506 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIl. No. 430. 



Harger, Oxford, and Mr. J. N. Bishop, Plain- 

 ville. 



Several papers were heard with great in- 

 terest, followed by much discussion on these 

 and botanical matters in general. It was 

 also decided to hold field meetings at intervals 

 through each season, more thoroughly to 

 study the flora of the state, and give addi- 

 tional stimulus to the prosecution of careful 

 work in this direction. 



Withal, the meeting was very enjoyable, and 

 indicated a permanently active organization. 



Thirty-one members were accepted as organ- 

 izers of the society and the probability of 

 greatly increased membership is already ap- 

 parent. 



E. H. Eames, 

 Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 368th meeting was held Saturday, 

 March 7. 



F. A. Lucas exhibited some lantern slides 

 made from photographs taken by E. H. Beck, 

 showing groups of several hundred specimens 

 of Conolophus cristatus, one of the two large 

 lizards found on the Galapagos Islands. Mr. 

 Lucas stated that Mr. Beck had taken a large 

 number of photographs showing the more 

 striking features of the fauna and flora of 

 those islands. 



Frederick W. True spoke on the ' Attitudes 

 and Movements of Living Whales,' illustrating 

 his remarks by lantern slides showing whales 

 as depicted in books and as they actually ap- 

 pear in life. The species discussed were the 

 large whales pursued for commercial purposes, 

 and the speaker showed that there was con- 

 siderable discrepancy in the accounts of 

 observers as to their behavior. Under this 

 was included the form and height of the spout, 

 the movements of tail and flippers, duration of 

 stay beneath the surface and method of de- 

 scending, or ' sounding.' Various observa- 

 tions were plotted on a large diagram, and at- 

 tention was called to the fact that the closest 

 agreement as to facts was found in observa- 

 tions made on the bowhead and sperm whales, 

 the two species that had been longest hunted 

 and were best known. It was suggested that 



with better knowledge of other species there 

 would be better correspondence of the obser- 

 vations concerning them. 



O. F. Cook presented ' Some Biological 

 Aspects of Liberia,' exhibiting a number of 

 views of the more characteristic features of the 

 flora and describing in detail some of the 

 more interesting trees and plants. It was 

 stated that the oil palm was the only African 

 palm not represented by some species in 

 South America, and attention was called to 

 the fact that this palm was not found in a 

 wild state. Where it seemed to occur wild, 

 observation showed that the spot had formerly 

 been inhabited and the species was preserved 

 and disseminated by the agency of man. 



F. A. Lucas. 



DISCUSSION AlSfD CORRESPONDENCE. 

 TI-IE PUBLICATION OF REJECTED NAMES. 



In the issue of Science for January 30, 

 1903, p. 189, Professor T. D. A. Cockerell, un- 

 der the above caption, calls attention to what 

 he regards as adequate publication of rejected 

 manuscript names by Mr. Banlss and my- 

 self. As Professor Cockerell very well says, 

 there is evidently a misconception or diverg- 

 ence of opinion among naturalists on this 

 point that it is well worth while to discuss. 

 I have taken the trouble to submit my partic- 

 ular case to some forty workers in systematic 

 biology, and the ' various and sundry ' ways 

 that have been suggested for handling the 

 question are certainly surprising, showing 

 that the practice in such cases is by no means 

 uniform. A large niimber, mainly zoologists, 

 hold that my printing of Lesquereux's manu- 

 script name Carya globulosa before the one 

 I intended to give the organism was merely 

 of the nature of narrative or explanation, 

 and did not have the effect of validating the 

 manuscript name. The intent of the author, 

 it is said, is to be respected, and as it is per- 

 fectly clear that I intended to name it 

 Cucumites Lesquereuxii and not glohulosa, 

 they hold that Cucumites Lesquereuxii stands. 

 Others take an exactly opposite view, namely, 

 that because I printed the manuscript name 

 first and followed it by a description of the 



