Mabch 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



439 



to replace them. The cause of American foul 

 brood has by inoculation experiments been de- 

 termined to be Bacillus larvce. This organism 

 grows well only on a medium prepared by mash- 

 ing healthy bee larvae and sterilizing by filtration. 

 Fifteen minutes of boiling is required to kill the 

 spores of the bacillus. The cause of European 

 foul brood is not known. There are other mal- 

 adies of the brood and of the adult bee. The 

 methods of treatment and means of spread were 

 discussed. 

 Federal Control of Fisheries in International 



Waters: B. W. Eveemann. 



He discussed briefly the questions of federal 

 control of migratory birds, of migrating fishes, of 

 inter-state waters and of international waters. 

 Attention was called to the valuable work which 

 the Hon. George Shiras, III., has done, and is 

 still doing, in calling attention to the power of 

 the government in matters such as these which 

 experience has demonstrated can not be properly 

 handled by the respective states. When a mem- 

 ber of Congress Mr. Shiras introduced two or 

 three bills providing for federal control of migra- 

 tory birds and fishes, and one providing for fed- 

 eral control of inter-state waters. 



On April 11, 1908, a convention was entered 

 into between the United States and Great Britain 

 according to the terms of which imiform regula- 

 tions will be provided governing the fisheries on 

 the United States and Canadian sides of our 

 northern boundary. The special International 

 Fisheries Commission appointed under the treaty 

 is now drawing up its report which must be sub- 

 mitted to the respective governments by June 3. 



Tliis report, it is understood, will contain a 

 complete system of regulations for the fisheries in 

 all international waters between the United 

 States and Canada. 

 A Remarkable Flight of Bats in Luzon: Hugh 



M. Smith. 



He presented notes on a remarkable flight of 

 small bats observed by him near Montalban, 

 Luzon, P. I., on December 31, 1907. At 5.40 P.M. 

 a solid column of bats began to emerge from a 

 large eave about 1,200 feet above the Mariquina 

 River. The bats flew rapidly in a straight, un- 

 broken, closely-packed line for fifteen minutes, 

 and disappeared over a mountain range in the 

 direction of Manila without a single bat having 

 left the column. American engineers at the place 

 reported that this flight had occurred at practic- 

 ally the same time each day during the two years 

 they had been there; and from other sources it 



was learned that the same thing had been ob- 

 served for at least thirty years. 



A Visit to the Bat Cave in Luzon : Paul Baetsch. 

 He described the cave from which came the 

 flight of bats referred to by the preceding speaker. 

 The cave is a large one. Its main entrance is 

 about 35 feet high and 25 feet wide, and diflicult 

 of access. A short passage connects the entrance 

 with the central dome which has a diameter of 

 about 150 feet and height of about 200 feet and 

 perforates the mountain top. From this cham- 

 ber passages open in various directions, frequently 

 expanding into large rooms, some of which have 

 wonderful stalagmites and stalactites, while others 

 are simply glazed with a glistening lime deposit. 

 An hour and a half was spent going from cham- 

 ber to chamber and the native guide stated that 

 he might continue for half a day without re- 

 tracing his steps. Bats of several species were 

 seen flitting about or clinging to the wall of the 

 eave everywhere, but not enough to make a hun- 

 dredth part of the swarm seen on the night of 

 the last of December, 1907. Owing to the failure 

 of the bat flight the previous night (July 4, 1908) 

 the party had expected to find dead bats in the 

 cave, believing that some epidemic might have 

 killed them. This seemed the probable solution 

 since on their previous visit the party had been 

 assured that the bats had never been known to 

 fail to make their appearance at a certain hour 

 for many years. Careful search of the floor 

 which was richly covered with guano, failed to 

 reveal any dead individuals, and the whereabouts 

 of the immense flight remains a mystery at 

 present. M. C. Mabsh, 



Recording Secretary 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON 



The 188th meeting of the Washington Chem- 

 ical Society was held at the Cosmos Club on 

 Thursday, February 11, 1909, at 8 p.m. President 

 Walker presided, the attendance being 62. 

 Eleven new members were added to the roll and 

 two resignations were announced. J. M. Bell, of 

 the Bureau of Soils, was appointed chairman of 

 the committee on communications and M. X. Sul- 

 livan, of the Bureau of Soils, chairman of the 

 entertainment committee. Arrangements were 

 announced to hold the annual smoker at the 

 Piiggs House on Thursday, February 18. The fol- 

 lowing papers were presented: 



" The Formation of Gluconic Acid by the 

 Olive Tubercle Organism and its Physiological 

 Function," by C. L. Alsberg. 



