January 8, 1897.] 



SGIENGE. 



71 



slightly south and passing over New York. 

 Another report states that a meteor was also 

 seen over Eahway, N. J., which burst and came 

 to the ground in four parts. This was probably 

 another offshoot from the same original, and 

 must have left it, if this hypothesis is correct, 

 before it reached Passaic. 



W. Hallock, 

 Secretary of Section. 



SECTION OF BIOLOGY, DECEMBER 14, 1S96. 



Prof. J. G. Curtis, Chairman, in the chair. 



Dr. Arnold Graf made a preliminary report 

 on ' Some New Fixing Fluids.' 



Mr. J. H. McGregor read a paper entitled 

 'An Embryo of Crypiobranchus.' The embryo 

 described is about 16 millimetres long, and is 

 the first to be recorded of this species. Prom- 

 inent among its external features are the 

 excessive amount of yolk, the marked ventral 

 flexure in the cervical region and the very 

 early and almost simultaneous appearance of 

 the two pairs of limbs. The dorsal surface is 

 pigmented, the pigment cells being arranged in 

 transverse bands, one band over each metamere 

 of the body. Lateral line sense-organs can be 

 distinguished. Among the most striking inter- 

 nal characters may be mentioned the dorso- 

 ventral flattening of the notochord, the late ap- 

 pearance of entoderm and alimentary organs 

 generally, due doubtless to the great mass of 

 the yolk. The primordial skull is unusually 

 well developed. The auditory vesicle has an en- 

 dolymphatic duct ending blindly immediately 

 under the skin on the top of the head. Along 

 the sides of the body a system of organs occurs 

 which are probably homologous with the em- 

 bryonic sense-organs described by Beard in the 

 sharks. 



Dr. J. L. Wortman spoke of the Ganodonta, 

 a new and primative suborder of the Edentata 

 from the Eocene of North America. One sec- 

 tion or family of the suborder, viz : the Stylino- 

 dontidse, is composed of Semiganus, Psittaco- 

 therium, Ectoganus and Stylinodon, and forms a 

 closely connected and consecutive phylum, 

 reaching from the base of the Puerco to the 

 Bridger formation and leading directly to the 

 Gravigrada or ground sloths. A second family, 

 viz : the Conoryctidse, composed of Conoryctes 



and Onychodectes, may be regarded as ancestral 

 to the Armadillos. The character and origin 

 of the Edentate fauna of South America was 

 discussed at length and the conclusion reached 

 that its original home was in ' North America. 

 It was further held that there was a migration 

 to the southward before the close of the Eocene 

 and that there must have then been an early 

 land connection between the two continents. 

 C. L. Bristol, 



Secretary. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The regular meeting of the New York Sec- 

 tion of the American Chemical Society was 

 held, by invitation of Drs. Morton and Leeds, 

 at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Ho- 

 boken, on the 11th inst. 



An unusually large representation from the 

 Society's membership gave attention to the 

 proceedings. 



Dr. Leeds described the development of 

 methods for the quantitative estimation of 

 micro-organisms in waters with especial refer- 

 ence to the study and control of discolorations 

 and offensive odors in water supplies, such as 

 afflicted the city of Brooklyn in the summer 

 just passed ; a matter entirely distinct from the 

 bacteriology of water in a pathogenic sense, 

 and, therefore, in nowise at issue with work of 

 that character. 



Dr. Leeds recommended that engineers in 

 charge of water supplies should familiarize 

 themselves with the simple apparatus and ma- 

 nipulation necessary to enable them to foresee 

 the approach of conditions favorable to the 

 growth of these micro-organisms productive of 

 color and odor, and thus be enabled to take such 

 steps as may be applicable to the hindrance or 

 prevention of their development. 



After the reading of Dr. Leeds' paper the 

 Society was invited to adjourn to Dr. Morton's 

 lecture room, where all preparations were com- 

 plete for the very interesting and beautiful ex- 

 periments which followed. 



The causes of the phenomena of fluorescence 

 were explained, and many illustrations given 

 by the aid of solutions, colored screens and 

 monochromatic light. Particularly striking 

 were the effects produced by the substance 



