496 RECORDS 



SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 

 October 8, 1900. 



Section met at 8:15 P. M., Prof. C. L. Bristol presiding. 



The minutes of the last meeting of Section were read and 

 approved. 



The evening was devoted to Reports of Summer Work bv 

 •Members of Section. 



Summary of Papers. 



Prof E. B. Wilson reported that he spent the summer at 

 Beaufort, N. C, where he prosecuted experimental researches 

 upon the eggs of Toxopneustes. Loco's experiments upon the 

 eggs of arbacia were confirmed, and further facts of great interest 

 were determined. Later in the season Professor Wilson visited 

 Woods Holl, Mass., Mt. Desert, Me., and the Bay of Fundy. 

 He drew attention to the very great difference between the Beau- 

 fort and Bay of Fundy faunas. The transparent pelagic annelid 

 was collected in the latter locality. 



Dr. D. T. MacDougal spent the summer in studying the flora 

 of Priest Lake, which stands at an elevation of 3,000 feet in 

 northern Idaho. He was especially concerned in studying the 

 effect of air temperatures on the distribution of plants. 



Prof H. F. Osborn visited the British Museum and the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Anatomy in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. 

 The latter has, under the hand of Dr. Filhol, reached a high 

 degree of effectiveness. At the British Museum Professor Os- 

 born examined the remains of the new Patagonian sloth Neomy- 

 lodon, a form said by Ameghino to be still extant, though by 

 some claimed to be extinct. 



Mr. F. B. Sumner gave an account of experiments carried on 

 at the Marine Laboratory at Naples. The work of Mr. Sumner 

 was directed towards determining the validity of his confluence 

 theory of the origin of the embryo in fishes. The results are 

 regarded as confirmatory. 



The work in the Bermuda Islands carried on in previous 



