January 12, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



69 



Malaria must be carried by mosquitoes. The 

 Crustacea which carry disease are parasitic. 

 It looks as if an animal parasite were neces- 

 sary for the transmission of yellow fever. The 

 course of the disease in man is rapid. In the 

 mosquito it is slow. Rapid reproduction is 

 characteristic of a non-sexual method; slow 

 reproduction of a sexual method. It is prob- 

 able that there is an alternation of generations 

 in the mosquito and man. Characteristic 

 Protozoa which carry disease may be Ehizo- 

 poda, Flagellata or Sporozoa. It is probable 

 that the yellow fever parasite belongs to one 

 oi these classes. 



The second paper was a report of ' The New 

 York Meeting of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union,' by Dr. T. S. Palmer. This meeting 

 has been reported in full elsewhere. 



The third paper was by Mr. "W. W. Cooke, 

 on ' Discontinuous Breeding Eanges of Birds.' 

 The speaker showed many lantern slides illus- 

 trating the facts of summer range, winter 

 range, breeding range, and how in some cases 

 these coincide, in others these overlap, and in 

 still others these are quite separate seasonally, 

 and again even geographically, sometimes by 

 distances almost hemispherical. 



E. L. MoEEis, 

 Recording Secretary. 



THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



The club met at the New York Botanical 

 Garden, October 25, 1905, with Professor 

 Underwood in the chair and eighteen persons 

 present. 



The announced program consisted of ' Fur- 

 ther remarks on the vegetation of the Ba- 

 hamas,' by Drs. N. L. Britton and C. E. 

 Millspaugh. 



Dr. Millspaugh in 'opening the discussion 

 remarked that the flora of the Bahamas is so 

 locally distributed that all the islands must 

 be visited before a complete enumeration can 

 be attempted, and that a thorough exploration 

 of the archipelago at an early date is very 

 desirable. He then reviewed the history of 

 the exploration of the Bahamas, mentioning 

 the work of Brace, Britton, Catesby, Coker, 

 Cooper, Eggers, Hitcheock, Howe, Madiana, 



Millspaugh, Nash, Mrs. Northrop and Swain- 

 son ( ?) ; and summarizing the work done upon 

 each island. 



It is pretty certain that the islands have 

 all been submerged at a very recent geological 

 period, so that the question as to whether they 

 were ever previously connected with the main- 

 land has no significance for the present plant 

 population. The flora seems to have more in 

 common with Cuba and Hayti than with any 

 other region. 



Dr. Britton then described some of the note- 

 worthy features of the flora, exhibiting speci- 

 mens of several of the recently discovered 

 endemic species, and of the palms. 



Dr. Howe discussed some of the marine 

 algse of the Bahamas, remarking upon the 

 apparently very local distribution of some of 

 the species. He exhibited specimens of a new 

 Roblimeda, and of a new genus, Cladocephalus, 

 soon to be described by him in the Bulletin. 



Dr. Barnhart remarked that he had recently 

 found some evidence about one Swainson, who 

 is supposed to have collected plants in the Ba- 

 hamas between 1830 and 1842. Some doubts 

 had been expressed as to whether this could 

 have been William Swainson, the zoologist, 

 who is not known to have been in that part 

 of the world at the time indicated, but the 

 evidence goes to show that the specimens in 

 question had been collected for Swainson by 

 some unknown correspondent, and by him 

 communicated to the herbarium at Kew, where 

 they are now found. 



Dr. MacDougal exhibited a mounted series 

 of leaves' of two hybrid oaks, Quercus Budhini 

 Britton (supposed to be a hybrid between Q. 

 marylandica and Q. Phellos), the original 

 specimens of which were recently found to be 

 still growing near Cliffwood, N. J.; and Q. 

 heterophylla Bartr. (supposed to be a hybrid 

 between Q. Phellos and Q. rubra) from Staten 

 Island. The specimens exhibited showed an 

 interesting range of variation, and acorns of 

 both- hybrids have been planted, so that they 

 can be studied hereafter in the light of recent 

 theories of evolution. 



EoLAND M. Harper, 

 Secretary pro tern. 



