FEBRUARY 2, 1912] 
The larve live in crude oil in incredible num- 
bers. The eggs seem to be deposited outside the 
oil and the larvee enter the oil as soon as they 
hatch. The maggots float in the oil whether it is 
of the heaviest or lightest specific gravity. All 
the crude oils observed are lighter than water, but 
the larve sink in water. Even when the animals 
are motionless in crude oil, they remain on the 
surface with only the breathing tube visible. If 
the larve are put into such products of petroleum 
as distillate or kerosene, or such substances as 
olive oil, they live for from 24 to 48 hours. They 
do not float in these fluids and it seems likely that 
the chemical nature of the substances is not the 
only unfavorable condition. The maggots swarm 
about the bodies of animals like moths or caterpil- 
lars caught in the oil and doubtless feed on them. 
Yet if the larve are kept in oil taken direct from 
the pump or in that filtered through asbestos, they 
seem to do equally as well, even to pupating. It 
seems unlikely that organic particles could be 
present in such oil, and it is an interesting prob- 
lem whether the animals can obtain nutriment 
directly from petroleum. Pupation takes place 
very readily in the laboratory. The proportion 
of pup formed from larve kept in fresh pumped 
or filtered oil is as large as that in oil taken from 
pools around tanks or wells. The adults and 
larve do not seem to be phototropic, yet the pupx 
have temporary positive phototropism. -The paper 
included a description of larval movements. 
‘Maurice A. BIGELow, 
Secretary of Section F 
THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
THE twenty-fourth annual meeting was held in 
Baltimore and Washington, December 26-29, 1911. 
Two business sessions and five scientific sessions 
were held in Baltimore. Two of the scientific ses- 
sions were joint meetings with the Biochemical 
and the Pharmaceutical Societies. 
An unusual number of papers and demonstra- 
tions—in all sixty-seven—were presented and dis- 
cussed, and the sessions were well attended, eighty- 
six of the society’s one hundred and ninety mem- 
bers being present at the meeting. 
At the first session in Baltimore President 
Meltzer made a brief and appropriate reference to 
the late Professor H. P. Bowditch, one of the 
founders of the society, at the conclusion of which 
the members present arose and remained standing 
for one minute as a token of respect to the mem- 
ory of Dr. Bowditch. This was followed by the 
SCIENCE 
193 
reading of a memorial address on Professor Bow- 
ditch by W. B. Cannon. 
The following papers and demonstrations were 
presented at the Baltimore sessions: 
W. W. Osterhaut: The Effect of Anesthetics on 
Protoplasmie Permeability. 
F. 8S. Lee and A. M. Guenther: Some of the 
General Physiological Properties of Diaphragm 
Muscle. 
J. Auer: The Action of the’ Digitalis Group 
upon the Heart and its Similarity to Cardiac 
Anaphylaxis. 
P. E. Howe (by invitation) and P. B. Hawk: 
A Comparison of the Data from Two Fasts Each 
Exceeding One Hundred Days in Length and made 
upon the same Subject. 
J. Erlanger: Observations on the Physiology of 
Purkinje Tissue. 
W. B. Howell: Antithrombin. 
W. J. Meek: Relation of the Liver to Fibrin- 
ogen Formation. 
Th. Hough: The Influence of Different Degrees 
of Muscular Activity on the Alveolar Tension of 
Oxygen and Carbon Dioxid. 
Y. Henderson: A Brief Report upon the Pikes 
Peak Expedition. 
A. 8. Loevenhart: A Contribution to the Theory 
of the Respiration. 
W. T. Porter: The Vaso-motor Nerves of the 
Heart. 
W. T. Porter: Remarks on the Relation of the 
Phrenic Nerve to the Spinal Respiratory Cells. 
T. S. Githens and S. J. Meltzer: The Effect of 
the Removal of the Heart upon Morphinized Frogs. 
T. Sollmann and P. J. Hanzelik (by invitation) : 
Post-mortem Absorption by the Lymph Vessels. 
Y. Henderson: Some New Respiration Appa- 
ratus. 
W. Salant: A Modified Langendorff Apparatus 
for Perfusion of Isolated Heart. 
G. W. Fitz: A Perfected Model of the Shadow 
Pupilometer. 
W. T. Porter: An Improved Membrane Manom- 
eter. 
A. J. Carlson: A Method for Studying the Move- 
ments and Tonus of the Empty Digestive Tract 
by the Means of the X-ray. ? 
C. C. Guthrie: Some New Apparatus. 
H. Cushing: The Hemodynamic Action of the 
Cerebrospinal Fluid. 
J. R. Murlin and H. ©. Bailey: The Urine of 
Late Pregnaney and the Puerperium. 
C. W. Greene: The Storage of Fat in the Sal- 
