438 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 741 



Demonstrations to Illustrate the Modification and 

 Control of Behavior of Characters in Crossing: 



W. L. TOWEE. 



Photographs Illustrating the Regenerative Power 

 of the Somatic Cells of Sponges after Removal 

 from the Parent: H. V. Wilson. 



Specimens of the 900th Generation of Paramecium, 

 Attained without Artificial Stimulation or Con- 

 jugation: L. L. WOODBUFF. 



LOKANDE Loss WOODBUFP, 



Secretary 

 Yale University 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 453d meeting was held January 23, 1909, 

 with President Palmer in the chair. Several in- 

 formal notes were presented. Mr. P. E. Matthes 

 offered some notes on snow and winter insects 

 collected in the vicinity of Washington. Among 

 the true snow insects especial interest attaches to 

 Boreus nivalis ( Neuroptera ) . This insect is com- 

 mon in the northern states, but has hitherto been 

 considered rare in the District of Columbia. On 

 Christmas day, 1908, and at various times in Jan- 

 uary, 1909, it was found in abundance in Eock 

 Creek Park. On the date first mentioned, two of 

 this species were observed mating on the snow. 

 On the same day large numbers of winter insects 

 belonging to the Hymenoptera were gathered in 

 the same locality. They represent the winter 

 generation of two Cynipid gall flies, consisting of 

 hermaphroditic individuals, whose larval stages 

 are passed in the roots of oak trees. They ovi- 

 posit in the young buds of the same tree, thus 

 producing the galls on the leaves in which the 

 summer generation develops. It appears essen- 

 tial, according to observations by Dr. E. A. 

 Schwarz and others, that the ovipositing be done 

 as soon as the buds show the first signs of life in 

 spring. It takes place therefore about the end 

 of February as a rule. In view of this, it seems 

 surprising that the insects should have been found 

 at so early a date as December 25, almost two 

 months prior to the first budding of the leaves. 

 The difficulties attached to any studies whereby 

 the winter generations of these species might be 

 connected with the corresponding summer genera- 

 tions have thus far proved almost insuperable, 

 and as a consequence no definite correlation ex- 

 ists as yet. For the present the individuals of 

 the winter generation (which look quite unlike 

 the summer generation) are referred to the genus 



Andricus. Both Andricus species found have 

 atrophied wings, those of the larger species being 

 apparently perfect but about half the size neces- 

 sary for flight. They thus possess a character- 

 istic also found in Boreus. In the male of the 

 latter, however, the wing remnants are of an 

 imperfect and strangely aberrant type. 



Mr. M. B. Waite exhibited a Jonathan apple 

 having a peculiar decay. The specimen repre- 

 sented a lot which had been shipped from Colo- 

 rado to Los Angeles, California, kept there in 

 cold-storage, and then sent to Washington for 

 diagnosis. Three species of apple rot fungi found 

 in the decayed spots were considered secondary 

 since most of the decayed areas were free from 

 fungi or bacteria. The discolored areas, often in 

 the form of a band around the apple, were firm 

 in texture, light brown in color, and extended to 

 a moderate depth in the flesh of the apple. The 

 cells in the discolored areas were collapsed and 

 ruptured, thus coinciding with frost injury. The 

 damaged area was concluded to be due to freezing, 

 or, since the apple stands freezing, to the peculiar 

 conditions of thawing out after freezing. 



Dr. H. M. Smith announced and commented 

 upon the transfer of the administration and per- 

 sonnel of the federal fur-seal service to the Bureau 

 of Fisheries. 



Dr. B. W. Evermann reported an observation 

 made by his brother, A. M. Evermann, near Bur- 

 lington, Indiana, showing that fox squirrels some- 

 times feed upon the seeds of the cocklebur (Xan- 

 thium strumarium). The observation was made 

 January 19 when snow covered the ground. The 

 squirrels carried the burr to a log at the edge of 

 a field and there got at the kernels by gnawing 

 away one side. 



He also reported the capture of a barn owl in 

 Carroll County, Indiana, in December, 1908. This 

 species had not been previously recorded from 

 that county. 



The regular program consisted of the following 

 four papers: 



Bee Diseases: E. F. Phillips. 



The honey bee. Apis mellifera, is subject to 

 several specific diseases which are well recognized 

 among practical bee keepers. The causes of all 

 of them are not fully understood. Two of these 

 attack the bee in its embi-yonic stages and are 

 now designated American foul brood and Euro- 

 pean foul brood. They attack the bee just about 

 the time that pupation begins and the colony is 

 depleted because as the adult bees die from nat- 

 ural causes tliere are not enough bees emerging 



