112 



SCIENCE. 



[IT. S. Vol. VIII. No. 186. 



living in mud, the Aplacophora are not mud 

 feeders. The loss of the foot and shell is prob- 

 ably accounted for by their habitat. All the 

 known species are European, not a single form 

 having been recorded from the coasts of the 

 United States, although it is quite likely they 

 exist there. 



Papers under the following titles were pre- 

 sented for publication : ' Contributions to Trop- 

 ical Herpetology,' by Robert Baird jNIcLain ; 

 ' Critical Notes on a Collection of Reptiles from 

 the Western Coast of the United States,' by 

 Robert Baird McLain ; ' The Eastern Reptiles 

 in the Collection of the Museum of the Stan- 

 ford University Zoological Department,' by 

 Robert Baird McLain. 



Edward J. Nolan, 

 Recording Secretary. 



TOREEY BOTANICAL CLUB, MAY 25, 1898. 



The evening was devoted to discussion and 

 exhibition of acaulescent purple violets, intro- 

 duced by a paper on ' The Acaulescent Vio- 

 lets,' by Mr. C. L. Pollard, of Washington, 

 J). C, read by Dr. Hollick. This paper, soon 

 to be printed, was the result of field study of 

 the last two years, mainly in the Middle States, 

 from which States most of our original species- 

 types were derived. Mr. Pollard now describes 

 18 species and 3 varieties. He remarked that 

 for violet characters we must depend upon un- 

 remitting field work. Herbarium material is 

 useless, except as fortified by previous famil- 

 iarity with the appearance while growing. 

 Large numbers of individuals must be studied 

 and every feature of the environment must be 

 noted. Careful attention must be given not 

 only to habit, but to habitat, to texture of her- 

 bage, to color of the flowers, to position of the 

 cleistogenes, to nervation, to shape and pubes- 

 cence of leaves, and to the nature of the sur- 

 rounding vegetation. 



A series of mounted specimens illustrating 

 this paper was exhibited by Dr. Britton, and a 

 large number of fresh specimens were passed, 

 the result of collections sent in by Miss Sanial 

 and by Messrs. Rusby and Crawford, and by 

 Drs. Kusby and Hulst. 



Discussion of the Eastern, stemless violets 

 followed, in which Dr. and Mrs. Britton, Dr. 



Rusby, Mr. Bicknell and the Secretary par- 

 ticipated. 



Dr. Rusby referred to a very small and ap- 

 parently unique violet collected by him at 

 Franklin, N. J., some years since, distributed 

 by him as Viola cucidlata cordifolia of Gray, and 

 remarkable because only about one inch high. 



Mr. Howe, in behalf of Professor Lloyd, its 

 discoverer, exhibited the original specimen of 

 V. MacCloskiei Lloyd, from the State of Wash- 

 ington. 



Mr. Bicknell spoke of the confluence of many 

 surely distinct violet species. 



Dr. Britton said that, while a number of violet 

 species are clearly isolated in character, there 

 is every gradation from these to the more crit- 

 ical species. The latter show all kinds of inter- 

 mingling. The tendency to atavism, especially 

 in the earlier, not maturely formed leaves, is 

 very strong and often suggests the paternity of 

 a species. 



Dr. Britton announced that about 25 violet 

 species are now growing at the botanic garden. 



After much discussion of the characters on 

 which Mr. Pollard's species rest, the Club was 

 adjourned to the second Tuesday in October. 

 Edward S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 

 Vorlesungen ilher Theoretische Physik. H. TON 

 Heljiholtz. Band I., Abtheilung 2 Vor- 

 lesungen iiber die Dynamik discreter Massen- 

 punkte. Edited by Otto Krigar Menzel. 

 Band III., Vorlesungen liber die Mathe- 

 matischen Priucipien der Akustik. Edited 

 by Arthur K5nig and Carl Runge. Leip- 

 zig, J. A. Barth. 1898. Pp. x + 380 and 

 X -f 256. 



Practical Plant Physiology. W. Dbtmer. Trans- 

 lated by S. A. Moor from the second Ger- 

 man edition. London, Swan Sonnenschein 

 & Co., Ltd. ; New York, The Macmillan Co. 

 1898. Pp. xix + 555. $2. 



Proceedings of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. Forty-sixth Meet- 

 ing, held at Detroit, Mich., 1897. Salem, 

 The Permanent Secretary. 1898. Pp. xxx -|- 

 499. 



