Febkuary 18j 1916] 



SCIENCE 



247 



five fathoms, that is, thirty to fifty meters; 

 however, Ascherson regards this as the ex- 

 treme limit for plants of this type and possibly 

 this depth has never been reported elsewhere. 



That the two species of Halophila described 

 above may have been growing in these Florida 

 waters in Pleistocene times or even an ances- 

 tral type of Halophila we can have no means 

 of ascertaining, but taking into consideration 

 the clarity of the water at present and the ease 

 with which light can penetrate it, it is not im- 

 reasonable to suppose that enough light can 

 be secured by the assimilative tissues of the 

 plants for photosynthetic activities at great 

 depths. ZSTow even though the plants experi- 

 ence some difficTilty in their synthesis due 

 to a lessened intensity of light, a change so 

 gradual as the depression of a great area of 

 sea bottom would seem to give a plant belong- 

 ing to so plastic a group as the Hydrochari- 

 tales an ideal opportunity to react to the 

 changing environment. 



To summarize briefly, then, the occurrence 

 of these two species of Halophila at an un- 

 usual depth, probably illustrates the adapta- 

 bility of the genus and supplements the geo- 

 logical evidences for a depression of the Flor- 

 ida key region. In conclusion the writer 

 wishes to express his gratitude to Professor 

 Van Ingen, of Princeton, for suggesting that 

 these observations might be of general in- 

 terest. 



Howard H. M. Bowman 



■University of Pennsylvania 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SPECIAL MEETINGi 



It will be remembered that the Council of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at its Columbus, Ohio, meetings held from 

 December 27, 1915, to January 1, 1916, voted to 

 permit the association to hold a special meeting 

 on January 3 and 4, 1916, in Washington as an 

 indication of the interest of the association in the 

 meetings of the Second Pan-American Scientific 

 Congress which were held in Washington from De- 

 cember 27, 1915, to January 8, 1916. 



1 Held on January 3 and 4, 1916, in cooperation 

 with the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress. 



The opening meeting was held on Monday night, 

 January 3, in the Memorial Continental Hall and 

 was largely attended by members of the associa- 

 tion and by delegates to the Pan-American Con- 

 gress. 



Dr. E. S. Woodward, past-president of the 

 American Association, presided and introduced 

 Mr. John Barrett, director general of the Bureau 

 of American Republics and secretary general of 

 the 'Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, who 

 made an address of welcome as follows: 



' ' I consider it a great honor and privilege to 

 say a word this evening. While I may not be 

 classed aa a scientist in the same way as we would 

 classify Dr. Campbell and Dr. Woodward, I can 

 frankly say that I have learned more during the 

 past ten days about the science of international 

 congresses than I ever dreamed could be discovered 

 in a lifetime. 



' ' Speaking as the Secretary General of the 

 Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, I ex- 

 tend to you all congratulations upon the holding 

 of this joint session of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and the Second 

 Pan-American Scientific Congress. I bring to you 

 from the latter an expression of profound interest 

 in what your organization is achieving and we feel 

 flattered that you shoiild have arranged this spe- 

 cial meeting. 



"It may interest you to know that this Second 

 Pan-American Scientific Congress is the largest 

 ofiicial international gathering which has ever as- 

 sembled in the history of the national capital, 

 and, at the same time, the largest Pan-American 

 official gathering which has ever been called to- 

 gether in any capital of the Western Hemisphere. 

 It is indeed fortunate, moreover, that it should 

 meet at this remarkable time in the world's his- 

 tory, when the harmonious meetings and discus- 

 sions of the representative® of the twenty-one 

 American Eepublics should stand out so strongly 

 in contrast to the divided conditions of Europe. 

 The silver lining of the European war cloud, if its 

 terrible blackness can have any such brightness 

 hidden in its folds, is the development of Pan- 

 American solidarity, Pan-American community of 

 interest and Pan-American friendship and peace. 



"It is also most appropriate that we should now 

 have a great Pan-American scientific assembly. 

 Last May there met in Washington a Pan-Ameri- 

 can Financial Conference that attracted the atten- 

 tion of the world. Through many years we have 

 had Pan-American political and commercial con- 



