuals, but testes could not be 

 found. Whether the species has separate 

 sexes or is protandric must be left undeter- 

 mined. There are three characteristics in 

 which Loxosoma Davenportii differs mark- 

 edly from other species of this genus. The 

 first of these is the possession of a single 



