December 18, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



895 



yet been determined. The Bureau of Entomology 

 is carrying out extensive experiments and demon- 

 strations in spraying in the infested territory and 

 also testing over large areas the possibility of 

 destroying the larvse or pupae in the ground by 

 cultivation or other methods of soil treatment. 

 Of many sprays tested, a proprietary tobacco 

 extract and a distillate emulsion have proved 

 most efficient. Spraying must be directed largely 

 against the larvse feeding on the more exposed 

 portions of the plant. Of the various fruits 

 attacked, pears and prunes suffer worst, from the 

 fact that the thrips are out in large numbers just 

 when the buds of these fruits are beginning to 

 swell, and these are promptly infested and de- 

 stroyed, usually before the blossoms expand. 



An abstract of a paper on " Recent Discoveries 

 in the Natural History of Eels," by Dr. T. N. 

 Gill, appeared in Science for December 11. 



The 447th meeting was held October 31, 1908, 

 with President Stejneger in the chair. The evening 

 was taken up with a discussion of the necessity 

 for an immediate biological survey of the Isthmus 

 of Panama, the following members taking part: 

 The chair, Gill, Dall, Howard, Coville, Pittier, 

 Nelson, Safford, C. D. Marsh, Bartsch and 

 Schwartz. Insistence was made on the desira- 

 bility of a survey, and since the fresh waters of 

 the two sides of the isthmus will mingle within 

 a year, permitting the mixture of forms from the 

 two sides, a fresh-water survey should be begun 

 immediately. The plan favored was tha; of united 

 action on the part of the heads of governmental 

 departments rather than dependence upon con- 

 gress. The following resolution was adopted: 



Realizing that the work on the Panama Canal 

 is changing biological conditions in Panama and 

 that the completion of the canal will enable the 

 fresh-water faunas of the two slopes to mingle 

 freely and that many marine animals will suc- 

 ceed in passing the completed canal, the Biological 

 Society of Washington urges upon the government 

 of the United States to make provision for a 

 biological survey of the Isthmus of Panama. 



Since the conditions will be permanently changed 

 as soon as the canal is completed and the work 

 can not be satisfactorily done after the completion 

 of the canal, there is great urgency that provision 

 for the work be made at once. Therefore be it 



Resolved, That copies of this resolution, signed 

 by the president of the society and the recording 

 secretary, be sent to the president of the United 

 States, the heads of the several departments con- 



cerned and the secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



The 448th meeting was held November 14, 1908, 

 with President Stejneger in the chair. Dr. Hugh 

 M. Smith exhibited a series of colored lantern 

 slides of living fishes photographed in the wild 

 state and in aquaria by the well-known photog- 

 rapher, Mr. A. Radclyffe Dugmore. 



Mr. Henry Oldys presented a paper entitled 

 " Some Deductions from the Nesting of Birds," 

 in which he called attention to the identity of 

 construction of the nests of closely related birds 

 in widely separated parts of the world. Thus the 

 American robin {Merula migratoria) , the Euro- 

 pean blackbird {Merula merula) and Merula 

 mandarina of China all use mud in the composi- 

 tion of their structures; the American kinglets 

 and the European goldcrest build suspended nests 

 stuccoed with lichens; and the Caprimulgidae of 

 America, Europe and Australia construct no nests, 

 but lay their eggs on the bare ground. These are 

 merely random examples; many others might be 

 cited, such as titmice, wrens, doves, etc. The 

 components of these different groups of birds must 

 have been separated for thousands of years, and 

 the fact of this resemblance of their nests indi- 

 cates how little they have departed from the 

 habits of their common ancestor. This seems on 

 its face a strong justification of the inference that 

 nest-building is instinctive. But various instances 

 are recorded of radical departure from the type. 

 The American herring gull {Larus argentatus 

 smithsonianus ) , when the usual flimsy nests of 

 seaweeds carelessly thrown together on the beach 

 were persistently robbed by fishermen, abandoned 

 their custom of ages and built substantial struc- 

 tures in trees forty or fifty feet from the ground; 

 and the herons near Redwood City, Cal., from a 

 similar cause deserted their rookery with its nests 

 in eucalyptus trees and built on the ground far 

 out in the marsh. Other instances of radical de- 

 parture from custom were instanced by Mr. Oldys, 

 who deduced from these examples that since birds 

 can change their architectural customs when neces- 

 sity arises, we must attribute their adherence to 

 the ancestral type of nest to conservation rather 

 than the mechanical operation of instinct, and 

 hence conclude that the building of a nest is an 

 intelligent action. In support of this contention 

 Mr. Oldys adverted to like adherence to architec- 

 tural forms on the part of man, particularly 

 shown by less developed types. The round huts 

 of African savages, the wigwams of Indians, and 



