Makcu 15, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



305 



the only one in which the vegetable food 

 exceeds the animal. It feeds largely on the 

 inner bark and sap of trees, and also on in- 

 sects. More than two-thirds of the latter 

 in the stomachs examined were ants. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam, commenting on 

 this paper, said that one result of the study 

 of birds' stomachs by the Division of Orni- 

 thology- and Mammalogy of the Department 

 of Agriculture had been to show a wider 

 range of food than previously suspected. 

 Each bird has its favorite foods, but when 

 these fail it is usually able to find some- 

 thing else on which it can subsist. Further- 

 more, the food of most species varies in 

 difierent localities and at diflereut times of 

 the j'ear, so that the examination of a series 

 of stomachs, however large, from a single 

 localitj' is utterlj' insufficient to furnish a 

 reliable index to the range of food of the 

 species. Thus, while the 600 stomachs of 

 woodpeckere examined by Professor Beal 

 failed to show a single beech-nut, it is 

 nevertheless true that in northern New 

 York beech-nuts form, during winters fol- 

 lowing ' nut years,' the principal article of 

 food of three of the five species men- 

 tioned. 



Mr. L. 0. Howard remarked that it had 

 been queried whether or not ants were more 

 injiu'ious than beneficial, and stated that as 

 harborers of aphids and mealy-bugs they 

 indirectly c<ause much damage, and are to 

 be considered on the whole as decidedlj' in- 

 jurious. He gave an interesting illustration 

 of the manner in which ants had jilaced 

 colonies of mealj'-bugs on the artificiallj' en- 

 larged foliar nectar glands of certain Libe- 

 rian coflee trees which had been placed in 

 the hot-house of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



Mr. r. A. Lucas described the general 

 structure of the tongue of woodpeckers, 

 noting the great ditlerence between the 

 tongue of the sapsucker {Sphyrapicus) and 

 of most woodpeckers. In the sapsucker 



the tongue was of moderate length and 

 margined for some distance back from the 

 tip with hair-like bristles, some standing 

 out, others dii-ected backward, thus form- 

 ing a brush for securing syi'up. In the 

 other woodpeckers examined, the tongue 

 was excessively long and armed towards 

 the tip with a few sharp, reverted barbs, 

 an arrangement which seemed admirable 

 for extracting grubs from holes in ti'ces. 



Mr. B. E. Fernow, in clo.sing the discus- 

 sion, said that he was glad to see the re- 

 habilitation of the woodpecker, a bird which, 

 once considered very beneficial, had been 

 latterly condemned as injurious, while the 

 evidence now presented seemed to be in its 

 favor. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas exhibited some Abnor- 

 mal Feet of Mammals, saying that abnor- 

 malities in the way of digits could be mostly 

 grouped under three heads, duplication of 

 digits, irregular additions to the number of 

 digits, the extra ones liudding out from the 

 others, and increased number of digits due 

 to reversion. The latter he considered to 

 be the rarest of the three, most of the extra 

 digits of polydactyle horses being simplj- 

 cases of duplication, as in the specimen 

 shown. The feet of a pig exhibited illus- 

 trated the irregular addition of digits, while 

 two feet of a three-toed cow were thought 

 to be cases of reversion. Feet of an old 

 and young llama illustrated the transmis- 

 sion of abnormalities. 



Mr. M. B. Waite gave notes on the Hora 

 of Washington and vicinitj', which were 

 the result of his own collecting. Two species 

 were added to the fiora. namely: Floerkia 

 proserjinacoide^, "Willd. (already published), 

 and KijUingia primila, Michx. 



Selaginella rupetitris. Spring, which had 

 not been found for many years, was redis- 

 covered at Great Falls. New loailities 

 were given for a number of rare plants. 

 Attention was called to some spurious and 

 doubtful additions to the local flora. The 



