834 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XXII. No. 573. 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 404tli regular meeting of the Biological 

 society was held October 28, 1905, with Presi- 

 dent Knowlton in the chair and 66 persons 

 present. Mr. A. A, Doolittle presented a speci- 

 men of a peculiar form of fruit of walnut 

 . (Juglans) recently picked up by one of the 

 high school pupils. Dr. A. D. Hopkins made 

 note of two species of bark beetles so de- 

 structive of forest trees in Colorado that they 

 render the forests more liable to fire because 

 of the increased amount of dead and fallen 

 timber. Dr. H. M. Smith noted the unusual 

 occurrence of so many woodcock in the vicin- 

 ity of Washington, especially on the Maryland 

 side of the Potomac River between Washing- 

 ton and Indian Head. Dr. T. S. Palmer 

 reported the bagging of 96 woodcock. Dr. 

 Smith also noted the capture of a reed bird 

 near Washington a few days since in the 

 spring plumage of the bobolink. Dr. Knowl- 

 ton reported the presence of wild geese,, re- 

 cently, in a garden at Laurel, Maryland; and 

 also of a loon, the latter apparently wounded. 

 Mr. H. W. Oldys presented, with whistled 

 notes, a song of a hermit thrush recently 

 under his observation. 



For the first paper of the evening, on ' The . 

 Changes in the Bird Life on an Indiana Farm 

 during Recent Years,' Dr. B. W. Evermann 

 gave a list of the birds (48 species) which he 

 observed during a week's stay (June 25 to 

 July 1) on a farm in Carroll County, Indiana, 

 and called attention to soine of the changes in 

 the bird life of that region in recent years. 

 Attention was called to the physical condi- 

 tions existing there thirty years ago — the 

 heavy forests, the large swamps, the numerous 

 smaller ponds — and these were contrasted with 

 present conditions — forest largely cut off and 

 the underbrush cleared away, the swamps 

 drained and now in corn and cabbage, and the 

 ponds all gone, and with them practically all 

 the swamp-loving birds as well as those that 

 love the forest. These changes are especially 

 noticeable with the crow blackbirds, red- 

 shouldered blackbirds, herons, bitterns, golden 

 swamp warblers and the like; also the wood- 

 peckers, bluebirds, tanagers, orioles and war- 

 blers. Discussion followed by Mr. Kallock. 



The second paper was by Dr. L. 0. Howard, 

 giving ' Some Notes on the Yellow-fever 

 Mosquito.' Discussion followed by Dr. Car- 

 roll, of the U. S. Army, who particularly noted 

 that Stegomya bites negroes in Washington, 

 though rarely in yellow-fever countries. Mr. 

 Schwarz noted that the mating Stegomya has 

 not been seen by him in Cuba, and that none 

 of this genus are flying at the time of day, 

 about five in the afternoon, at which Gulex 

 pipiens is abundant and mating. 



For the third paper on ' An American Cre- 

 taceous Chimseroid Ovicapsule,' Dr. Theodore 

 Gill exhibited the impression of a Cretaceous 

 chim83roid ovicapsule from the vicinity of 

 Laramie, Wyoming, originally submitted to 

 him for identification by Dr. Frank H. Knowl- 

 ton and now in the custody of Dr. T. W. Stan- 

 ton, in the National Museum. It is the first 

 of the kind noticed in the United States and 

 is interesting on account of its resemblance to 

 the ovicapsules of chimseroids of the family of 

 Harriottidse found in the deep seas of the 

 Atlantic and Pacific. It is also important as 

 an indication of the structural features of the 

 chimaeroids of the Cretaceous period. The 

 previously known ovicapsules of chimseroids 

 of Mesozoic age had been obtained from 

 Jurassic beds of Wiirtemberg and indicated 

 a relationship of their makers to the cal- 

 lorhynchids. This paper was discussed by 

 Dr. Stanton. E. L. Morris, 



Recording Secretary. 



THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 607th meeting was held on November 

 18, 1905. 



Mr. Burbank spoke informally on the recent 

 observations on terrestrial magnetism in Lab- 

 rador; disturbances in the declination amount- 

 ing to 1° 50" were noted. 



Mr. E. Buckingham presented a paper on 

 ' The Capillary Motion of Water in Soils.' 



Previous work by the speaker showed that 

 the rate at which carbonic acid and air mix 

 by diffusion through layers of soil is approxi- 

 mately proportional to the square of the poros- 

 ity of the soil. Experiments on water vapor 

 and air appear to give the same result. The 

 experiments also showed that the loss of water 



