October 23, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



601 



process often repeated, and from succes- 

 sively contracted bases, has led to tlie pres- 

 ent condition. 



The existing system of restricted genera, 

 however, is too firmly fixed to revert back 

 to a method that might have been, and 

 which indeed Cuvier attempted to introduce 

 by his revised Linnsean genera and their 

 subgenera. The best thing to do now is to 

 accept the current system, purified as much 

 as possible by judicious and inexorably ap- 

 plied laws. Doubtless in the distant future 

 a less cumbrous and changeable system of 

 notation will be devised, but in the mean- 

 time we had best put up with the present, 

 inconvenient though it be. 



Theodore Gill. 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



SECTION F.— ZOOLOGY. 



The results of the late meeting at Buffalo 

 of Section F, of the A. A. A. S., maybe re- 

 garded as satisfactory. The average atten- 

 dance at the sessions, which continued with- 

 out interruption from Tuesday morning to 

 Thursday evening, was thirty-five. Twelve 

 of the one hundred and ten members elected 

 at Buffalo chose this section. Twenty- five 

 papers besides the address of Vice-Presi- 

 dent Gill were offered ; two, however, were 

 withdrawn — one to be given by the Presi- 

 dent of the Association as a public lecture 

 and one to be read in Section E. The re- 

 maining twenty-three were read by their 

 authors, with the exception of that of Mr. 

 Miles, read by C. C. IS'utting. 



1 . The first paper was by U. S. Entomolo- 

 gist L. O. Howard ' On the Entomological 

 Results of the Exploration of the British 

 "West India Islands by the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science,' detail- 

 ing the steps by which this important inves- 

 tigation had been brought about, and sum- 

 marizing the results of the different papers 

 which have been published since the begin- 

 ning of the investigation. He eulogized 



the British Committee for its conception of 

 the work and the liberality with which it 

 has been carried on, showed the importance 

 of the results so far achieved, and made a 

 plea for the association of entomologists 

 with scientific expeditions in this country, 

 and for the close collecting of insects, 

 which has apparently been heretofore con- 

 sidered as of less importance than the col- 

 lection of higher animals and plants. 



2. The second paper was by Mr. F. M. 

 Webster, who discussed cases among in- 

 sects where a species unarmed and in no 

 way capable of protecting itself was, to a 

 certain extent, protected by its resemblance 

 to armed species, or such as are known to 

 be distasteful. Others, by their actions, 

 mimicked the movements of certain other 

 species, and were thereby mistaken for such 

 as are inedible. The ground was taken 

 that birds, after learning that certain in- 

 sects were not fit for food, would shun any 

 other insects appearing like these, wher- 

 ever they might come in contact with them, 

 even though at a different season of the 

 year. There may be cases where one 

 species mimics another, when the enemy 

 has become exterminated and no protection 

 is needed. Caution was enjoined against 

 hasty and immature conclusions, as there 

 is much to be learned in the matter, but no 

 facts should be cast aside as mere coinci- 

 dences, when more facts would enable us 

 to push the problem to a point nearer a 

 solution. That insects, especially, gain 

 protection from their coloration and move- 

 ments is assured, but much caution is nec- 

 essary before conclusions are reached. The 

 paper was illustrated by specimens. 



3. Prof. A. D. Hopkins, of Morgantown, 

 W. Va., under the title ' On Life Zones in 

 West Virginia,' gave in detail the work he 

 had done in mapping these zones in his 

 State as indicated by the insect fauna. 



4. ^ The Variations of certain Species of 

 North American Odonata' was a paper 



