12 



Wood Buffalo of the Northwest," by Mr. Francis Harper, who 

 had assisted in a Canadian Government expedition into that 

 region in the summer of 1914. The Wood Buffalo is a sub- 

 species (Bison bison athahascce) of the American Bison, and now 

 exists in two carefully protected and prospering herds, aggre- 

 gating perhaps 500 individuals, in the country between Great 

 Slave and Athabasca Lakes. This country is made up of 

 forest, bushy areas and muskegs, the Bison inhabiting all 

 three. Mr. Harper had succeeded in seeing only one of the 

 animals, but he related what he had been able to glean of their 

 habits from the numerous signs, — trails, wallows, etc., — and 

 from officials and other residents, illustrating his observations 

 with photographs, which were passed around. 



Mr. James P. Chapin then gave the results of his last 

 summer's trip into Alberta, under the title of, ^'Natural His- 

 tory Impressions from the Canadian Rockies." The appear- 

 ance and behavior of such Rocky Mountain species as the 

 Pika or Rock Rabbit (Ochotona princeps), the Marmot or 

 Whistler {Marmota flaviventer), the Yellow-haired Porcupine 

 (Erethizon epixanthum) , the Spruce Grouse (Canachites cana- 

 densis*) and the American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus unicolor) 

 were touched on and lantern-slides of many of them and of the 

 grand mountain scenery were shown. Discussion followed. 



December 13, 1915. — The President in the chair. Thirteen 

 members (Dr. Dwight, Dr. F. M. Chapman, and Messrs. Ball, 

 Chapin, Chubb, Cleaves, Granger, Harper, J. M. Johnson, 

 Lang, Murphy, Nichols and Rogers) and 26 members of the 

 Section of Biology of the New York Academy of Sciences (with 

 which the meeting was held jointly) and visitors present. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman was the first speaker of the evening 

 and read his paper f on, ''The Origin of Zonal Faunas in the 

 Andes." He explained a series of lantern-slides showing the 

 physical nature and vegetation of the several zones in the three- 

 ranked Andes of Colombia, from sea-level to perpetual snow 

 and from the Pacific to the llanos of the east. He then ex- 



* See female collected, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., No. 132654. 

 t See "The Distribution of Bird-Life in Colombia; a Contribution to a 

 Biological Survey of. South America," Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVI. 



