80 The American Naturalist. [January, 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
New York Academy of Sciences.—At the meeting of the 
Biological Section, Nov. 14, Prof. H. F. Osborn was elected chairman, 
and Bashford Dean secretary. The papers of the evening were: 
_ Arthur Hollick, On Additions tothe Palzeobotany of the Cretaceous 
of Staten Island. These include about forty species not previously 
recorded from eastern North America, although in part described as - 
occurring in the cretaceous of Greenland and in the Laramie. About 
fifteen new species were recorded, representing Populus, Platanus, 
Myrica, Kalmia, Acer and Williamsonia. The fossils were in the main 
taken from fire-brick clay. H. F. Osborn, Report Upon a Collection — 
of Mammals from the Cretaceous (Laramie). The multituberculates 
Meniscoéssus and Ptilodus were assigned to the Plagiaulacidz, the for- _ 
mer a probable ancestor of Polymastodon. The relations of these — 
mammals were shown to be closer to Puerco than to upper Jurassic 
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forms. Arthur Willey, On the Significance of the Pituitary Body, — 
suggesting from studies on Ascidians and Amphioxus a primitive mon- — 
orhinic condition in vertebrates. The nasal sac of Petromyzon is of — 
secondary nature, as shown by development (Dohrn) and nerve sup- — 
ply, but the nose in the monorhinic ancestor of vertebrates was the — 
pituitary body of existing forms, this being represented in Ascidia, a8 4 
shown by Julin, by the sub-neural gland and its duct, and in Amphi- — 
oxus by the so-called olfactory pit. The pituitary body is to the 
lateral nares what the pineal body is to lateral eyes. a 
Bashford Dean exhibited an entire Ctadodus, a unique specimen 
recently collected in the Cleveland shales. The tail is for the first 
time shown, and indicates historically the origin of the ray parts of 
this organ in modern elasmobranchs. ; : 
re 
jot A. H. Van Vleet, of Peru, Secretary and Treasurer. The fok 
lowing papers were read : i 
Psychology a Science, Dr. D. R. Dungan; Evidences of two Pre : 
morainie Glacial Movements, Prof. G. D. Sweezey ; Evolution of the 
Loup Rivers, Dr. L. E. Hicks; Some Notes on the Fringillide 
Nebraska, D. A. Haggard; The Myriapoda of Nebraska, F.C. Ken- 
_ yon; The Canyon Flora of Northwest Nebraska, A. F. Woods; Notes 
