new york academy of sciences 583 



Summary of Papers. 



. Mr. Dublin described the history of the germ-cells in Pedi- 

 cellina americana, giving special attention to the chromatic 

 changes. The somatic number of chromosomes is twenty- 

 two. These bodies behave, throughout, very much as has 

 been described by many workers on other forms ; but in addition 

 there has been observed a peculiar process in connection with 

 the reduction of the chromosomes. These are V-shaped in 

 the somatic cells and in the several generations of oogonia 

 and spermatogonia with the exception of what appears to be 

 the last. In this the number is still twenty-two, but they 

 are bar- shaped. These divide and, either before or at the telo- 

 phase, apparently unite end to end in pairs to form eleven 

 new V's each bivalent as compared with the earlier structures. 

 A longitudinal splitting of these loops, coincident with the 

 extensive growth of the individuals, produces in the first matura- 

 tion division eleven ring- or bar-shaped chromosomes, each 

 of which is structurally a tetrad. The first division is thus 

 reducing; the second equational. The change in chromosome 

 form in the last oogonial and spermatogonial generations is 

 then clearly a striking adaptation to the subsequent synapsis 

 or reduction, making the latter easily possible. 



Mr. Lucas gave an account of whales and whaling on the 

 coast of Newfoundland, illustrating his remarks with stereop- 

 ticon views of the whales and stages of their capture. Three 

 species of whales were described: the finback, the humpback, 

 and the sulphur-bottom, the first two being found on the south 

 and east coast, the last one on the south coast only. The 

 speaker then described the past and present methods of capture 

 and utilization, saying that whales are now worked up so rapidly 

 that within forty-eight hours after one is brought to the whaling 

 station it is reduced to oil, fertilizer, and bone. The lecture 

 closed with an interesting account of the method employed in 

 making the mould of the large model of a whale shown by the 

 National Museum in the exhibit at St. Louis. This was pos- 

 sibly the largest mould ever made, and the cast was the first 

 accurate representation of a fully grown whale. 



