850 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 626. 



destroyers being taken by lizards. W. W. 

 Cooke gives the seventeenth, and last, paper 

 on the 'Migration of Warblers.' It is noted 

 that the colored plates of warblers M^ill be 

 followed by those of the thrushes, and these 

 in turn by the flycatchers, it being the laud- 

 able ambition of the editor to figure in time 

 (a slip in the types makes it in the next vol- 

 ume) every species of North American bird. 

 The number contains the Annual Report of 

 the Audubon Societies, which shows a grati- 

 fying increase in bird protection throughout 

 the country, though much yet remains to be 

 done in arousing public sentiment in favor of 

 protection, and the enactment and — what is 

 more important — the enforcement of laws. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 November contains articles on ' The Signifi- 

 cance and Scope of a Museum in Lienz,' by 

 A. B. Meyer, being advice as to the objects 

 and administration of a local museum ; ' The 

 Equipment of a School Museum,' by Oswald 

 H. Latter, showing the museum from the 

 teacher's point of view; and, under the head 

 of ' International Bureau of Ethnography,' a 

 free translation of the memorial adopted by 

 the congress at Mons, Belgium, in 1905. The 

 object of the bureau, which is to be established 

 in Brussels, is the organization at common 

 expense, of services pertaining to the scientific 

 documentation relative to the social state, the 

 manners and customs of different peoples, 

 especially peoples of inferior civilization. 



The Geological Survey of Canada has re- 

 cently issued a ' Catalogue of Publications ' 

 that forms a most acceptable addition to the 

 literature of geology. It is divided into vari- 

 ous parts, the first containing ' Reports of 

 Progress, Annual Reports and Summary Re- 

 ports in Order of Publication.' Part II. con- 

 tains * Publications arranged according to 

 Locality'; Part III. contains 'Authors' Re- 

 ports,' arranged alphabetically; Part IV. is a 

 list of reports according to their principal 

 topics, economics, paleontology, etc. ; Part V. 

 comprises the ' Principal Reports in the Di- 

 rector's Summary Reports since 1894'; Part 

 YI. is devoted to ' Reports on Economic Sub- 

 jects included in the Reports of the Mines 

 Section ' and Part YII. is a list of maps. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



Ti-iE 418th meeting was held on October 20, 

 1906, President Knowlton in the chair and 

 about fifty persons present. 



Dr. Evermann called attention to the cap- 

 ture last August (28) of a Pacific Chinook 

 salmon, weighing 5| pounds, in Sunapee Lake, 

 N. H., the second example of this species 

 known to have been taken in Atlantic waters. 

 This is the result of the introduction by the 

 State Eish Commission in the spring of 1904 

 of fry hatched from eggs furnished by the 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. The bureau has 

 made numerous plants of Chinook salmon in 

 eastern waters, but, though a 14-pound speci- 

 men was caught in Lake Ontario several years 

 ago, had despaired of establishing the species, 

 and had begun to introduce the silver and 

 humpback salmon with which it feels more 

 confident of success. ~ The Sunapee specimen 

 was not over two and a half years old, and it 

 seems probable that the conditions in that lake 

 are favorable and will result in the perma- 

 nence of the species on the Atlantic side. 



Dr. Rose exhibited a photograph and speci- 

 men of a very curious compact desert plant* 

 which resembled a giant puff ball, but with 

 corky bark and grass-like leaves. The plant 

 was introduced into England sixty years ago, 

 but female flowers and fruit had never been 

 collected until found by Dr. Rose in Mexico 

 in 1905. These show that the plant is near 

 Nolina and Dasylirion, but of very different 

 habit and fruit. 



Mr. Piper showed a specimen of the Japa- 

 nese ' hagi,' a plant, Lespedeza hicolor, from 

 the Arlington farm, and called attention to 

 the peculiar form of fasciation which con- 

 sisted in the flattening of the branches. 



Mr. W. J. Spillman presented a paper on 

 the ' Mechanism of Heredity.' It was pointed 

 out that our present knowledge of cytology 

 apparently enables us to form a satisfactory 

 theory of heredity. The fundamental assump- 

 tions necessary to the theory are as follows: 



1. The chromatin is the material in which 

 hereditary qualities inhere. This assumption 



^ ' Calibanus, a New Genus of Liliaceous Plants,' 

 Contr. Nat. Herb., 10: 90, 1906. 



