NOVBMBKB 9, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



729 



saved with the iutention of producing resistant 

 races by selection and crossbreeding. 



That the quality of resistance to the wilt 

 disease is transmissible through the seed was 

 proved by an experiment in which the seed of 

 one such resistant plant of sea island cotton was 

 planted beside an ordinary race. Every plant 

 grown from the selected seed lived, while all 

 the other cotton around it was killed. It is 

 believed that a race of cotton entirely resistant 

 to the wilt disease may be obtained by careful 

 selection and cross-breeding. 



L. M. Tolman discussed ' The Economic Uses 

 of Cotton- Seed Oil' describing the methods of 

 extracting and refining the oil of different 

 grades, and noting the products of 2,000 pounds 

 of seed. The rapid growth of the industry was 

 described, as well as the various uses of the oil 

 in salad oil, butterine, lard substitutes, etc., its 

 value as food and digestibility as shown by 

 recent experiments. Cotton-seed meal, a by- 

 product in the manufacture of the oil was, the 

 speaker said, valuable as a fertilizer and as food 

 for cattle. F. A. Lucas. 



THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

 SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 



A MEETING of the Section was held on Octo- 

 ber 8th, Professor C. L. Bristol presiding. The 

 program offered consisted of reports of summer 

 work by members of the section. 



Professor E. B. Wilson reported that he spent 

 the summer at Beaufort, N. C, where he prose- 

 cuted experimental researches upon the eggs of 

 Toxopneustes. Loeb's experiments upon the 

 eggs of Arbacia were confirmed, and further 

 facts of great interest were determined. Later 

 in the season Professor Wilson visited Woods 

 Holl, Mt. Desert, Me., and the Bay of Fundy. 

 He drew attention to the very great differences 

 between the Beaufort and Bay of Fundy faunas. 

 The transparent pelagic annelid Tomopteris was 

 collected in the latter locality. 



Dr. D. T. MacDougal spent the summer in 

 studying the flora of Priest Lake, which stands 

 at an elevation of 3,000 feet, in northern Idaho. 

 He was especially concerned in studying the 

 effect of air temperatures on the distribution of 

 plants. 



Professor H. F. Osborn visited the British 



Museum and the Museum of Comparative Anat- 

 omy in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. The 

 latter has, under the hand of Dr. Filhol, reached 

 a high degree of effectiveness. At the British 

 Museum Professor Osborn examined the remains 

 of the new Patagonian sloth Neomylodon, the 

 form said by Ameghino to be still extant. 



Mr. F. B. Sumner gave an account of experi- 

 ments carried on at the marine laboratory at 

 Naples. The work of Mr. Sumner was directed 

 towards determining the validity of his conflu- 

 ence theory of the origin of the embryo in fishes. 

 The results are regarded as confirmatory. 



The work in the Bermuda Islands, carried on 

 in previous summers by the expeditions from 

 the New York University under the direction 

 of Professor Bristol, was continued this summer. 

 Mr. F. C. Waite was this year a member of the 

 party, and reported the finding of much valuable 

 and interesting material not heretofore collected. 



Dr. M. A. Howe also worked iu the Bermudas 

 during the first half of the summer, going later 

 to Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard and to Sequin 

 Island, Maine. He was especially concerned 

 with the collection of marine algse, of which he 

 reported the acquisition of a large number. 

 He described also the general floral features of 

 the Bermudas. 



Dr. H. E. Crampton stated that the summer 

 session at Woods Holl has been a successful one. 



Mr. M. A. Bigelow, while at Woods Holl, 

 confirmed his results on Lepas and added a 

 number of new observations. He, with Dr. 

 Crampton, carried on a study of the ponds along 

 the southern shore of Martha's Vineyard, with 

 a view to studying the variation in their fauna. 



Professor F. E. Lloyd spent six weeks in 

 company with Professor S. M. Tracy in a pre- 

 liminary study of the flora of the Mississippi 

 Sound Islands and Delta. A full series of plants 

 was collected. Professor Lloyd described the 

 leading features of the vegetation of that region. 

 F. E. Lloyd, 



Secretary. 



SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 



The regular'meeting of the Section was held 

 on October 22d. Reports of anthropological 

 investigations made during the past summer 

 were received from Dr. Franz Boas, Dr. Liv 



