June 30, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



941 



Therefore in parthenogenetic reproduction it 

 seems that the chromosomes FF, or factors 

 for femaleness, are eliminated at parturition, 

 and the resulting zygote is a male. And so 

 far, as observed by the tests of breeding (re- 

 gardless of color) the F^ females (queens) 

 produce drones of the constitution ffliCc, and 

 are heterozygous for the factors I and C with 

 the allelomorphs i and c, whether in queen or 

 drone, and the only gametes that can be 

 formed from these are IC Ic iC ic, when such 

 individuals are bred together, heterozygous 

 workers, as well as both pure dominants and 

 pure recessives are produced, making it pos- 

 sible to recover the pure line of either race 

 used in making the initial or primary cross. 

 Charles W. Quinn 



Houston Heights, Texas 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 555th regular meeting of the Society was 

 held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, 

 Saturday, April 22, 1916, and called to order by 

 President Hay at 8 p.m., with 24 persons present. 



On recommendation of the council George H. 

 Clements, Washington, D. C, was elected to mem- 

 bership. 



On recommendation of the council the following 

 resolutions were read: 



Whereas: Professor Wells W. Cooke, distin- 

 guished ornithologist, authority on bird migration, 

 treasurer of the Biological Society of Washing- 

 ton, and an active member of the council of the 

 society, has passed from this life, therefore be it 



Besolved: That the Biological Society of Wash- 

 ington deeply regrets the death of one for many 

 years so keenly interested in the affairs of the 

 society, one who was a peculiarly ef&eient officer, 

 a wise counselor and a charming companion, and 

 extends its warmest sympathy to the family of 

 Professor Cooke. 



Signed N. Hollister, 



J. W. GlDLEY, 



Alex. Wetmore 

 Under the heading Brief Notes, Dr. Howard E. 

 Ames commented upon a question raised at the 

 553d meeting as to the existence of a South Ameri- 

 can mammal having the mammse on the dorsal sur- 

 face of the body. He had ascertained that this 

 condition existed in the coypu (Myocastor coypu). 

 Dr. Ames also offered information in regard to 

 another question propounded at the same meeting 

 as to the ability of camels to swim : According to 

 Dr. E. A. Mearns dromedaries used in Abyssinia 



were able to swim; and in a book by an English 

 army ofdcer of experience Dr. Ames had found a 

 statement to the effect that camels were powerful 

 swimmers. Comments followed by the chair and 

 by Dr. L. O. Howard. 



Under the same heading Dr. P. H. Blodgett, 

 plant pathologist at the A. and M. College of 

 Texas discussed the embryology of the duck weed, 

 Lemna and exhibited seeds, remarking that though 

 the plant was common the seeds were found seldom. 

 Dr. Caldwell, of Chicago, had worked out the de- 

 velopment of Lemna to the point of fertilization. 

 Studies made by Dr. Blodgett carried the embryol- 

 ogy from this point. The talk was illustrated by 

 diagrams. Discussion followed by Mr. W. L. Mc- 

 Atee. 



The first paper of the regular program was by 

 T. H. Kearney: "Native Plants as Indicators of 

 the Agricultural Value of Land. ' ' Mr. Kearney 

 outlined the results of field work carried on with 

 Dr. Shantz in the semiarid regions of the United 

 States west of the 98th meridian of longitude. 

 Typical areas were surveyed in Colorado, the Great 

 Basin and in the southwest desert region. DetaOed 

 surveys defined the dominant types of vegetation 

 and their distribution, and these were correlated 

 with the varying degrees of salinity, moisture con- 

 tent and other physical properties of the soil. 

 Areas actually under cultivation gave a check as 

 regards productivity. Prom these studies it is 

 now possible to predict agricultural possibilities by 

 examination of the original types of vegetation in 

 these regions. Typical plant growths and dia- 

 grams showing distribution were illustrated by 

 lantern slides. 



Mr. Kearney's paper was discussed by Messrs. 

 W. L. McAtee, Wm. Palmer, A. Wetmore and Dr. 

 L. O. Howard. 



The last paper of the regular program was by 

 Dr. B. W. Shufeldt: "Comparative Study of Cer- 

 tain Cranial Sutures in the Primates." Dr. Shu- 

 feldt stated that no other single vertebrate struc- 

 ture had so much written about it or was receiving 

 more attention at the present time than the skull 

 in man and the primates in general. This study 

 was begun over two thousand years ago and certain 

 names of bones bestowed by Galen in the second 

 century are stiU retained. In a series of 6,000 

 human and about 1,000 ape skulls in the collec- 

 tions of the U. S. National Museum Dr. Shufeldt 

 found that while the bones of the face exhibited 

 but little variation, in the bones on the lateral 

 aspect of the cranium were remarkable variations, 



