850 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 544. 



tary to communicate this action to the 

 Central Branch of the American Society 

 of Naturalists : 



Eesolution: "It having come to the atten- 

 tion of the Central Branch of the American 

 Society of Naturalists that a bill has been 

 introduced into the Illinois State Legisla- 

 ture •which would restrict the freedom of 

 scientific investigation in Illinois, 



"Be it Resolved: That the members of 

 this society protest against such legislation 

 as is contemplated in Senate Bill No. 271, 

 because it is inimical to the interests of 

 science and would seriously obstruct the 

 advance of knowledge concerning the na- 

 ture and cure of disease in man." 



The officers elected for the ensuing year 

 and those holding over are as follows : 



President — Frank R. Lillie. 



Vice-President— WiUiam A. Locy. 



Secretary-Treasurer— C. E. McClung. 



Additional Members of the Executive Committee 

 —C. H. Eigenmann, for three years; Herbert 

 Osborn, for two years; Thomas G. Lee, for one 

 year. 



The following are titles and abstracts of 

 papers presented at the meeting : 



The Origin of the Sex-Cords and Eete- 

 Cords of Chrysemys: Bennet M. Allen, 

 University of Wisconsin. 

 In an early stage of development (em- 

 bryo of 7 mm. total length), each of the 

 more ventral Malpighian corpuscles of the 

 mesonephros is still attached to the peri- 

 toneum by a neck of cells which sometimes 

 possesses a lumen and constitutes a perito- 

 neal funnel. There are usually four, some- 

 times three, such ]\Ialpighian corpuscles 

 in each somite. A peritoneal ingrowth arises 

 either directly from the base of each peri- 

 toneal funnel or just mediad of it. These 

 ingrowths are termed funnel sex-cords. 

 Other sex-cords arise from the peritoneum 

 between the funnel sex-cords and the mes- 

 entery. These anastomose with the funnel 



sex-cords which in turn unite with evagina- 

 tions from their (^Drresponding Malpighian 

 corpuscles after the latter have broken 

 away from the peritoneum. The bridges 

 thus formed between the funnel sex-cords 

 and Malpighian corpuscles constitute the 

 rete-eords which are thus formed from the 

 distal portions of the funnel sex-cords plus 

 evaginations from the IMalpighian corpus- 

 cles. The foregoing applies to the sex- 

 gland along its entire length. 



The distal ends of all the funnel sex- 

 cords and of many of the other sex-cords 

 contribute to the formation of the adrenal 

 bodies. 



The anterior portion of the sex-gland of 

 the turtle is homodynamous with the rete 

 region of the genital ridge of the mammals 

 (pig and rabbit). 



Further Notes on the Chro^nosome Com- 

 plex of Orthopteran Spermatocytes: C. 

 E. McClung, University of Kansas. 

 A careful study of a large number of 

 species indicates that the membei's of a 

 family possess a common number of 

 chromosomes. In each species there is 

 found a characteristic series of chromosome 

 forms, and these are in many eases pecul- 

 iarly associated. In some cases the group- 

 ing is characteristic of the genus, and 

 within the genus the species are marked by 

 variations in size of chromosomes and other 

 parts of the cell. Heterotypical mitoses 

 occur in spermatogonia, first spermatocytes, 

 and second spermatocytes, and in each case 

 witness a longitudinal division of the 

 chromatin thread. In the spermatocytes 

 all the chromosomes do not divide in the 

 same manner. These irregularities of asso- 

 ciation and division are largely due to the 

 action of the accessory chromosome, which 

 in some cases unite with the one tetrad, 

 forming a trivalent element, and in others 

 with two tetrads, producing a pentivalent 

 mutiple chromosome. From these observa- 



