THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
SOCIETY FOR PLANT MORPHOLOGY 
, AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
ERWIN F. SMITH. 
For some years a move has been on foot to organize in the 
eastern United States a society for the study of the living 
plant, z.e., to include all who are actively engaged in botanical 
studies not purely floristic. The plan was outlined at the meet- 
ing of the American Society of Naturalists in Philadelphia in 
1895, but not enough botanists were present at that meeting 
to warrant any attempt at organization. A committee was, 
however, appointed, with Dr. James E. Humphrey as chairman. 
This committee reported at the Boston meeting of the Ameri- 
can Society of Naturalists, whereupon the botanists present 
resolved to continue the agitation, and Dr. W. F. Ganong was 
authorized to see what could be done in 1897 at the Ithaca 
meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, with which 
body it was considered best to affiliate. After considerable 
correspondence, it was decided to call a preliminary meeting 
and determine wholly by its success or failure whether or not 
a society should be organized. A meeting was therefore 
called at Ithaca, N.Y., December 28 and 29. About thirty 
botanists were present, and much interest was manifested 
in the proposed new society. Thirty papers were listed on 
the program, and many of them were of unusual interest. 
It was therefore decided to complete the organization, which 
was done by the adoption of by-laws and the election of 
officers for the ensuing year. It was decided not to meet 
farther west than Buffalo or south than Washington; and, while 
it is believed that the bulk of the membership will naturally be 
drawn from the territory wherein the sessions are held, no 
geographical réstriction was placed on membership. It was 
also decided that the society has no raison d’étre unless it 
actually stands for what its title expresses, the purely floristic 
