December 29, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



850 



spider crabs (Lihinia emarginaia and L. 

 duhia). 



Herbert E. Walter, A.M., asdstant in 

 comparative anatomy, Harvard Univer- 

 sity: (1) Reactions of a triclad worm 

 {Bdelloura Candida) to light; (2) sta- 

 tistical study of the variability of the 

 gastropod Urosalpinx cinerea from various 

 points in- the vicinity of Woods Hole. 



Francis B. Sumner. 



CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES 



AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The association met at Washington for 

 its nineteenth annual convention, Novem- 

 ber 14-16, 1905. Being preceded and fol- 

 lowed by a number of other conventions, 

 among which were those of the Associations 

 of State Universities, of Farmers ' Institute 

 Workers, of Horticultural Inspectors and 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists, an un- 

 usually large number of persons interested 

 in industrial education and agricultural ex- 

 perimentation was brought together in 

 Washington, and this tended to make the 

 convention of agricultural colleges and ex- 

 periment stations one of the largest ever 

 held. The association was addressed by the 

 Hon. James Wilson, secretary of agricul- 

 ture, who declared his deep interest in the 

 work carried on by the institutions repre- 

 sented in the association, and indorsed the 

 movement to secure an increase in the ap- 

 propriation for the experiment stations, to 

 which he pledged his support. 



The annual address of the president of 

 the association, delivered by Dr. E. B. 

 Voorhees, director of the New Jersey ex- 

 periment stations, related in the main to 

 some of the duties and responsibilities of 

 the agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations. Dr. Voorhees held the colleges 

 primarily responsible for the character of 

 work done by the experiment stations, be- 

 cause the working staff is the first deter- 



mining factor in station work, and the 

 colleges must be depended on to furnish the 

 fundamental training for this work. He 

 urged the need of more research work on 

 the part of the stations, and declared that 

 the present limitations were largely due to 

 the insufficient supply of broadly trained 

 men competent to conduct highly scientific 

 investigations in agriculture. 



A memorial address upon the life and ser- 

 vices of President Henry H. Goodell, of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, and for 

 many years a prominent worker in the 

 association, was delivered by President W. 

 E. Stone. President Goodell's death oc- 

 curred. last spring. 



There were the usual reports of officers 

 of the association and of standing commit- 

 tees. The executive committee reported 

 that it had succeeded during the year in 

 securing modification of the orders of the 

 War Department with reference to military 

 instruction in the land-grant colleges. The 

 same committee suggested a reorganization 

 of the standing committees of the associa- 

 tion, which was taken up later and was one 

 of the important actions of the association. 

 Four standing committees were provided 

 for, viz., (1) instruction in agriculture, (2) 

 graduate study, (3) extension work and 

 (4) experiment station organization and 

 policy. The committees consist of six mem- 

 bers each, and there is provision for a 

 gradual rotation in the membership, the 

 terms of only two members expiring each 

 year. 



Dr. A. C. True presented the report of 

 the committee on indexing agricultural 

 literature, describing the progress which has 

 been made by the library of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in indexing scientific 

 periodicals relating to agricultural investi- 

 gations. The index is printed on cards. 

 This undertaking has grown out of the 

 efforts of the committee. Dr. True also 

 presented the report of the committee on 



