846 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1014 



from mouth. Corals free themselves from foreign 

 objects, as sand. These are sometimes swallowed, 

 but eventually all are rejected. Corals living 

 where wave action is great have less power to 

 cleanse themselves than species living on sand or 

 mud-flats. 



Corals sometimes swallow as large objects as 

 small jellyfish and crabs. In experiments they took 

 pieces of fish, Crustacea and even pieces of other 

 polyps. They ate also every kind of marine plank- 

 ton, except Pycnogonida, which were rejected. 

 Every copepod dropped on the oval disc of a coral 

 or even on the column wall was killed and wafted 

 to mouth. No vegetable matter of any kind was 

 taken. Pure cultures of diatoms were invariably 

 rejected; if dipped in beef juice diatoms were 

 swallowed, but later ejected. Bits of seaweed were 

 similarly treated. The conclusion is, therefore, 

 that coral polyps are strictly carnivorous. The 

 communication was discussed by Mr. A. A. Doo- 

 little and the speaker. 



Mr. A. A. Doolittle then gave the last paper of 

 the program: "The Plankton Resources of Some 

 Massachusetts Ponds." He spoke of the bearing 

 plankton studies have on the broad problem of the 

 conservation of natural resources. A study of the 

 plankton is necessary to the utmost utilization of 

 the fish resources, since practically all fishes, at 

 some stage of their existence, feed on plankton, 

 especially the entomostraca. 



In the eight Massachusetts lakes studied, samples 

 were taken from bottom to surface and in all parts 

 of the lakes. Twenty-six species of Entomostraca 

 were collected, one new. Copepods were much more 

 numerous in individuals than the Cladoeera, and 

 composed from 50 to 75 per cent, of the total 

 plankton. The number of plankton under a square 

 yard of surface varied from seven thousand to 

 eighty-two thousand. The largest numbers were 

 found iu the shallower lakes. The number per 

 cubic yard of water varied from 500 to 17,500, the 

 largest number by this estimate also in a shallow 

 lake. In fact the number of plankton . varies in- 

 versely as . the depth, the deeper parts of quiet 

 lakes having few or none. 



Knowing the amount of plankton in a lake, if 

 stomachs of fish are examined to determine the 

 amount they consume, we can estimate the number 

 of fishes the water may support. Mr. Doolittle 's 

 paper was discussed by Drs. C. D. Marsh and M. 

 W. Lyon. 



The 527th meeting was held May 2, 1914, in the 

 lecture room of the Cosmos Club, with Vice-presi- 



dent Dr. W. P. Hay in the chair, and 46 persons 

 present. Frederick M. Gaige, University of Michi- 

 gan and Frederick C. Lincoln, Colorado Museum of 

 Natural History, were elected to membership. It 

 was announced that the 527th would be the last 

 meeting of the season. 



In response to the call for brief notes, W. L. Me- 

 Atee compared the abundance of birds in the 

 neighborhood of the District of Columbia, as. 

 stated in Coues's and Prentiss's lists of 1862 and 

 1883, with that of the present. Discussion fol- 

 lowed by Wm. Palmer and W. W. Cooke. 



Calling Dr. M. W. Lyon to the chair. Dr. W. P. 

 Hay gave the first paper of the regular program: 

 ' ' A Journal of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. ' ' 

 The journal in question is %, manuscript by Mr. 

 Sinclair, the navigating officer of Captain Wilkes ' 

 flagship. Dr. Hay sketched the history of the 

 Wilkes ' expedition, gave the personnel of the sci- 

 entific staff, and an account of the itinerary of the 

 voyage. He also noted the character and manner 

 of distribution of the de luxe report on the expedi- 

 tion, which was in 20 volumes and of which only 

 100 sets were distributed. 



The journal of Mr. Sinclair began at Norfolk, 

 Va., August 9, 1838. Dr. Hay read various ex- 

 cerpts, relating to the following subjects: the death 

 and color changes of the dolphin, a waterspout, 

 phosphorescence, behavior of whales ; notes on the 

 towns of the west coast of South America, includ- 

 ing Valparaiso and Callao; description of the 

 cruise to the Antarctic, including notes on the 

 aurora, icebergs, penguins, seals, storms and the 

 discovery of land; the last excerpt read was a de- 

 scription of San Francisco. The paper was dis- 

 cussed by Drs. M. W. Lyon and Theodore Gill. 



The second contribution to the program was an 

 account of the home and country of Linneeus by S. 

 M. Gronberger, illustrated by lantern slides. Mr. 

 Gronberger sketched the home, school and profes- 

 sorial career of Linnaeus, and gave an account of 

 his travels. He showed views of Linnaeus 's home 

 and country, as it now is, and spoke of the distin- 

 guished visitors entertained by Linnsus and the 

 mode of life of these companies. Numerous views 

 of places of historical interest also were shown. 



The evening's program was completed by the ex- 

 hibition of an interesting series of lantern slides of 

 Washington's wild flowers by L. D. Halleck. Wm. 

 Palmer spoke briefly on certain of our wild flow- 

 ers, remarked on their cultivation, and gave run- 

 ring comments on the slides 



W. L. McAtee, 

 Recording Secretary 'pro tern. 



