486 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVI I L 



Branch, the American Society of Zo()logists will invite the 

 International Zoological Congress to meet in America in 1907. 

 The necessary preliminary arrangements have been left to a 

 committee. The committee appointed to draw up a definition 

 of zoological requirements for admission to college, conformable 

 with the definition of the requirements in other sciences, pub- 

 lished by the College Entrance Examination Board, submitted a 

 report of progress that caused considerable discussion, and the 

 committee was continued. 



The list of officers for 1904 is as follows : 



President, E. A. Andrews ; vice-president, W. E. Castle ; sec- 

 retary-treasurer, G. A. Drew. Additional members of the 

 executive committee, T. H. Montgomery, Jr., H. C. Bumpus, 

 H. S. Jennings. 



The following are abstracts of papers presented at the meet- 

 ing : 



The Egg Cases of ChimcEroid Fishes : Bashford Dean, Colum- 

 bia University. — The egg cases of chimaeroid fishes present an 

 extreme case of adaptation, not to the egg of the time it is 

 placed in the capsule, but to the young fish when about to 

 escape. From this standpoint the capsule is adapted in the 

 matter of extreme size, definite modeling to the head, trunk and 

 tail of the young fish, durability, mode of attachment, position, 

 which enables the young fish to develop dorsal side upward, ori- 

 entation, wherein the snout of the young fish develops in the 

 direction of the opening valve, and the tail in the direction of 

 the long and narrow end of the capsule. Further adaptations 

 include an elaborate provision for circulation of water within the 

 capsule, the mechanism for which improves as the embryo devel- 

 ops, by means of a process of weathering, whereby the perfora- 

 tions of the capsule become progressi\ ely larger ; and a special 

 exit valve which can be opened only from within, and only at the 

 time when the fish is ready to escape. The exit valve has then 

 a kind of tension resulting in "dehiscence," comparable some- 

 what to that of the elements of a seed pod. Adaptation is made 

 still more complete by provision for the specific characters of 

 the adult ; thus the species which have the longest tails have the 



