200 



These are being studied bj^ Dr. A. C. Smith and various specialists. Thus 

 far 64 novelties have been described, one proving to belong to an entirely- 

 new family related to the Magnoliaceae, Himantandraceae and \\'interaceae. 

 Mr. Degener, with the aid of his "adopted Figi son" Aloisio (Aloysius) 

 Tabualewa, won the confidence of the Fijians who ordinarily do not look too 

 kindly on the aggressive papalangi or white man, and lived with them in 

 their elaborately constructed "grass" houses. This enabled him to collect 

 data on their customs and how they used certain plants in their native medi- 

 cine and arts. Their use,, for example, of the latex of various species of 

 Alstonia, as chewing gum, ma}' help us solve the problem of soothing the 

 nerves of countless ruminating stenographers, should our national supply- of 

 American chicle give out. Thirteen-year-old Leroy Peiler, a native Hawaiian 

 refugee and Mr. Degener's ward, later served yangona, a beverage made from 

 Piper niethysticum, in proper Fiji style. 



The meeting was adjourned at 9 :30 p.m. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Honor M. Hollinghurst 

 Recording Secretary 



Minutes of the ^Meeting of December 16, 1942 



The meeting of December 16 was held in Larkin Hall of Ford- 

 ham University. Thirty-seven members and friends were present. 

 Preceding the regular meeting, the members of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club were invited to inspect the biological laboratories and to 

 observe microscopic demonstrations. Refreshments were then 

 serv^ed. 



The meeting was called to order at 4 :50 p.m. by the President, 

 Dr. C. Stuart Gager, who introduced the first speaker. Father 

 Berger of Fordham University. The topic presented by Father 

 Berger and Miss Eleanor Witkus was "The Prophases of Poly- 

 somatic Mitosis and their Relation to ]\Ieiosis." The speakers' 

 abstract follows : 



The essentials of Darlington's precocity theory of meiosis, the singleness 

 of leptotene chromonemata, the attraction in pairs onh^ and the repulsion 

 between pairs of pairs, and metaphase pairing due to chiasmata, were pre- 

 sented and refuted in the light of evidence brought forward by our spinach 

 material and the work of other investigators. 



In the periblem of the root tips of Spinacia oleracea, in addition to diploid 

 cells with twelve chromosomes, tetraploid and octoploid cells are regularly 



