Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Natural history society, Trenton. 



June. — Dr. C. C. Abbott stated that he has dis- 

 covered how the bittern makes its booming: noise. It 

 is not a vocal sound. To produce it, the bird thrusts 

 its beak into the soft mud, makes a vacuum, and the 

 sound follows. Dr. Abbott says he has seen the bird 



engaged in this philosophic performance. Prof. 



A. C. Apgar remarked on the yellow iris (I. pseud- 

 acorus). which is uncommon in the state as a wild 

 plant, bat is now rapidly becoming rather abundant. 

 Mr. Willard A. Stowell said, that, of the twenty- 

 seven species and varieties of violet east of the Mis- 

 sissippi, New Jersey contains twenty, sixteen of 

 which are fouDd near Trenton. Mr. Stowell de- 

 scribed the botanical structure, the habit of produ- 

 cing fruitful apetalous flowers, and the violent dis- 

 persion of the seeds by the valves of the ripe capsule. 

 The rare V. striata is not uncommon near Trenton. 



Dr. C. C. Abbott stated that the specimen of 



white-crowned sparrow exhibited by him was the 

 only one he has ever seen. He has said in print that 

 the bird, while not abundant, is not rare ; that it 

 appears in September, and remains all winter, but 



that it does not breed in the state. Dr. T. S. 



Stevens referred to the complex rotatory disk of 

 Melicerta, describing its anatomy, and especially the 

 structure and use of the pellet making organ. The 

 process of forming the protective sheath was also 



described. Dr. C. C. Abbott remarked, that, as 



he could force a broom-stick into the ground and 

 leave a hole, he concluded that burrowing animals 

 made their tunnels by forcing themselves into the 

 soft earth, thus forming and hardening the walls by 

 the pressure of the body. On no other basis could 

 he account for the absence of loose earth at the bur- 

 row-entrance. While exploring a tunnel, he found 

 a tuft of unknown hair, which he then identified with 



a pocket-lens. Mr. Ernst Yolk read a paper on 



the English walnut as cultivated here, detailing its 

 method of growth, flowering, and fruiting, with the 

 practical uses for which the wood and the expressed 

 oil of the nut are esteemed, the latter being con- 

 sidered in Europe a valuable table oil. The tree 

 would be a profitable one for extensive cultivation, 

 and is worth . ttention. 



Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia. 



June 22. — Mr. Thomas Meehan called attention to 

 a species of Japanese oak, Quercus dentata. About 

 ten years ago he had succeeded in raising one plant 

 from a lot of acorns received from a correspondent. 

 Since then the tree has grown with extraordinary 

 rapidity, having now reached a height of eighteen 

 feet. It was believed to be the only specimen of the 

 species in America. The leaves are sometimes one 

 foot in length by eight or nine inches in width. The 

 structure of the acorn was of peculiar interest, the 

 so-called stem being much longer than in any of the 



native species of oaks. Dr. William P. Gibbons 



presented specimens of the uterus of a viviparous 

 fish from California, described by him in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the academy in 1853. His determination 

 of the peculiar character of the species had been 

 disputed at the time by Agassiz and other authorities : 

 but he had since been able to trace the development 

 from the ova to maturity, and he could now demon- 



strate, by a series of photographic illustrations, that 

 the young were nourished as mammals are, by 

 juxtaposition of the blood-vessels of the embryo 

 with those of the parent. There is, however, no 

 umbilical cord ; but the young are held between 

 folds of uterine membrane until they are ready to be 

 extruded, when they are at once able to provide for 

 their own future sustenance. Dr. Gibbdns became 

 a member of the academy in 1833. He removed to 

 California shortly after his election, and it is nearly 

 fifty years since he last attended a meeting of the 

 society. But two or three of his contemporaries are 

 now living, an entire generation having finished its 

 work and departed in the mean time. At the time 

 of his election the hall of the academy was in 

 ' Georges Street,' a name afterwards changed to 

 Sansom. William Maclure was still president, and 

 the late Dr. Thomas McEuen acted as secretary. 

 There were but three or four scientific societies of 

 any importance in America, and among these the 

 academy held the advanced rank which it still oc- 

 cupies. A communication was received from Dr. 



Persifor Frazer, requesting the academy to join with 

 other scientific societies in inviting the International 

 congress of geologists to hold in America the session 

 following the one appointed to be held in London in 

 1888. The academy, by resolution, cordially united 

 in the proposed invitation. The congress was first 

 given tangible form at a meeting of the American 

 association for the advancement of science, held in 

 Buffalo in 1876. Meetings have since been held in 

 Paris in 1878, in Bologna in 1881, and in Berlin in 

 1885. One committee has been appointed to har- 

 monize conflicting views on the subject of the limita- 

 tions and the names of geological formations, and 

 another to select a color-scale for the representation 

 of geological eras, the merits of which shall be first 



tested on a map of Europe. A resolution was 



also adopted tendering the use of the academy's hall 

 to the Society of American naturalists, a meeting of 

 which is to be held in Philadelphia during the coming 



season. George Yasey presented a paper entitled 



' Notes on the Paspali of LeConte's monograph,' for 

 publication. 



Publications received at Editor's Office, June 21-26. 



Abbott. Helen C. DeS. Proximate analysis of the bark of 

 Fouquieria splendens. Philadelphia, Amer. journ. phar7>i., 

 [1886.] 8 p. 8°. 



Yucca angustifolia : a chemical study. Philadelphia, 



Trans. Amer.phil. soc, 1886. L31] P- . 4°- 



Adriance, J. S. Laboratory calculations and specific-gravity 

 tables. New York, Wiley, 1886. 10+71 p. 12 . Si. 



Brooks, F. Comparative size of metric and old units, with 

 reference to convenience, (Journ. assoc. Eng. soc) New York, 

 Atkin <Sr> Prout.pr., 1886. 28 p., illustr. 8°. 



Carusso, C.-D. Importance de la cartographie officielle. Ge- 

 neve, Charles Schuchardt, impr., 1886. 51 p. 8°. 



Frazer, P. General notes on the geology of York county, 

 Penn. Philadelphia, Amer. phil. soc. [1886] [20] p., map. 8°. 



The application of composite photography to hand- 

 writing and especially to signatures. Philadelphia, Proc. Amer. 

 pkilos. soc, 1886. \_g] p., 1 pi. 8°. 



Gottsche, C. Land und leute in Korea. Berlin, W. Por- 

 metter, 1886. 20 p., map. 8°. 



Hicks, H. Results of recent researches in some bone-caves 

 in North Wales. London, Quart, journ. geol. soc, 1886. 19 p., 

 illustr. 8°. 



Japan imperial meteorological observatory. Monthly and 

 yearly means, extremes, and sums for the years 1883-85. Tokio, 

 Imp. meteor, observ., [1886.] 85 p. 8°. 



Long, J. H. On the microscopic examination of butter. 

 (Bull. 111. state micros, soc.) Chicago, C. J. Johnson, pr., 1886. 

 5 1 pL 8°. 



