75 



Loffler and Frosch. in 1898. in studying the foot-and-mouth 

 disease of cattle, found that the virus could be passed through 

 a filter. In the mosaic disease of tobacco, Iwanowski saw 

 amoeba-like bodies which, because of their large size, he con- 

 cluded could not cause the disease. In 1921, amoeba-like bodies 

 were found associated with the mosaic disease of corn. There 

 is great uncertainty about the nature of these bodies. When 

 fixed and stained they have a structure similar to that of proto- 

 plasm, but until they have been shown to contain nuclei, to be 

 capable of vital movement or have been grown in pure culture or 

 demonstrated to be related to some known organism we shall 

 have to reserve judgment as to whether or not they represent a 

 stage in the life cycle of a living organism. 



All the evidence indicates that the causal agent is verv- small. 

 Its discovery and demonstration may have to await the pro- 

 duction of a better microscope than we now possess. 



Arthur H. Graves, 



Secretary. 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB FIELD DAY 

 Hester M. Rusk 



To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary- of the joining of the Club 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton and Dr. Arthur HoUick. a Torrey Botanical 

 Club Field Day was held on June 25, 1927, at Bay Terrace and 

 Great Kills, Staten Island. In the morning a part>- of about 

 fifty members and friends of the Club, led by Dr. Britton and 

 Dr. Hollick, joined in a field trip on which many interesting 

 plants of the region were pointed out. 



Addressing the meeting at the ruins of the former residence of 

 Mr. John J. Crooke (Mr. Crooke died here on April nth, 191 1. 

 in the eighty-eighth year of his age), near Bay Terrace. Dr. 

 Britton called attention to the important services rendered by 

 Mr. Crooke to science during his long life. He was a char- 

 ter member of the Torrey Botanical Club and an intimate 

 friend of Dr. Torrey; he accumulated here large and valuable 

 collections of shells, birds, minerals and plants, and an extensive 

 library; at about the time of Dr. Torrey's death in 1873. he 

 presented to Columbia College, the valuable general herbarium 



