640 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 799 



of the theory is the fact that several species of 

 barberry in various parts of the world act as 

 teleutosporio hosts for several species of rusts, 

 thus suggesting the possibility that at one time 

 the barberry may have acted also as an ancestral 

 host to the teleutospores of P. graminis. 



Henry C. Cowles 

 The Univebsitt op Chicago 



TBE CENTRAL BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN 

 SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS 



The annual meeting of the American Society 

 of Zoologists, Central Branch, was held at Iowa 

 City, with headquarters at the State University 

 of Iowa, on April 7 to 9. Officers were Edward 

 A. Birge, University of Wisconsin, president; 

 Michael F. Guyer, University of Cinciimati, vice- 

 president; Charles Zeleny, University of Illinois, 

 secretary-treasurer. 



The meeting was an unusually successful one, 

 the attendance being large and all but one of the 

 large universities in the territory covered by this 

 branch was represented by one or more zoologists. 



There was an informal smoker at the Triangle 

 Club on the evening of April 7, at which President 

 MacLean, of the State University of Iowa, de- 

 livered an informal address. Other social features 

 were a lunch held in the Bird Hall of the Museum 

 of Natural History on Friday noon, and the an- 

 nual dinner of the society at the Burkley Imperial 

 on Friday evening, at which the annual address 

 of the retiring president. Dr. Edward A. Birge, 

 of the University of Wisconsin, was delivered. 



The regular proceedings and reading of papers 

 will be noticed later. 



The following officers were elected for next 

 meeting: Dr. C. E. McClung, of the University of 

 Kansas, president; Dr. Henry F. Nachtrieb, of the 

 State University of Minnesota, vice-president; 

 Professor Herbert B. Neal, of Galesburg, Illinois, 

 secretary. A committee on nomenclature to co- 

 operate with the Eastern Branch, and ultimately 

 with the International Association of Zoologists, 

 in the revision of rules of nomenclature, was ap- 

 pointed, of which Professor C. C. Nutting, of the 

 State University of Iowa, was chairman; the other 

 members being Dr. H. B. Ward, of Illinois; Dr. 

 S. W. Williston, of Chicago; Dr. C. A. Kofoid, of 

 California, and Dr. C. H. Eigenmann, of Indiana. 



The new laboratories of zoology, and the zoolog- 

 ical museum were open for inspection and there 

 was much favorable comment on the extent of the 

 equipment, the size, and general style of the new 

 building, and the exhibits in the museum. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 SECTION OF BIOLOGY 



At the regular meeting held at the American 

 Museum on March 14, 1910, Professor Charles B. 

 Davenport presiding, the following papers were 

 read: 



Relation between Species amd Individual in the 

 Struggle for Existence: Dr. Alexander Pe- 



TRUNKEVITCH. 



From examples taken from the groups of spiders 

 and insects the speaker tried to show that the 

 advantage of the individual is often opposed to 

 the advantage of the species. Structures and 

 habits dangerous to the individual but of use to 

 the species are not uncommon. Their existence 

 proves that the individual is " enslaved " by the 

 species, which condition may be understood only 

 if we consider the individual a mere carrier and 

 protector of the germ. In the evolution of species 

 not the characters of the fittest individual are 

 selected and transmitted to the descendant, but 

 those of the fittest to preserve the progeny. 



A Case of Apparent Reversion among Gastropods : 



Miss Elvira Wood. 



The ornament of Potamidopsis tricarinatum be- 

 gins as two continuous spirals, passes through a 

 stage with two rows of nodes and interpolates a 

 third row of nodes in the adult. Potamidopsis 

 trochleare has three rows of nodes in the young, 

 later loses the median row and has in the adult 

 two continuous spirals. This suggests reversion 

 in the latter species, but in P. tricarinatum the 

 upper spiral disappears before the introduction of 

 the subsutural and median rows of nodes, while 

 in P. trochleare the upper continuous spiral of 

 the adult is developed from the subsutural nodes, 

 hence the two spirals of the adult are not equiva- 

 lent to the two spirals of the young P. tricari- 

 natum. P. trochleare illustrates progressive de- 

 velopment resulting in simplification of structures. 



The Preparation of a Museum Anatomical Model: 



Mr. Ignaz Matausch. 



The speaker gave an account of the successive 

 stages in the construction of an anatomical model 

 of a spider, for museum exhibition. He exhibited 

 a number of dissected specimens of Lyoosa upon 

 which the model is based, as well as a series of 

 wax models which are made preliminary to cast- 

 ing the final model. 



L. HiTSSAKOP, 



Secretary 



