564 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. Ko. 43. 



Mr. Ashmead read a paper entitled ' Ehopa- 

 losomidee, a New Family of Fossorial Wasps.' 

 Mr. Ashmead founds this new family upon 

 Bhopalosoma poeyi, a Cuban species described by 

 Cresson, specimens of which have recently 

 turned up in different parts of the United 

 States. Much discussion exists in the literature 

 as to the proper systematic position of this in- 

 sect, Westwood, Frederick Smith, Cresson, 

 Haliday and Nylander having assigned it vari- 

 ously to the Ichneumonidse, Braconidte, Pone- 

 ridse, Sphegidse and Vespidte. Mr. Ashmead's 

 studies led him to place the species as the type 

 of a new family of fossorial wasps, which will 

 form a link between the Vespidae and Sapygidse. 

 Discussed by Messrs. Marlatt, Schwarz. Gill 

 and Uliler, mainly in regard to the fact that the 

 insect seems to lack a fossorial facies. 



L. O. Howard, 



Secretary. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Academy met on October 14 with Pro- 

 fessor R. S. Woodward, chairman of the Section 

 of Astronomy and Physics, in the chair. 22 

 persons were present. The secretary pre- 

 sented verbally the minutes of the preceding 

 meeting. 



There being no business, the Section of As- 

 tronomy and Physics immediately organized, 

 and listened to the iirst paper of the evening by 

 Professor Harold Jacoby, entitled ' The Eeduc- 

 tion of Astro Photographic Plates.' This papa- 

 was read by title, and was explained as being a 

 discussion of the best formula for the reduction 

 of the photographic plates taken by the Inter- 

 national Committee for the Photographic Map- 

 ping of the heavens. It will be published as 

 a bulletin of the Committee at Paris. Pro- 

 fessor Jacoby then showed some lantern views 

 of apparatus and astrophotographic plates 

 taken at the observatory at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. 



The second paper was read by R. S. Wood- 

 ward : ' Results of Experiments on Metallic 

 Spheres Falling in Water.' Professor Wood- 

 ward, after detailing various attempts to obtain 

 data upon the law governing the motion of 

 spheres in a liquid, reported the results of a 

 preliminary series of experiments, made at Co- 



lumbia College last June. The experiments 

 were performed by dropping spheres of steel, 

 silver, aluminum and platinum in a tube of water 

 sixteen feet long and one foot in diameter. The 

 spheres varj^ in diameter from one-half inch 

 to two inches. The interesting results of these 

 preliminary tests are that all the spheres ac- 

 quired a constant velocity inside of the first 

 meter. Newton's law that resistance to motion 

 is proportional to the square of the velocity 

 seemed to be verified. The times of falling were 

 determined Avith a Hipp chronoscope. More 

 elaborate experiments with the same apparatus 

 will be made later. This paper was discussed 

 by Professor Jacoby and others. W. Hallock 

 reported upon some summer work, explaining 

 the action of the vocal cords in voice production, 

 and described the photographs taken of the 

 cords while in action, illustrative of their opera- 

 tion. 



The Academy then adjourned. 



Wm. Hallock, 



Secretary of Section. 



NEW BOOKS. 



An Introduction to General Biology. William 

 T. Sedgwick and Edmund B. Wilson. 2d 

 Edition. New York, Henry Holt & Co. 

 1895. Pp. xii + 231. 



Darwin and After Darwin. II. Post-Darwinian 

 Questions Heredity and Utility. George John 

 Romanes. Chicago, Open Court Publishing 

 Co. 1895. Pp. x-l-344. $1.50. 



Weather and Disease. A Curve History of their 

 Variations in Recent Years. ALEX. B. Mac- 

 DowALL. London, The Graphotone Co. 

 1895. Pp. 82. 



Chemical Experiments, Prepared to Accompany 

 Remsen's ' Introduction to the Study of Chemis- 

 try. ' Ira Remsen and Wyatt W. Randall. 

 New York, Henry Holt & Co. 1895. Pp. 

 x-l-156. 



An Atlas of the Fertilization and Karyokinesis of 

 the Ovum. Edmund B. Wilson and Edward 

 Leaming. New York, Columbia University 

 Press, Maemillan & Co. 1895. 4to. Pp. 

 vi + 32. $4.00. 



