60 



naturalized species, (b) extension of geographic ranges, (c) very 

 rare plants, such as a Torreya or Stinking Cedar {Tumton taxi- 

 foUum), Florida- Yew {Taxus floridana), and Chapman-Honey- 

 suckle {Rhododendro7t Chapmanii), (d) new species, and (e) new 

 genera. Paintings of several species of iris were shown, the 

 main object of the excursion having been the collection of ma- 

 terial of this genus. 



Dr. Stewart described the vegetation seen in his travels in 

 Kashmir. An abstract of his talk was printed in the May-June 

 issue. 



Arthur H. Graves, 



Secretary. 



Meeting of February 12, 1924 



The meeting was held at the American Museum of Natural 

 History and in spite of the unfavorable weather was well at- 

 tended. 



Dr. O. E. White, of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, who was a 

 member of the Mulford expedition for the Biological Exploration 

 of the Amazon Basin, addressed the club on the forests of the 

 Amazon, his title being "The Amazonian Wilderness." 



Although the Amazon was first discovered as far back as 

 1 541, Dr. White stated that the territory through which it 

 flows is even now mainly the domain of rubber collectors, Brazil 

 nut gatherers, and Indians. Notwithstanding the fact that it 

 has two large cities — Para, located near one of its many mouths, 

 with a population of 200,000 and Manaos with about 50,000 

 people, located about 800 miles further up the river, near the 

 junction of two large tributaries, the Madeira and the Negro, 

 the population of the whole Amazon basin is only about 600,000 

 and most of these are concentrated in the lower reaches of the 

 river between Manaos and Para as well as in these two cities. 

 These figures take on added significance when we realize that 

 this whole Amazon basin is 45 times the area of New York State 

 and 3^ the size of the United States. It was estimated in 1910 

 that only 25 square miles of this vast area were under cultivation. 



Dr. White found that the real wilderness of the Amazon 

 basin — the wildest part — lay in the triangle formed by the 

 Andes Mountains as a base and the Negro and Madeira Rivers, 



