762 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIH. No. 1117 



I>r. O. P. Hay exhibited a mutilated braiacase 

 of an elk which had caused certain persons much 

 difficulty to identify; he also showed a remarkably 

 well preserved skull of an extinct horse. 



President Hay exhibited a number of lantern 

 slides of biological interest, chiefly of aquatic ani- 

 mals in the vicinity of Beaufort, North Carolina. 



Medical Inspector Ames asked if any member 

 present had positive knowledge as to the ability of 

 camels to swim, or otherwise? This question was 

 discussed by several members, but no positive 

 knowledge was forthcoming. He also inquired as 

 to the possible existence of a South American ani- 

 mal with dorsally placed mammae. 



Following the adjournment of the society sev- 

 eral members examined a microscopic preparation 

 of a living embryo of Filaria tancrofti obtained 

 by Dr. Lyon from a former inhabitant of British 

 Guiana but for several years resident in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia. 



The regular program was as follows: 



W. P. Hay: "Notes on the Growth of the Log- 

 gerhead Turtle," illustrated by lantern slides and 

 chart. Mr. Hay gave an account of two young 

 loggerhead turtles now under observation at the 

 U. ,8. Fisheries Biological Station at Beaufort, 

 N. C. They are the survivors of a lot of 77 

 hatched September 9-11, 1912, from eggs ob- 

 tained from a nest on Bogue Bank about six weeks 

 earlier. When first hatched the average size of 

 the young was: total length 77.3 mm.; length of 

 carapace, 46.2 mm.; weight, 20.1 grams. 



At the age of three years the survivors measure 

 493 and 515 mm.^ in total length; 343.75 and 

 365 mm., in length of carapace; and weigh 6,690 

 and 7,967 grams, respectively. The increase in 

 size and weight has been steady and the measure- 

 ments, which have been taken twice a year, can be 

 plotted as points on a curve. This curve con- 

 tinued indicates that the maximum siee of this 

 species, about 1,000 mm. length of carapace, may 

 possibly be obtained in the tenth or eleventh year, 

 and that sexual maturity is probably reached in 

 the sixth or seventh year. This is considerably 

 more rapid growth than has usually been attrib- 

 uted to animals of this kind. 



The paper was discussed by Dr. Shufeldt, Dr. 

 O. P. Hay, Medical Inspector Ames, and Mr. Doo- 

 Uttle. 



E. W. Shufeldt : ' ' The Eestoration of the Dino- 

 saur, Podokesaurus holyokensis." Dr. Shufeldt 

 gave an historical account of a discussion upon the 

 restoration of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyoken- 



sis of Talbot, which took place in the autumn of 

 1915. This discussion was carried on in corre- 

 spondence and participated in by Drs. Richard S. 

 Lull and Mignon Talbot, Hr. Gerhard Heilmann, 

 and the speaker. Lantern slide illustration and 

 blackboard demonstration were employed to point 

 out what was held to be inconsistencies in the 

 restoration of this animal, as figured in Dr. Lull's 

 "Triassic Life of the Connecticut Valley" (Fig. 

 31). Drs. Lull and Talbot contend that the pubic 

 element in the matrix of Podokesaurus holyokensis 

 occupies the position in relation to the other bones 

 of the skeleton that obtained in life. Dr. Shufeldt 

 and Hr. Heilmann controvert this decision by point- 

 ing out that all the bones in the slab containing 

 the remains of this dinosaur are far removed from 

 their normal articulations; and that, if the pubic 

 element were articulated as Dr. Lull has figured it, 

 it would have come, in life, forcibly in contact, 

 anteriorly, with the sternal ribs and been a con- 

 stant menace to the abdominal viscera in various 

 movements of the animal. 



E. E. Coker: "A Biological and Fish Cultural 

 Experiment Station," illustrated by lantern slides. 

 Mr. Coker said that since biologists, at least, are 

 generally familiar with the functions of the Fair- 

 port Biological Station in the propagation and 

 study of the fresh-water mussels, particular atten- 

 tion was given to the purposes of that station in 

 experiment work relating to the rearing of fishes. 



As in horticulture the problems of the nursery- 

 man and those of the fruit grower are distinct, so in 

 fish-culture, and in fish-cultural experiment work 

 there is the phase of the hatchery with its product of 

 fry and fingerling, and that of the fish farm where 

 it is intended to rear fish to adult size in commercial 

 quantities. The Fairport station is concerned with 

 problems of rearing rather than of hatching. The 

 grower of fish has problems similar to those of 

 the stock farmer or the poultry raiser, while in 

 addition he must take thought for conditions af- 

 fecting the respiration of fish. He can not always 

 regulate the numbers of fishes in his ponds by di- 

 rect means, but may have to accomplish this end 

 by proper association of species. It may even be 

 necessary to group together species which are to 

 an extent "incompatible." 



The problem of the fish pond has its mechanical, 

 physical, chemical and zoological aspects; more 

 especially, however, it is a problem of appropriate 

 vegetation, promotion of food supply, and proper 

 association of species of fish. 



M. W. Lyon, Je., 

 Secording Secretary 



