December 22, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



897 



them; he called attention to the variations of 

 these animals as found on different islands ; showed 

 the necessity of exact locality determinations on 

 specimens ; and discussed the geographic distribu- 

 tion of the Philippine mollusean fauna, pointing 

 out its possible origin from other islands or land 

 masses. The lecture covered not only the land 

 mollusks, but the marine forms as well. 



The 559th meeting of the society was held in the 

 Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, No- 

 vember 4, 1916, called to order at 8 p.m. by Presi- 

 dent Hay, with sixty persons present. 



On recommendation of the council the following 

 persons were elected to active membership: Dr. 

 Wm. B. Bell, Biological Survey; Francis Harper, 

 Biological Survey; H. E. Anthony, American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, and A. B. Howell, 

 Covina, California. 



The president announced the death of Dr. E. A. 

 Mearns, a member of the council of the society and 

 distinguished for his work in birds, mammals and 

 other branches of natural history. 



Under the heading of brief notes and exhibition 

 of specimens, Dr. B. W. Shufeldt exhibited a speci- 

 men of the Japanese giant salamander and made 

 some remarks on its habits and habitat. 



The regular program consisted of four papers as 

 follows: 



A Review of Recent Worlc on the Souse-fly: B. H. 



Hutchison. 



This paper was restricted to a discussion of re- 

 cent studies on the preoviposition period, the 

 range of flight and the question of the over-win- 

 tering of the house-fly. The remarks on the preovi- 

 position period summarized a recent bulletin of the 

 Department of Agriculture on this subject (Bul- 

 letin 345). 



In discussing the range of flight, attention was 

 directed to the fact that up to 1914 the longest re- 

 corded flight was 1,700 yards. During the season 

 of 1915 experiments were carried out in a suburban 

 locality near Washington by Max Kisliuk, Jr., under 

 the direction of the writer. In these, several rec- 

 ords of from 1,800 to 2,175 yards were obtained. 

 These were compared with the records obtained by 

 B. R. Parker during the same season at Miles City, 

 Montana. His longest record was 3,500 yards. 



The question of how the house-fly overwinters in 

 this latitude was said to be still undecided. It was 

 pointed out that flies were not killed by the first 

 heavy frost, as has often been stated; in fact a 

 large percentage revived after several nights ' ex- 

 posure to minimum temperatures of 25° F. They 

 are killed by temperatures of 15° P. Plies were 



found emerging up to the first week in December, 

 and these late forms were found in heated build- 

 ings until the end of January. None were again 

 seen till April 27. Other observations were cited 

 as indicating that flies do not overwinter in the 

 adult state, but, on the other hand, a long series 

 of experiments and observations failed to give any 

 positive evidence that they overwinter in the larval 

 or pupal state. 



Recent Spread of the Cotton Boll Weevil: W. 

 Dwight Pierce. 



A brief history of the movement of this pest 

 through the United States suggests from a study 

 of specimens collected in all parts of the infested 

 regions of North America that there are three 

 lines of dispersion. It seems probable that the 

 boll weevil originated in Guatemala or some other 

 portion of Central America and that the most 

 typical strain migrated northward through the 

 mountains of Mexico into Arizona, where it is now 

 found as a native species on the wild cotton-like 

 plant Thurberia thespesioides. The main migra- 

 tion was along the Gulf Coast through the culti- 

 vated cotton regions into the United States. The 

 third line of dispersion was through Yucatan 

 across the Gulf, to Cuba. Specimens collected at 

 the three termini of these dispersions appear to be 

 very distinct varieties. That variety which is 

 found on cultivated cotton in the United States is 

 the smallest found and the most variable. The 

 movement of the weevil is controlled by the 

 amount of food supply, which regulates the time 

 and distance of natural movement by winds and 

 floods ; and by artificial agencies. 



The most interesting development of the pres- 

 ent year is the extension of the weevil to the north- 

 ern limits of cotton growth in Oklahoma and Ar- 

 kansas into Central Tennessee; eastward to the 

 Atlantic Ocean south of Savannah; and the infes- 

 tation of practically all the cotton region of Flor- 

 ida. The only Sea Island cotton section now not 

 infested is that of South Carolina. 

 Remarks on Entomological Inspection and. Disin- 

 fection of Products offered for Entry into the 

 United States: E. B. Sasscer. 

 A brief review of the Plant Quarantine Act of 

 1912 was given, pointing out the principal features 

 of the act relating to the control of stock entering 

 the states and what is required of the broker, the 

 nurseryman, or party importing plants or plant 

 products. The quarantine relating to insects were 

 referred to, and lantern slides of a number of 

 these quarantined insects and others collected by 

 inspectors were shown. Brief mention was made 



