46 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 419 



further appropriation of $50 be made in order that 

 a similar laboratory may be arranged at the next 

 meeting of the association. 



J. McK. Cattell, 

 W J McGee, 

 Fbanz Boas. 



Washington, D. C, December 30, 1902. 



Council, American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. Gentlemen: In behalf of the 

 committee on cave investigation, I beg leave to sub- 

 mit the following report of work in hand and con- 

 templated. 



The most important single item of interest is the 

 discovery that there are two instead of one species 

 of Typhlichthys south of the Ohio River. I se- 

 cured the second species at Horse Cave, Kentucky, 

 in numbers and under conditions that practically 

 insure the securing of a complete series of in- 

 dividuals illustrating the life history from the egg 

 to old age. 



A colony of Amhlyopsis has been successfully 

 transplanted to a cave within five miles of my 

 laboratory, where they are breeding. 



A preliminary examination of the ej'es of the 

 Cuban blind fish shows that the amount of onto- 

 genetic degeneration is very great, and that the 

 variability of this useless organ is all and much 

 more than the cessation of natural selection would 

 lead one to expect. 



With an assistant I have undertaken a series 

 of measurements of the physical conditions of 

 Mammoth Cave, chiefly of the air currents at the 

 entrance and in different galleries of the cave, and 

 the temperature in a series of places. 



The colony of Amhlyopsis planted in an oxitdoor 

 pool has come to grief. It demonstrated beyond a 

 doubt that the cave vertebrates can be colonized 

 in open pools, and this should be done at once. 



There is a balance of about $45 on hand out of 

 the $75 appropriated at the last meeting. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



C. H. ElGENMANN. 

 committee on VARIATION. 



The most important events relating to the study 

 of variation that have occurred during the past 

 two years have been the establishment of the jour- 

 nal Biometrika, the foundation in America of a 

 Society of Plant and Animal Breeding, the com- 

 pletion of the first volume of De Vries' ' Muta- 

 tionsteorie,' and the rediscovery of Mendel's Law 

 of Hybridity. Especially the latter two events 

 have awakened a strong tendency toward the ex- 

 perimental study of evolution. 



During the last four months the recorder has 

 visited many of the experimental evolutionists of 

 Europe. While the total work on this subject in 

 Europe is of the greatest importance, it is carried 

 on under conditions that greatly hamper the work 

 and niake it impossible to start experiments that 

 require to be carried on for a long period of years. 

 Everywhere the hope was expressed that in Amer- 

 ica a permanent station for experimental evolu- 

 tion would be founded, and it was believed that the 

 Carnegie Institution would be the proper organiza- 

 tion to initiate and maintain Such a station. 

 Chas. B. Davenport, 



Recorder. 



Owing to the fact that the meeting be- 

 gan before the close of the fiscal year, 

 the financial reports from the permanent 

 secretary and the treasurer were presented 

 informally, and the formal reports were 

 postponed until the April meeting of the 

 council. 



In the sessions of the council and of the 

 association the usual order of procedure was 

 followed. Events of more general interest 

 in these as well as during the days of the 

 meeting may be chronicled as follows : 



The first general session of the associa- 

 tion was held on Monday, December 29, 

 1902, at 10 A.M., in St. Matthews Chiireh. 

 It was called to order by the retiring Presi- 

 dent, Professor Asaph Hall, U.S.N., who 

 introduced the President-elect, Dr. Ira 

 Remsen. Cordial addresses of welcome 

 were delivered by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 

 in behalf of the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences and other scientific societies; the 

 Hon. Henry B. F. Macfarland, on behalf 

 of the District of Columbia; Hon. David 

 J. Hill, on behalf of the National Govern- 

 ment; and Dr. Charles W. Needham, Presi- 

 dent of Columbian University, on behalf of 

 the educational institutions of Washington. 

 To these President Remsen responded. 



At one o'clock p.m. on Monday the local 

 committee invited visiting scientific people 

 to a luncheon at the Arlington, and on 

 the same afternoon the address of the vice- 



