March 18, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



45g 



giver, and the sacrifice of the first born arises 

 and the self -infliction of pain. 



The blood relationships between men and 

 gods arising from the organization of men in 

 kindreds with heads, representatives of gods, 

 was discussed by Dr. Casanowicz and interest- 

 ing examples of the beliefs and rites given. 



Dr. B. Eosalie Slaughter, who has recently 

 returned from the east, gave an illustrated 

 paper, entitled, ' A Journey in Korea and 

 North China.' Attractive views were shown 

 of the scenery, villages, architecture and 

 people, with comments on them that showed 

 the thorough acquaintance of Dr. Slaughter 

 with the subject. At the, close of the paper 

 the society passed a, vote of thanks to Dr. 

 Slaughter for her interesting address. 



Walter Hough, 

 General Secretary. 



THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY ANT) 

 MEDICINE. 



The fifth regular meeting of the Society 

 for Experimental Biology and Medicine was 

 held on the evening of February 17, in the 

 rooms of the department of pathology of the 

 Cornell University Medical College. Dr. S. 

 J. Meltzer presided. Members present: Adler, 

 Calkins, Crampton, Dunham, Ewing, Gies, 

 Jackson, Levene, Lusk, Meltzer, Murlin, 

 Norris, Eichards, Wadsworth, Wallace, Wil- 

 son, AVoodworth, Tatsu. Abstracts* of the 

 reports of original researches follow: 



The Nature and Basis of Sexual Selection in 



Moths: H. E. Crampton. 



The object of the investigation described 

 was to obtain a quantitative expression for the 

 strength of the mating instinct in certain 

 species of large saturnid moths {Philosamia 

 Cynthia and Samia cecropia), and to deter- 

 mine the correlation between the mating in- 

 stinct and structural characters. The re- 

 sults of earlier statistical studies upon the 

 pupae of these species were reviewed, dealing 

 with the nature and basis of the process of 

 natural selection during the period before 



* The aiithors of the reports have furnished the 

 abstracts. The secretary has made only a few 

 abbreviations and minor alterations in them. 



emergence and at emergence. It was shown 

 that : 



1. Those pupse which die after pupation 

 and prior to metamorphosis are structurally 

 different from and more variable than those 

 individuals which successfully survive the 

 pupal period. 



2. Those pupse which become perfect moths 

 are likewise different from those which can 

 not emerge as perfect raoths. 



3. The basis for selective elimination is to 

 be sought in correlation between the various 

 structures. 



The mating period follows immediately 

 after metamorphosis, when certain individuals 

 with weak mating instinct fail to take part 

 in the production of the next generation, 

 and are thus ' sexually eliminated.' In order 

 to determine the points mentioned above, 

 pup» of the two species named were isolated 

 as the time for metamorphosis approached, 

 and upon emergence were given one oppor- 

 tunity to mate. It was, therefore, possible to 

 compare the pupse of the two classes of mating 

 and non-mating individuals. The results, 

 briefly stated, are: 



1. That even slightly imperfect moths pos- 

 sess very little mating instinct, or in other 

 words, that with the structural conditions as- 

 sociated with an imperfect power of emergence 

 is correlated a low grade of mating ability. 



2. That the mating individuals of the per- 

 fect class differ structurally to a certain ex- 

 tent from the non-mating ones, but they are 

 very much less variable than the latter class. 



The importance of these results from the 

 standpoint of inheritance and evolution is 

 suificiently clear to render extended discussion 

 unnecessary. 



Observations on a Serous Fluid of Unusually 

 High Molecular Concentration: E. K. Dun- 

 ham. 



The fluid was removed from the pleural 

 cavity of a man suffering from lobar pneu- 

 monia. The patient was a scene-shifter in 

 a theater and had suffered considerable pain 

 in the chest for four months before his ad- 

 mission to the hospital. His occupation re- 

 quired severe labor for brief periods, during 



