JUNE 14, 1912] 
P a large glass prism (a 60° prism 38 inches 
high and 4 inches on the slant face works well, 
though one half this size would do, particu- 
larly if very short-focus lenses were used). 
M is the plate glass rectangle FGHI mounted 
vertically at the principal focus of the lens h, 
so that the colored images of the Nernst fila- 
ment are parallel to the band AB. 
It is well to mount the prism so that it may 
be gradually rotated about the vertical axis 
through O. If large lenses and a large prism 
are available it is well to use the long 220-volt 
Nernst filament and to choose the rubber band 
so that the length AB is about equal to the 
length of the Nernst glower used. 
As the prism is rotated and the spectrum 
moves across the band the deviation of the 
beam of light from the mirror H# increases and 
reaches a maximum and it is easy for the 
audience to see that this maximum is reached 
when no visible light is falling on the band 
AB. 
By setting the prism so that the red of the 
spectrum falls on the band, and noting the 
change in the deviation of the beam of light 
from the mirror # as various substances are 
placed in front of the Nernst glower, and then 
noting the changes produced by the same sub- 
stances when they are introduced under the 
condition that invisible long wave-length en- 
ergy falls on the band, it can be readily shown 
that not all substances which are transparent 
are diathermanous. 
Aucustus TROWBRIDGE 
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS 
THE Central Branch of the American Society of 
Zoologists met at the University of Illinois, Urbana, 
Ill., April 5 and 6, 1912. 
The following officers of this branch were elected 
for the ensuing year: 
President—H. B. Ward, University of Illinois, 
Urbana, Ill. 
Vice-president—C. M. Child, University of Chi- 
cago, Chicago, Ill. 
Secretary-treasurer—W. C. Curtis, University of 
Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 
Additional Members of the Executive Committee 
—C. E. McClung, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 
SCIENCE 
933 
Kans. (for three years); H. F. Nachtrieb, Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. (for two 
years). 
At the business meetings, on April 5, action was 
taken as follows: 
Resolutions upon the death of Professor C. O. 
Whitman as spread upon the minutes of the society 
were read. 
By vote of the society the committee on the 
form of presenting papers for publication, Dr. C. 
E. McClung, chairman, was continued. No report 
was made. 
The following report of the committee on nom- 
enclature, Professor C. C. Nutting, chairman, was 
Tead and unanimously adopted: 
The Committee on Nomenclature appointed at 
the Iowa City meeting of the Central Branch of 
the American Society of Zoologists reported last 
year a plan whereby various zoological organiza- 
tions in America might unite in an effort to influ- 
ence the International Commission on Nomencla- 
ture in the direction of securing greater flexibility 
in the interpretation of the rules. The committee 
begs to report that after extended correspondence 
it has reached the unanimous conclusion that it is 
impossible to secure any modification of the pres- 
ent practise through the International Commission 
itself, and that the officers of that commission 
maintain that its hands have been tied through 
action recently taken by the International Con- 
gress. It appears consequently that recourse to 
the International Congress itself offers the only 
remedy for the adjustment of the difficulties. 
That these are increasingly apparent becomes evi- 
dent by the protests and appeals which are finding 
expression in various form from individuals, from 
groups of workers and from societies not only in 
this country, but in various other parts of the 
world, as a result of which several propositions 
have already been formulated for presentation to 
the meeting of the International Congress at 
Monaco in August, 1913. 
The Committee on Nomenclature reports to the 
American Society of Zoologists, Central Branch, 
requesting at this time: 
1. Authority to ask from the membership of the 
Central Branch an expression of opinion on the 
following question: Do you favor the strict (in- 
flexible) application of the priority rule as the 
latter is now interpreted by the International Com- 
mmission on Nomenclature? 
2. The adoption of the following resolution for 
transmission to the International Zoological Con- 
