594 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1171 



tiring president, A. S. Hitchcock, -wlio addressed 

 the society on ' ' Tasonomic Botany and the Wash- 

 ington Botanist." 



The speaker stated that the members of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of Washington are nearly all spe- 

 cialists in the employ of the national government. 

 They must depend upon extra-official opportunities 

 for broadening their outlook and for keeping in 

 touch with the development of botanical research. 

 The speaker brought to their attention the oppor- 

 tunity afforded by a study of the local flora. Every 

 scientist should have training in the two methods 

 for establishing facts, that of experiment and that 

 of repeated observations. The first method is used 

 by the physiologist; the second by the taxonomist. 

 In studying the local flora the Washington botanist 

 can train himself in taxonomiC methods and at the 

 same time accumulate valuable botanical data. 

 The speaker outlined the fundamental scope of 

 taxonomie training and called attention to the ways 

 in which the student should apply the general prin- 

 ciples to his studies of the local flora. The in- 

 vestigator should free himself from the shackles of 

 authority. He should see things as they are rather 

 than as others say they are. He should learn to 

 make accurate observations and to use these to de- 

 termine the truth and not to establish a theory or 

 a concept. In all his investigations he should keep 

 his criterion of accomplishment well in advance. 

 He whose ideal is his own best work ceases to 

 progress. Finally the speaker advised young au- 

 thors, when publishing, to prepare their manuscript 

 with care in regard to clearness, conciseness and 

 technique. Clear thinking leads to clear writing. 

 Care in technique may be taken as an evidence of 

 care in gathering the data which the writing re- 

 cords. 



The address will be published in full in the Jour- 

 nal of the Washington Academy. 



H. L. Shantz, 

 Corresponding Secretary 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 

 The 566th meeting of the society was held in 

 the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club Saturday, 

 February 24, 1917, called to order by President 

 Hay at 8 p.m., with 50 persons in attendance. 



Under the heading book notices, brief notes, ex- 

 hibition of specimens, etc., M. W. Lyon, Jr., called 

 attention to the latest edition of the International 

 Eules of Zoological Nomenclature containing a 

 summary of the opinions that have been rendered 

 by the International Commission, compiled by Mr. 

 John Smallwood, of Washington. 



Dr. E. W. Shufeldt communicated a short paper 

 entitled ' ' Notes on the Trunk-fishes ' ' and exhibited 

 a specimen of Laotophrys tricornis. 



Dr. L. O. Howard commented on the parent tree 

 of an unusually fine variety of oranges and the 

 extraordinary care taken of it by the owner during 

 the recent cold weather in Florida. 



Mr. Wm. Palmer also commented on the effects 

 of the recent "freeze" in Florida. 



The regular program consisted of three communi- 

 cations as follows: 



T. S. Palmer: "A Pioneer Naturalist in South- 

 ern Florida — Extracts from the Diary of Titian 

 E. Peale, 1825. ' ' 



Dr. Palmer gave a detailed account of Peale 's 

 collecting trip in Florida in 1825 made for the pur- 

 pose of securing birds for Prince Louis Bonaparte 

 and mentioned and exhibited the species of birds 

 discovered by Peale as new to science or new to 

 the United States. He read extracts from Peale 's 

 diary and called attention to the other scientific 

 expeditions of which Peale was a member giving 

 many interesting facts of his long life. 



Some Notes on the AleyrodidcB : A. L. Quaintance. 

 The Shad and its Belatives in the Mississippi Biver : 



Emerson Stringham (introduced by E. E. 



Coker). 



Mr. Stringham said that herring-like fishes 

 found in the Mississippi Eiver possess more eco- 

 nomic significance than formerly recognized. The 

 two mooneyes (Eiodon) have flesh of excellent qual- 

 ity, but they are not sufficiently abundant to be of 

 great importance; they eat principally insects, and 

 feed both summer and winter, day and night; they 

 deposit their eggs as soon as the water temperature 

 begins to rise in spring. The gizzard shad (Doro- 

 soma) which serves as food for other fishes is less 

 abundant in the Mississippi proper than in slues 

 and lakes. The river herring (Pomolobus chryso- 

 chloris), known as the host of a mussel of great 

 value, feeds on insects when they are abundant, 

 and on fishes at other times; it breeds early in 

 summer; fears are entertained that the fish and 

 mussel may be excluded from the upper river by a 

 dam at Keokuk, Iowa. The Ohio shad {Alosa 

 ohiensis) seems clearly distinct from the Atlantic 

 shad, but is sufficiently similar to be equally good 

 food, though smaller; on the Mississippi this valu- 

 able resource is not utilized; the habits of the fish 

 are similar to those of the Atlantic species, but it 

 has not yet been proved to be anadromous. 



M. W. Lton, Jr., 

 Recording Secretary 



