194 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1182 



committee met, passed on the report of tlie secre- 

 tary-treasurer, elected 10 new members, and se- 

 lected the State Normal College, Greensboro, as 

 the next place of meeting. At 3 p.m. the reading 

 of papers was begun and continued until 5:30, 

 when adjournment was had. Eeconvening at 8 

 P.M., the academy was welcomed to the university 

 by Dean Andrew H. Patterson, after which Presi- 

 dent F. P. Venable, of the academy, delivered his 

 presidential address, "The structure of the 

 atom. ' ' ■ Next Professor Collier Cobb gave a lec- 

 ture on "Typical early maps of North Carolina" 

 illustrated by lantern slides of some of the maps 

 in question. The academy then adjourned to the 

 hospitable home of Professor "W. C. Coker for a 

 highly enjoyable smoker. 



The annual business meeting of the academy was 

 held at 9:15 Saturday morning. Eeports of the 

 secretary-treasurer, the executive and other com- 

 mittees were made. On motion a committee was 

 appointed to cooperate with a similar committee 

 from the Science Section of the North Carolina 

 State Teachers' Association in studying the sub- 

 ject of the teaching of high-school sciences in the 

 state with reference to its increased efficiency. 

 The secretary reported on his visit to the meeting 

 of the Southern Association of Colleges and Sec- 

 ondary Schools and his appearance in behalf of 

 the work in science before its committee on the 

 curriculum of secondary schools. On motion, the 

 secretary was again appointed as the representa- 

 tive of the academy at the next meeting of this as- 

 sociation. After some discussion it was declared 

 the sense of the meeting that an increased effort 

 be made in 1918 to bring into the membership of 

 the academy as many as possible of the high-school 

 teachers of science in the state. 



The following officers were elected for 1917-18: 



President — W. A. Withers, State Agricultural 

 and Engineering College, West Ealeigh. 



Vice-president — -J. H. Pratt, University of North 

 Carolina, Chapel Hill. 



Secretary-treasurer — E. W. Gudger, State Nor- 

 mal College, Greensboro. 



Additional members executive committee — Bert 

 Cunningham, High School, Durham; H. R. Totten, 

 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; H. C. 

 Beardslee, Asheville School, Asheville. 



At 10:50 a joint meeting was held of the acad- 

 emy and the North Carolina Section of the Ameri- 

 can Chemical Society for the reading of the papers 

 of common interest to both bodies. Following 

 this, papers were read before the academy until 

 the program was finished at 1:40, when the mem- 



bers were entertained by the imiversity at 

 luncheon in Swain Hall. Of the 20 papers on the 

 program not one was read by title. Counting the 

 10 new members, the total membership of the acad- 

 emy is 84, of whom 37 were present at this meet- 

 ing. Including the presidential address, which wiU 

 be published in the current number of the Journal 

 of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, the fol- 

 lowing papers were read: 



Pliocene deposits in Orange county: John E. 



Smith. 



These occur on the divides and on the higher 

 terraces in the plateau section of the county and 

 generally over the Triassic area except on the 

 floodplains and on the steeper slopes near the 

 streams. 



On the upland (elevation, 500-600 feet) this ma- 

 terial consists of smooth, rounded pebbles and 

 cobbles (some of which are polished) of quartz and 

 quartzose minerals up to six inches or more in 

 diameter, together with fragments of the same and 

 of other minerals down to the size of soil particles. 

 In the Triassic area (elevation, 250-400 feet) the 

 deposit comprises gravel, sand and soil (in addi- 

 tion to the above) in some places reaching a thick- 

 ness of a foot or more. This material has been 

 transported from a distance and characterizes the 

 Granville soils, distinguishing them from those of 

 the Penn series, which are derived from the Tri- 

 assic rocks in place. 



The thinly distributed pebbles on the higher di- 

 vides of the county may be remnants of river de- 

 posits on a peneplain, but the soils, etc., of the 

 lower interstream areas are doubtless of Lafayette 

 age. (Illustrated with lantern slides.) 



Th^ pollination of Sotundifolia grapes: L. E. 



Detjen. 



A close examination of the flowers of Vitis 

 rotundifolia brings out the fact that this species of 

 grape is not at aU adapted to cross-pollination by 

 means of the wind; on the contrary, it seems to in- 

 dicate that insects alone are responsible for the 

 transportation of the pollen. Bees of the family 

 Andrenidae and beetles of the species Chauliog- 

 nailms mairginatus were tested for their propensi- 

 ties of transporting pollen and for the searching 

 for flowers of the fruit-bearing varieties. 



The test was made by enclosing insects, newly 

 captured on flowers of staminate vines, separately 

 in spacious cloth bags together with clusters of 

 open but unpollinated flowers. The results se- 

 cured substantiate the hypothesis of insect pollina- 

 tion. They further indicate that bees of the fam- 



