June 11, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



877 



fluenee of Temperature upon Chemical Relation 

 Velocity," University of California Publications, 

 Physiology, Vol. 2, 1905, pp. 125-46. 



2. Loeb, "Dynamics of Living Matter," 1906, 

 p. 108. 



3. Hertwig, "Archives f. Mikroseop. Anatomie 

 und Entwieklungsgeschichte, " 1898, Vol. 51, p. 

 319. 



4. Sanderson, E. D. and L. M. Peairs, ' ' Relation 

 of Temperature to Insect Life," New Hampshire 

 College Agr. Exp. Sta., Bulletin No. 7, December, 

 1913. 



S. D. Kramer 

 American Museum op Natural History 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY DP WASHINGTON 



The 540th meeting of the society was held in 

 the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, 

 April 17, 1915, called to order by Vice-president 

 Rose at 8 p.m., with 50 persons present. 



Under the heading Brief Notes, Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard called attention to the development of mos- 

 quito larvEe and adults in pools of water formed by 

 melting snow in the mountains of New York state, 

 the eggs having been laid on the ground the previ- 

 ous summer in places where pools would be 

 formed. 



The first paper of the regular program was by 

 J. D. Hood, "Some Features in the Morphology 

 of the Insect Order Thysanoptera. " Mr. Hood 

 gave a general account of the Thysanoptera, 

 called attention to the large amount of systematic 

 work that had been done in it during recent years, 

 and said that it was estimated that about 25,000 

 forms would be found to exist in the order. He 

 called particular attention to the structure and 

 mechanics of the foot, and to the asymmetrical 

 mouth parts, illustrating the peculiarities of each 

 by diagrams. Mr. Hood's paper was discussed by 

 Dr. Howard. 



The second paper of the regular program was 

 by Mr. E. A. Goldman, "Biological Explorations 

 in Eastern Panama." Mr. Goldman gave an ac- 

 count of his work in connection with the Smith- 

 sonian Biological Survey of the Panama Canal 

 Zone, in 1912, in extreme eastern Panama, with a 

 view to determining the faunal relations of that 

 section to the Canal Zone and to western Panama. 

 Very little zoological collecting had previously 

 been done in the region which was scarcely better 

 known than in the sixteenth century, at the time 

 of the Conquest. 



The region proved to be mainly southern Amer- 

 ican in faunal characters, with a slight admixture 

 of north and middle American elements. Many 

 South American species apparently reach their 

 northern limits here. The collections of birds and 

 mammals have been identified, and about forty of 

 the mammals and thirty of the birds have been 

 described as new. Among the birds are three new 

 genera, two of them of humming birds. No new 

 genera of mammals were taken, but several had 

 not previously been reported from Panama. A 

 new species of Capybara was among the more no- 

 table mammals. Spiny rats of the genus Froechi- 

 mys were found common. The tail, normally long 

 in this animal, is lost through some pathological 

 condition in many individuals, and owing to this 

 circumstance the natives believe in the existence of 

 two species. 



Mr. Goldman's paper was illustrated by lantern 

 slide views of the country explored, and of ob- 

 jects pertaining to its natural history. It was dis- 

 cussed by Messrs. Wetmore and Lyon. 



The third and last paper of the program was by 

 Vernon Bailey, "Notes on Variation Distribution 

 and Habits of the Pocket-Gophers of the Genus 

 Thomomys." Mr. Bailey said these rodents con- 

 stituting a genus of the peculiar American family 

 Geomyidae are distributed over the western United 

 States extending from Alberta and British Co- 

 lumbia to southern Mexico. They range from the 

 Arctic Alpine to the Tropical zonal areas and are 

 generally abundant in the regions they inhabit. 

 They are burrowers, live almost entirely under- 

 ground and are probably more restricted in their 

 individual habitats than any other of our native 

 mammals. This to some extent accounts for their 

 great range of variation and the large number of 

 recognizable forms, nearly ninety. Almost every 

 change in climate, soil and environment is re- 

 flected by some change in the color, size, propor- 

 tions, or cranial characters. There is wonderful 

 adaptation in their color to that of the soil in- 

 habited by them, varying from creamy white on 

 the light sands of the lower Colorado River flats 

 to dark browns on the volcanic plateaus of Mexico 

 and Arizona, and almost black along the humid 

 Pacific coast region of northwestern California. 

 There is also a pure black form on the coast of 

 Oregon which may be an extreme case of dichro- 

 matism, as there are several species with a well- 

 marked black phase. 



Their habit of burrowing enables the gophers to 

 escape many enemies and to adapt themselves to 

 rigorous climatic conditions. In the past this 



