by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, presenting Ichthyologia Miscellanea' as follows:

1. The proper name for the blue-gill sunfish. This species is now known as Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill). Dr. Smith showed that Mitchill's name pallidus (1815) can not be appropriated for this fish, as the description. does not apply and the species is not found near New York City, the type locality of pallidus. The earliest available name for this sun-fish is incisor of Cuvier and Valenciennes (1831), and the species should be known as Lepomis incisor (Cuvier & Valenciennes).

2. Note on a rare flying-fish (Cypselurus lütkeni). The speaker recorded the capture of the second known specimen at Beaufort, N. C., in 1904. The source of the type specimen, now in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, is doubtful, but the indications are that it, too, came from Beaufort about 1871.

3. The feeding habits of the trigger fish (Balistes vetula). These habits had been observed on a captive specimen at the Woods Hole Laboratory. Dr. Smith described in detail how this fish attacked, killed and ate its food consisting largely of a certain species of crab.

This paper was discussed by Dr. Evermann. The second paper was by Mr. A. G. Maddren, Notes on the Occurrence of Mammoth Remains in Alaska.'

6

In introductory remarks an outline was given of a trip the speaker made last summer in the interests of the Smithsonian Institution to Alaska with the purpose of searching for the remains of large Pleistocene mammals, particularly those of the mammoth, which are popularly supposed to be abundant in that region, but actually do not exist in any great numbers. The entire length of the Yukon River was traversed and one of its largest tributaries, the Porcupine, was ascended to the Old Crow River, in the basin of which stream abundant evidence of Pleistocene mammal remains were found.

Attention was called to the fact that Pleistocene mammal remains appear to be no more abundant in Alaska than in the United States, and to find complete remains of the mammoth and associated mammals search must be made

around the former shore lines of the Pleistocene lacustrine deposits that are considerably developed in Alaska.

A historical summary of the records of the occurrence of mammoth remains in Alaska was given and the statement made that there is no formation of ice in Alaska that may be assigned to the Pleistocene age, as has been stated by some writers, but that all the ice phenomena there occurring are, geologically, comparatively recent.

The concluding remarks favored the view that Alaska, from a geographical standpoint, was in Pleistocene time part of Asia; that its fauna had closer affinities to that of Asia than to the contemporary fauna of the United States and that if sufficient material were at hand to institute a close study it would be found that Elephas primigenius, the true Siberian mammoth, never lived in the United States, which was occupied by three distinct species of fossil elephants, the form most closely related to the Siberian mammoth (E. primigenius) being Elephas jacksoni, the others being the more easily distinguished forms Elephas columbi and Elephas imperator.

The last paper was by Dr. A. D. Hopkins on 'Ornaments and Blemishes in Wood, Caused by Insects and Birds.'

Dr. Hopkins stated that the object of the paper was to discuss the causes of some of the ornamental conditions and blemishes commonly seen in the wood of trees and their crude and finished products.

The blemishes appear in lumber and woodfinish as discolored spots, checks, dark stains, resin deposits, pin holes, worm holes, etc., and in the trees as scars, decayed spots and hollow trunks.

The ornamental conditions appear in the lumber and inside finish and furniture as socalled bird's-eye, curly, burl and wavy or satined effects, and on the surface of the wood beneath the bark as artistic and curious carved and embossed work.

It would be difficult to find a recently constructed public building or private residence which does not show in the natural wood finish one to many blemishes, the results of

natural conditions in the wood, are caused primarily by insects, birds and various other agencies, which produce wounds in the cambium of the living tree. When we are able to identify these blemishes with the species of bird or insect that caused them, they become objects of interest. Certain bird's-eye and curly effects are even more interesting, because more pleasing to the eye, and the exact cause is more obscure.

The object of the study of woodpecker work in living trees was to determine characters by which the subsequent results from wounds made by them in the living cambium could be identified from those caused by insects and other agencies; also to determine the relation of the birds and their work to subsequent injuries by insects, or the reverse.

The material collected by him during the past fourteen years represents some forty species of forest trees, of many genera and families, and from widely different sections of the country.

