382 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



disease, their life history, the conditions which favor their spread to 

 man, their relations to intermediate insect hosts and the means by which 

 mankind may be protected from their attacks. In connection with 

 this work of public exhibition there seemed to be a unique opportunity 

 for maintaining, as a sort of study collection, a museum of living 

 bacteria for the benefit of working laboratories all over the country. 

 American bacteriologists have heretofore been compelled to send to 

 Vienna for authentic stock cultures, and many important type strains 

 have been lost because the laboratories in which they were isolated had 

 no facilities for keeping them permanently under cultivation. The 

 authorities of the Museum were quick to appreciate the importance of 

 the public service that could thus be rendered to those engaged in 

 bacteriological teaching and research and early in 1911 endorsed the 

 establishment of such a collection and bureau for the distribution of 

 bacterial culture. A circular was sent out, to which the various labora- 

 tories quickly responded by sending in the cultures in their possession. 

 On December 1, 1912, the collection included 578 strains representing 

 374 different named types and including most of the important patho- 

 genic and non-pathogenic forms which have been definitely described. 



During the period of somewhat less than two years, from January 1, 

 1911, to December 1, 1912, the laboratory distributed to 122 different 

 colleges and research laboratories of the United States and Canada 

 1700 different cultures, in every case without charge. It is the policy 

 of the Department to send cultures free to all teaching laboratories of 

 college and university grade and to all research laboratories, whether 

 cultures are sent to it in return or not. Many cultures have been called 

 for by teaching laboratories for use in their class work. The most im- 

 portant service the laboratory has been able to render, however, has 

 been in furnishing authentic cultures to investigators who have been 

 making a study of certain special groups and the published papers 

 which have resulted, in which various detailed characters of the museum 

 types are described, of course greatly increase the value of the 

 collection. 



The paper was discussed by Professor Osborn. 



Dr. Goldfajb described a series of experiments upon certain annelid 

 worms (Amphinoma Lumbricus) which showed that the presence of the 

 central nervous system was not essential for growth and regeneration. 



Dr. Goldfarb, in his second paper, described a method of fusing 

 embryos and larvae of the sea urchin (Toxopneustes). After fertilizing 

 the eggs they were placed in sea water to which enough % molecular 

 !STa CI was added to make a solution of 35 to 75 per cent. The eggs- 



