September 18, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



367 



election of John M. Coulter, of the TJui- 

 versity of Chicago, as president ; Charles 

 E,. Barnes, of the University of Wisconsin, 

 as secretary ; Arthur Hollick, of Colum- 

 bia University, as treasurer; and B. L. 

 EoBiNsojsr, of Harvard University, as coun- 

 cillor. No election having occurred of vice- 

 president and a councillor, the Society pro- 

 ceeded to elect these officers. Charles S. 

 Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretum, was 

 elected vice-president, andF. V. Covillb, of 

 the Department of Agriculture, councillor. 



The council having approved the names 

 of Charles H. Peck, State Botanist of New 

 York, and Beverly T. Galloway, Chief of 

 the Division of Vegetable Physiology and 

 Pathology, Department of Agriculture, these 

 gentlemen were unanimously elected to 

 membership. 



The Society having asked the council to 

 consider the best means of increasing the 

 membership of the Society while preserv- 

 ing rigidly the high standard required by 

 the constitution, the council recommended 

 the appointment of a committee whose duty 

 it should be to see that suitable nominations 

 were made, so that the making of nomina- 

 tions would not go by default as heretofore. 

 With the distinct statement that the making 

 of nominations to membership by this com- 

 mittee shall in no way prevent the making 

 of such nominations by other members, 

 Messrs. Trelease, Atkinson and N. L. Brit- 

 ton were appointed. 



Special invitations to the Society to hold 

 its next meeting in Detroit, Denver and 

 Nashville, were read and left with the coun- 

 cil for action. Much time was given to the 

 consideration of the question of a winter 

 meeting. After a full expression of the 

 opinions of members had been obtained, the 

 matter was left in the hands of the Council 

 with instructions to determine the feasibility 

 of such a meeting and to appoint it if found 

 practicable. 



The Treasurer's report, which was au- 



dited and found correct by a committee com- 

 posed of Messrs. Underwood and MacMil- 

 lan and Mrs. Britton, showed a balance of 

 about $700, deposited chiefly in the Institu- 

 tion for the Savings of Merchants' Clerks, 

 in New York. The Council directed that 

 the Treasurer give bond for $1,000 in any 

 surety company, the expense for the same 

 to be paid by the Society. 



The request of the National Educa- 

 tional Association, that a member be ap- 

 pointed to confer with a committee of that 

 association regarding the unification of re- 

 quirements in botany for entrance to col- 

 leges, was acceded to by designating Presi- 

 dent Bessey to act as such conferee. 



On Friday evening the address of the re- 

 tiring president, William Trelease, to which 

 the public was invited, was given in the 

 chapel of the High School. A good audi- 

 ence listened to the discussion of ' Botani- 

 cal Opportunity.' By request of the Soci- 

 ety the address is published in full in Science 

 and in the Botanical Gazette. The sugges- 

 tiveness and timeliness of the address is 

 such that the Council directed that 1,000 

 separates of it be distributed in the name 

 of the Society. 



On Saturday afternoon the following 

 papers were read before the Society : 



L. H. Bail-ey : The philosophy of species- 

 making. 15 min. 



George F. Atkinson : Some problems in 

 sporophyll transformation. 20 min. 



Conway MacMillan : Some characteristics 

 of a fresh-water insular flora. 1 hour. 



N. L, Britton : A species of Eleocharis new 

 to North America. 5 min. 



Charles R. Barnes, 



Secretary. 



BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITY* 

 In selecting a subject for the first presi- 

 dential address before the Botanical Society 

 *Address of the retiring President, delivered before 

 the Botanical Society of America, at BuiJalo, N. Y., 

 August 21, 1896. 



