19 



"The Trend of Ecological Philosophy", H. C. Cowles ; "The 

 Present Problems of Physiological Plant Ecology ", B. E. Livingstone ; 

 "Vegetation and Altitude", C. H. Shaw; " Local Distribution of 

 Desert Plants ", V. M. Spalding ; and " The Relation of the Climatic 

 Factors to Vegetation", E. N. Transeau. 



A special Darwin Memorial Session was held on Thursday- 

 afternoon. The program was as follows : 



" General Sketch and Estimate of Darwin's Work on Cross-pollina- 

 tion in Plants ", William Trelease ; " Estimate of Darwin's Work on 

 Movement in Plants", H. M. Richards; "Darwin's Influence on 

 Plant Ecology and Plant Geography", F. E. Clements. 



Many other interesting papers were presented at the regular 

 sessions. Dr. J. C. Bose, by invitation, gave his address on " Elec- 

 trical Response in Plants." The address of the retiring president, 

 Professor G. F. Atkinson, was given at McCoy Hall, Tuesday 

 evening. The botanists' dinner, held on Wednesday evening, was 

 attended by about one hundred and twenty people. The officers 

 for the new year are as follows : President, Roland Thaxter ; 

 secretary, Duncan S. Johnson ; and treasurer, Arthur Hollick. 



An editorial in Science for January 8 says in discussing the 

 Baltimore meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, " It seems to be scarcely credible, but it is the 

 case, that there were on the program published by the associa- 

 tion the titles of more than one thousand papers to be read at the 

 meeting. The great majority of the papers represent research 

 work of a high order. It is sometimes said that the United 

 States is not doing its part in the advancement of science, but 

 this program is a conclusive answer to such criticism. No other 

 country except Germany could hold a meeting in which so many 

 scientific researches maintaining such high standards could be 

 presented as the result of a year's work, and Germany has never 

 held such a meeting." 



The Darwin centenary memorial exercises were held January i, at 

 McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, as previously 

 announced. Beginning at lo a. m., the entire day was devoted to 

 the commemoration of the looth anniversary of the birth of Charles 

 Darwin and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the first 

 edition of the " Origin of Species". The exercises were held under 



