June 9, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



627 



Thifesdat, May 18 

 Morning Session, 10:00 A.M. 



Close of the age of mammals:- Heney Faie- 

 FiELD OsBOEN and H. E. Anthony. 



Food-storing by the meadow-mouse: Glover M. 

 Allen. 



An evolutionary force of a wide range: Eenbst 

 Thompson Seton. 



The meetings were well attended, and among 

 the members present were mammalogists who 

 represented the leading institutions of the coun- 

 try, such as the United States National Mu- 

 seum,, the Bureau of the Biological Survey, 

 the Field Museum of Natural History, the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' the 

 American Museum of Natural History and the 

 New York Zoological Society. 



Among the many interesting papers that 

 were given before the mammalogists was the 

 "Symposium on the Anatomy and Relation- 

 ships of the Gorilla." At this session the at- 

 tendance was probably greater than at any of 

 the others, and representatives of the press 

 were present to make the most of a subject in 

 which the public is at present so keenly inter- 

 ested. The consensus of opinion as expressed 

 by the speakers in this symposium was that 

 the gorilla stands very high among the anthro- 

 poids in its relationship to man, and the evi- 

 dence presented, together with the detailed 

 descriptions of the man-like characters of the 

 anthropoids, set forth data for an argument 

 which the anti-evolutionists would have great 

 difficulty to refute. 



At the last of the meetings for the presenta- 

 tion of papers, the "Close of the Age of Mam- 

 mals" was given by Professor Henry Fairfield 

 Osborn and Mr. H. E. Anthony. Professor 

 Osljorn took as his thesis the very rapid dis- 

 appearance of our mammalia, which leads to 

 the conclusion that the age of mammals will 

 come to a close at no very distant date. After 

 outlining the inception and the development of 

 the age of mammals, illustrating his points by 

 distributional maps, Pi'ofessor Osborn stated 

 that this age had reached its greatest develop- 

 ment in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, 

 at which time the glacial periods began the 

 destruction which is receiving its final accelera- 

 tion to-day at the hands of man. Having 



brought this outline of the history of the age of 

 mammals down to the present day, Professor 

 Osborn was followed by Mr. Anthony, who 

 showed a chart of statistics and gave figures 

 on the great destruction of mammal life which 

 may be laid at the door of the fur trade. A 

 discussion of the papers followed, during 

 which Dr. W. T. Hornaday, the noted advocate 

 of wild life conservation, spoke at some length 

 upon the disappearance of present day mam- 

 mals and urged the great necessity of untiring 

 efforts to stave off complete extermination. 



Further discussion was given by Dr. W. D. 

 Matthew, Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, Dr. Charles 

 C. Adams and Dr. E. W. Nelson, aU of whom 

 were inclined to believe that it was no exag- 

 geration to consider that the "Age of Mam- 

 mals" was rapidly coming to a close, and that 

 stringent measures are necessary to protect the 

 surviving members. Dr. Adams, who is direc- 

 tor of the Roosevelt Wild Life Forestry Exter- 

 mination Station at Syracuse, N. Y., main- 

 tained that the only hope lies in education, not 

 so much of the adult, as of the younger genera- 

 tion, and pointed out the advisability of estab- 

 lishing numbers of wild life preserves, so that 

 people might come to know the wild life of 

 their own region by visiting the local pre- 

 serves. 



The mammalogists were the guests of the 

 American Museum at a luncheon on Tuesday, 

 May 16, and were guests of the New York 

 Zoological Society at luncheon on Thursday, 

 May 18. 



The annual dinner was held the evening of 

 Wednesday, May 17, at the Hotel San Remo. 



At the annual election of officers, all of those 

 holding office were re-elected. 



At the close of the morning session of Thurs- 

 day, the members adjourned to the North 

 American Hall of the American Museum where, 

 by short exercises, the museum dedicated this 

 hall to the memory of the late Dr. J. A. Allen, 

 who was the society's only honorary member. 

 The hall hereafter will be known as the J. A. 

 Allen Hall of North American Mammals. 



President Henry Fairfield Osborn presided 

 and, on behalf of the trustees, made the dedica- 

 tion of the hall, which was accepted on behalf 

 of the Division of Zoology and Zoogeography 

 of the museum by Dr. F. M. Chapman. An 



