February 8, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



149 



Eggs placed within two or three minutes after 

 insemination in sea-water containing the fol- 

 lowing anesthetics were found to retain the 

 condition of low water-permeability (the state 

 characteristic of unfertilized eggs) during 

 the period of exposure to the anesthetic, e. g., 

 30 minutes or more; if they were then brought 

 back into normal sea-water the permeability 

 underwent the usual increase and development 

 continued. Chloral hydrate, chloroform, al- 

 cohols (methyl, ethyl, propyl, isobutyl, i-amyl). 

 ethyl urethane, ether, all show this effect in 

 appropriate concentrations, which are approxi- 

 mately the same as those required for anes- 

 thetizing the cleavage-process. It is clear 

 therefore that the permeability-increasing 

 phase of the activation-process, after it has 

 once started, may be temporarily inhibited by 

 anesthetization. Potassium cyanide has a sim- 

 ilar effect, but only in relatively high con- 

 centrations (above n/200, with some slight 

 effect at n/400) ; in lower concentrations, 

 e. g., 7i/l,000 (which is many times greater 

 than that required to arrest cleavage com- 

 pletely), no evident effect was obser\"ed. It 

 is probable that the anesthetics inhibit the 

 permeability-increasing process by a different 

 kind of influence from that exerted by cy- 

 anide. Ralph S. Lillie 



ChARK UnIVEESITY, 



■Worcester, Mass. 



THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF 

 NATURALISTS 



The thirty-fifth annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Naturalists was held in the Car- 

 negie Museum, Pittsburgh, January 1, 1918. In 

 affiliation with the society this year were Section 

 F of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science and the Botanical Society of 

 America. 



The report of the treasurer, stating a balance 

 on hand of $657.11, was accepted. 



The following changes in the constitution, rec- 

 ommended by the executive committee, were au- 

 thorized. 



Article II., Section 1, the following sentence to 

 be added: A nomination for membership in the so- 

 ciety shall remain in the hands of the executive 

 committee for at least one year before action is 

 taken upon it. 



By-law 2 to read: Each president on retiring 

 shall appoint a committee of five to nominate offi- 

 cers and this committee shall present names for 

 action by the society at its next annual meeting. 



The following new by-law to be added: A publi- 

 cation committee, consisting of the three past- 

 presidents, the secretary and the treasurer may 

 select and arrange for the publication of papers 

 presented before the society, provided that the so- 

 ciety thereby is not involved in financial obliga- 

 tions. 



It was recommended by the executive committee 

 that the American Society of Naturalists co- 

 operate with other biological organizations by 

 electing two botanical members to serve on the 

 committee on botanical abstracts, and that these 

 members shall be nominated by the executive com- 

 mittee. This recommendation was adopted by the 

 Society and the following were elected to repre- 

 sent the American Society of Naturalists on the 

 committee on botanical abstracts : J. Arthur Harris 

 (1919-20), Edward M. East (1919-22). 



A resolution, as follows, framed by a committee 

 consisting of Albert J. Blakeslee and Leon J. Cole, 

 was adopted, and the secretary was instructed to 

 forward a copy of it to the National Research 

 Council. 



Realizing the importance of placing all men who 

 enter the national service where their training 

 and abilities may be utilized to the maximum in 

 the prosecution of the war, and in view of the ex- 

 perience of our allies, who at first failed to take 

 advantage of the technical fitness of recruits for 

 special war activities both at home and at the 

 front and who later found it necessary to make 

 readjustments at great loss of time and energy — 

 be it 



Eesolved, That the American Society of Natural- 

 ists urge upon the National Research Council the 

 desirability of taking such steps as may be neces- 

 sary to secure the detailing to special scientific 

 duty of men with technical training and abUity 

 who may have been called to military service, but 

 who are found essential to scientific activities of 

 the war. 



There were elected to membership: Ethan A. 

 Andrews, Johns Hopkins University; Ernest B. 

 Babcock, University of California; Frank 8. Col- 

 lins, North Eastham, Mass.; Thomas H. Good- 

 speed, University of California; William H. 

 Gregory, American Museum of Natural History; 

 Heman L. Ibsen, University of Wisconsin; Karl 

 F. Kellerman, U. S. Department of Agriculture; 

 Vernon L. Kellogg, Stanford University; Richard 

 S. Lull, Yale University; Robert K. Nabours, Kan- 



