November 4, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



639 



Dr. Dyar read the first paper of the evening, 

 entitled ' Notes on Acronycta and their Larvse,' 

 in which he spol^e of a forthcoming work on 

 these insects prepared by himself and Dr. J. B. 

 Smith. He called especial attention to the fact 

 that his own classification of the group from 

 the larvEe coincided in a remarkable manner 

 with Dr. Smith's classification of the group de- 

 rived from the study of the adult characters 

 only. He showed that the larvoe may be di- 

 vided into three main groups, and illustrated 

 his remarks by the exhibition of specimens. 



Mr. Schwarz presented a communication on 

 the insect fauna of southern Arizona. The 

 aquatic and riparian insect faunas are well rep- 

 resented, but do not offer any distinguishing 

 features in their mode of appearance or devel- 

 opment. In many rivers and most of the creeks 

 the water sinks below the surface of the ground 

 for a longer or shorter period during spring and 

 early summer, and in this period the insect 

 fauna — imagos and larvas — follow the moisture 

 underground and remain dormant until the ad- 

 vent of the July and August rains. There is a 

 small but interesting winter flora and fauna in 

 southern Arizona, as exemplified by the canaigre 

 plant (Rumex hymenosepalus) and the various in- 

 sects infesting the same. Both the plant and 

 the insect retire underground in February and 

 remain dormant until the following October. 

 The great increase of temperature from April 

 until the end of June has but little influence 

 upon the development of insect and plant life, 

 and the insect fauna at this season is compara- 

 tively poor in species. By far the greater por- 

 tion of insects, and among them the most char- 

 acteristic species, do not appear before the 

 beginning of the rainy season in July. Their 

 appearance is governed not by the increase of 

 temperature, but by the increase of humidity. 

 L. O. Howard, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YOKK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The regular meeting of the New York Sec- 

 tion of the American Chemical Society was held 

 last Friday evening at the College of the City of 

 New York, with an attendance of fifty-one mem- 

 bers. Dr. Wm. McMurtrie presiding. 



An informal report was made as to the progress 

 in organizing a chemical club, in which it was 

 stated that the matter is in the hands of a com- 

 mittee of which Dr. C. F. Chandler is chair- 

 man, and the subject is being actively can- 

 vassed. 



The question of inviting the Society at large 

 to hold the mid-winter meeting in New York 

 was then taken up for discussion, and on final 

 motion the vote was unanimous in favor of It, 

 and committees of arrangements were ordered 

 appointed. 



The death of Dr. Bromwell was then an- 

 nounced and a brief sketch of his career pre- 

 sented. 



The following papers were read : 



(1) Aug. E. Knorr, 'An Extraction Appa- 

 ratus with a Novel Accessory.' 



(2) Albert C. Hale, 'A Statement of the 

 Work accomplished at the General Meeting of 

 the Section in Boston.' 



(3) William McMurtrie, ' Some Records of 

 the Year's Progress in Applied Chemistry.' 



Dr. Hale stated that the membership of the 

 Society is now 1,378 ; that of the Section 285, 

 and that of the recently organized New Eng- 

 land Section is already over 200, the new mem- 

 bers elected since September 1st numbering 

 about 60. The growth of the Boston Section 

 has been phenomenal, and it is already one of 

 the strongest. 



Dr. McMurtrie's review of ' Progress in Ap- 

 plied Chemistry ' was full of interesting ma- 

 terial' and could well have been divided be- 

 tween two or more meetings, with time for 

 digestion and discussion. 



The next meeting of the Section will be held 

 on the 11th of November, at which it is ex- 

 pected that a well known expert in the chem- 

 ical technology of glass-making will be present 

 and will read a paper. 



DuKAND Woodman, 

 Secretary. 



ENGELMANN BOTANICAL CLUB. 



The Club met at the St. Louis Medical Col- 

 lege on Thursday, September 22d. 



Mr. C. H. Thompson presented some brief 

 notes on the pollination of the species of Thalia 

 native to the United States. In his study of the 



