June 7, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



905 



species found on the islands south of Miami 

 are also native in Cuba and the Bahamas. 



Since the publication of Dr. Small's last 

 report on exploration in southern Florida, and 

 a subsequently printed paper on the species 

 added to the flora of that state, he has secured 

 over fifty more species not before known to 

 grow on the North American mainland. 

 Eight or ten of these are complete novelties, 

 inasmuch as they are not yet described. Note- 

 worthy among the recent collections, which 

 make an aggregate of 3,200 specimens, are 

 seven species not previously included in the 

 tree flora of the United States. 



After an interesting discussion of Dr. 

 Small's paper the club adjourned at five 

 o'clock. 



C. Stuart Gager, 



Secretary 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 430th meeting was held April 20, 1907, 

 with President Stejneger presiding. 



The fijst paper, by Mr. George B. Morse, 

 was entitled ' Preliminary Observations on the 

 Quail Disease in the United States.' 



The speaker quoted from a booklet entitled 

 ' Quail Culture from A to Z,' published in 

 1905 ; " There is no contagious disease among 

 quail that has yet made its appearance. * * * 

 They have lice, but not disease." The facts 

 recorded in these observations are a complete 

 refutation of that statement. In April, 1906, 

 there were received from a Washington dealer 

 three dead bobwhites, the last of a large num- 

 ber that had been steadily falling victims to 

 a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease. 

 In May, 1906, and January, 1907, letters were 

 received from Boston, Mass., and Worcester, 

 Mass., referring to what was undoubtedly the 

 same disease. From February 11, 1907, to 

 March 21, 1907, two dealers in Washington 

 lost upwards of 250 bobwhites, and quite a 

 number each of several other species of quail. 

 Post-mortem examination revealed the same 

 lesions in all. The sources from which these 

 birds werfe received demonstrated as known 

 centers of infection Alexander City and Dade- 

 ville, Tallapoosa County, and Birmingham, 

 Jefferson County, Ala. ; Wichita, Kans. ; and 



Marlow, Chickasaw Nation, Ind. T. In addi- 

 tion to the above, other localities such as 

 Washington, D. C, Boston and Worcester, 

 Mass., Elizabeth, Pa., and Yarmouth, Nova 

 Scotia, have become more or less infected by 

 means of shipments of diseased birds received. 

 The disease has been thus far demonstrated in 

 the following species : bobwhite (Colirms 

 virginianus) , California quail (Lophortyx 

 californicus valUcola), Gambel quail (Lophor- 

 tyx gamheli), mountain quail (Oreortyx pic- 

 tus), scaled quail, ' cotton- top ' or blue quail 

 {CaUipepla, squamata) and the sharp-tailed 

 grouse {Pedioccetes phasianellus campestris). 



Period of incubation appears to be about 

 ten days. Symptoms are : dullness, fluffed 

 feathers, neglect of food. In acute cases (the 

 most common) death occurs within two or 

 three days. In chronic cases diarrhcea occurs 

 and emaciation is extreme. At post-mortem 

 examination the characteristic lesions are pul- 

 monary congestion, superficial necroses of the 

 liver and intestinal ulceration. Bacteriologic 

 investigation of the cases studied in 1906 re- 

 sulted in the isolation of a bacillus apparently 

 identical with Klein's bacillus of grouse dis- 

 ease. The cases studied in 1907 yielded with 

 striking unanimity a variant of Bacillus coli 

 with which the author has produced death in 

 mice, guinea-pigs and bobwhites with the 

 characteristic lesions. The disease was there- 

 fore spoken of as an infectious disease of the 

 grouse family produced by a member of the 

 B. coli group, described in circular No. 109, 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry. No cura- 

 tive treatment was offered but procedures for 

 prevention were outlined, methods applicable 

 to the prevention of disease of intestinal origin 

 among all wild birds brought under habits of 

 life more restricted than those normally en- 

 joyed. 



Dr. T. S. Palmer referred to the importance 

 of the establishment of this disease among 

 American quail, as the grouse disease is estab- 

 lished in Europe. When first heard of last 

 autumn it was supposed the grouse disease 

 had been imported. During the past ten years 

 there has been a marked decrease in abundance 

 of quail, particularly following severe winters 

 and there is a large demand for birds to re- 



