December 6, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



895 



views begun at the last meeting on an explana- 

 tion of electrical phenomena by a fourth dimen- 

 sion in space. 



Dr. G. M. Sternberg, Surgeon-general of the 

 Army, reported on ' Health Conditions in the 

 Philippines.' He finds that the health of the 

 troops has been constantly improving ; small- 

 pox is practically stamped out ; typhoid and 

 malarial fevers and heat strokes are almost un- 

 known. Dysentery is one of the most serious 

 troubles ; so at most barracks distilled or ster- 

 ilized water is supplied. In the discussion that 

 followed Dr. Dall called attention to the absence 

 of malaria in Alaska, although mosquitoes of 

 several species are very abundant. 



Dr. Adler reported on the progress of the 

 '■ International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture. ' After conferences for several years, def- 

 inite plans were settled on during the past sum- 

 mer. Owing to the failure of Congress to take 

 action-, the United States was not officially rep- 

 resented, but Mr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of 

 Congress, was in London and had some share 

 in the negotiations. The plan adopted requires 

 each country to index and classify the litera- 

 ture published within its borders pertaining to 

 17 branches of science, beginning with 1901 ; the 

 Smithsonian Institution has temporarily under- 

 taken this work for the United States. The 

 material is then to be arranged and published 

 by the Royal Society in 17 volumes annually ; 

 these will be sold separately. About 320 sets 

 have been subscribed for, for 5 years, at £1 

 per volume ; 65 sets are to come to the United 

 States. The speaker described some of the dif- 

 ficulties met with in formulating the plans, gave 

 various details regarding the work, and exhibited 

 the schemes of minute classification to be fol- 

 lowed by the indexers. 



Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 343d meeting was held on Saturday 

 evening, November 16. 



C. P. Hartley exhibited some malformed ears 

 of corn, stating that their interest lay in the 

 fact that they had been grown from seed taken 

 from an ear similarly abnormal, the malforma- 

 tion having been reproduced. 



H. E. Van Deman showed a specimen of the 

 ripe fruit of the guava from Florida, and made 

 some remarks on the extent to which this fruit 

 was now being cultivated. 



L. O. Howard announced that he had re- 

 ceived a letter from Mr. C. L. Marlatt, announ- 

 cing the discovery of the long-sought original 

 habitat of the San Jose scale insect ; this was 

 found to be in China, in the region to the south 

 of the Great Wall. The scale insect was preyed 

 upon by a species of ladybird beetle, living ex- 

 amples of which were now on their way to the 

 United States. 



H. G. Dyar presented some ' Notes on Mos- 

 quito Larvae,' being a summary of investigations 

 made during the past summer and including the 

 following species : Anopheles crucians, puncli- 

 pennis, maculipennis ; Culex solicitans, territans, 

 pungens, confinis, canadensis, sylvestris ; Stegomyia 

 fasciata ; JSdes smithii ; Uranotsenia sapphirina ; 

 and Psorophora ciliata. The habits and habitats 

 of these various larvae were described, and it 

 was pointed out that there was great diversity in 

 the latter. Some species preferred clear water, 

 others infested turbid pools, and still others were 

 found in brackish water. The speaker showed 

 drawings of the different larvse and drew atten- 

 tion to their peculiarities and their distinctive 

 specific characters. It was noted that a species 

 of fresh- water hydroid was seen to feed on mos- 

 quito larvae, while on the other hand one species 

 of larvae fed on bacteria and another fed on 

 other larvae. 



C. B. Simpson gave some ' Observations on 

 Jack Rabbits,' telling of their rapid increase in 

 parts of the west and describing their runways 

 among the sage brush and the manner in which 

 they were hunted by their great enemies the 

 coyotes. 



Vernon Bailey described ' The Little Deer of 

 the Chisos Mountains, Texas,' stating that the 

 same species, Odocoileus couesi, was also found 

 in Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico, so that 

 their occurrence in this locality was an exten- 

 sion of their known range. Owing to the dis- 

 tance of the Chisos Mountains from the railroad 

 and the unfitness of the country for grazing 

 purposes, the deer were still to be found there 

 in considerable numbers. The speaker said 

 that an adult buck would weigh only one hun- 



