886 
The meeting was the most successful one in 
the history of the Academy, both in attendance 
and in the interest manifested. Its annual 
volume of Proceedings is now in press, and will 
be larger and more fully illustrated than usual. 
G. D. SWEZEY, 
Secretary. 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON—282ND 
MEETING, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20. 
Mr. DAvip WHITE exhibited two specimens 
of Carboniferous shale from Lerkis-Bey, near 
Amasra, Asia Minor, on which are associated 
Neuropteris Scheuchzert Hoftm., and N. fimbriata 
L., together with fragments of another Neurop- 
teris, possibly NV. ovata Hoffm., and two species 
of Pecopteris, one of which was P. abbreviata 
Brogn. Especial attention was called to the in- 
teresting circumstances that not only do these 
species appear to be identical in details with 
specimens similarly identified in the collection of 
the U. 8S. National Museum from the Lower 
Productive Coal Measures of Ohio and Pennsy]1- 
vania, but that in this continent the species are 
also found in immediate association. 
Dr. Erwin F. Smith exhibited a simple style ° 
of hypodermic syringe recently brought out by 
Baurch and Lamb. 
Dr. Sternberg stated that it was identical in 
principle with one devised by himself when at 
Johns Hopkins University. 
Professor O. F. Cook described ‘ A New Wing- 
less Fly from Liberia,’ stating that it was per- 
haps referable to the family Phoride, but that it 
represented a new genus to which the name 
Wandolleckia was given in honor of Dr. B. Wan- 
dolleck, Dipterist of the Berlin Museum. Wings, 
balancers and ocelli are lacking; the eyes are 
reduced to about forty hemispherical facets and 
the abdomen is membranous, the chitinous 
plates being rudimentary. The type Wandol- 
leckia achatine inhabits the deep forests of Li- 
beria, where it is found actively running about 
on Achatina variegata Roissy, the largest West 
African land snail. The genus may be related to 
Puliciophora Dahl, a wingless form from the 
Bismarck Archipelago, but is generically dis- 
tinct in the much greater reduction of the ab- 
dominal plates and in the armature of the tarsi. 
The resemblance of both forms to fleas is prob- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 154. 
ably merely superficial and has no phylogenetic 
implication. 
Mr. V. K. Chestnut presented a paper en- 
titled ‘Some Recent Cases of Mushroom Poison- 
ing.’ The symptoms of ten cases collected by the 
Botany Division of the U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture during the past year were given. Two of 
these were fatal to four individuals. The minor 
cases were caused by Clitocybe illudens, Russula 
emetica, Boletus subtomentosus, Agaricus morganit, 
a species of Clavaria, and the puff ball, Lycoper- 
don giganteum Batsch. One case of poisoning 
by the last-named species was especially noted 
because, although the fungus was unquestion- 
ably fresh and was properly cooked, the symp- 
toms were very marked. The two fatal cases 
reported were caused by the fly amanita (Am- 
anita muscaria (L.) Fr.) and the death cup 
- (Amanita phalloides (L.)Fr.). It was conclusively 
shown by photographs, drawings and specimens 
that the former caused the death of Count de 
Vecchj in Washington on November 10, 1897, 
it having been mistaken for the orange amanita 
(Amanita czesarea). The case was, however, 
complicated with apoplexy. Another gentle- 
man who ate some of the same fungus was 
saved by repeated doses of ;1,—, of a grain of 
atropine, this being an almost perfect physio- 
logical antidote to the effects of muscarine. The 
seeds of Jimson weed (Datura strammonium) 
could also be used to advantage in such cases. 
Freshly ignited charcoal is valuable for its phys- 
ical properties in absorbing the poison, and an 
alkaline solution of the permanganate of potash 
is in some cases useful as a chemical antidote. 
There is no antidote against the effects of phal- 
lin, the toxalbumin which causes death in Am- 
anita phalloides poisoning, but in severe cases 
the transfusion of salt water or fresh blood is 
recommended. The action of the poison from 
the two amanitas is altogether different. Mus- 
scarine paralyzes the heart and produces marked 
stupor, while phallin dissolves the red blood 
corpuscles, causes a gradual collapse and gen- 
erally leaves the brain unaffected. 
Dr, Erwin F. Smith spoke on Bacterial Dis- 
eases of Plants, taking for his text certain mis- 
statements in Dr. Alfred Fischer’s recent 
Vorlesungen iiber Bakterien. At least ten dis- 
eases of plants are now known to be due to 