It appears that the object of the sapsucker working in the bark of living trees is to secure both liquid and solid food from the sap, cambium and bast, and not for the purpose of collecting insects, or, at least, not primarily for that purpose.

The punctures in the bark vary in size, form and arrangement, according to the species of tree and the character of the food furnished. In the pine, spruce, hemlock, juniper, and probably in all conifers, the desirable substance is furnished by the living bast tissue and cambium, while the wood yields resin instead of sap, therefore the birds have no occasion to puncture the outer wood-ring, and very rarely do so, whereas in maple, walnut, hickory and such trees as furnish at certain times of the year a prolific flow of saccharine sap from the sapwood, the outer ring of wood is always punctured. In the former, the wounds are usually broad, often connected, and usually arranged in longitudinal rows, while in the latter they are narrow, funnelshaped, rarely joining, and arranged in trans

verse rows.

The method of healing of these wounds is quite variable, being influenced not only by

the character of the wound, but by the species or genus of trees in which they occur.

The resulting defective or ornamental conditions and subsequent annual layers of wood also vary in character and economic importance with different kinds of trees and commercial products.

While the healed wounds made by the birds cause a bird's-eye effect in the finished surface, they are not responsible for all bird's-eye wood. The small densely placed bird's-eye in maple is not caused by birds, but appears to be a character peculiar to certain individual trees, while that resulting from the work of birds is coarser, less distinctly defined, more sparsely arranged, and the wood in which it occurs usually shows small dark spots or streaks where the original wound was made in the living cambium.

Specimens of blemishes, bird's-eye and stained effects caused by birds and insects in many kinds of wood were shown, together with some forty stereopticon slides.

Attention was called to the knotty walking sticks, umbrella handles, crops, etc., which represent an extensive industry, in which the desired knotty effect is produced artificially by making wounds with a sharp instrument in the living bark and cambium of the growing stem, which is left to grow one year and heal the wounds before cutting the stick and removing the bark. This result is similar to that from a wound made by a sapsucker, which may have suggested the idea.

E. L. MORRIS, Recording Secretary.

MICHIGAN ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

THE annual meeting of the Michigan Ornithological Club was held in the museum of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor on April 1, 1905. A business meeting was held in the forenoon in the curator's office. The following officers were elected for 1905-6.

President-Walter B. Barrows.
First Vice-President-A. H. Griffith.
Second Vice-President-James B. Purdy.
Third Vice-President-J. Claire Wood.
Secretary-Alexander W. Blain, Jr.
Treasurer-Frederick C. Hubel.

Editorial Staff of the Bulletin: Editor, Walter B. Barrows; Associates, P. A. Taverner, Norman A. Wood.

The afternoon session was held in the university lecture room. The meeting was called to order by Professor Barrows, who addressed the society on 'Recent Advances in Ornithology.' The following program was then presented:

LEON J. COLE: In Memoriam-Albert Bowen Durfee' (read by J. Wilbur Kay in the absence of the author).

NORMAN A. WOOD: Birds Noted En route to Northern Michigan.'

OTTO MCCREARY: 'Ecological Distribution of tne Birds of the Porcupine Mountains, Michigan.' MAX M. PEET: 'Observations on the Nesting Habits of a Pair of House Wrens.'

ALEXANDER W. BLAIN, JR.: On the Use in Surgery of Tendons of the Ardeida and Gruidæ.' NORMAN A. WOOD: Some New and Rare Records for Michigan.'

EARL H. FROTHINGHAM: A List of Birds from the Michigan Forest Reserve, Crawford County.' LEON J. COLE: The Occurrence of Bewick's Wren, Thryomanes bewickii (Aud.), at Grand Rapids (read by Wm. H. Dunham).

P. A. TAVERNER: A Preliminary Notice of an Interesting Migration Route.'

ALEXANDER W. BLAIN, JR.,
Secretary.

THE AMERICAN MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

THE American Mycological Society met in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Philadelphia, December 28-31. The following officers were elected:

President-Charles H. Peck.
Vice-President-F. S. Earle.
Secretary-Treasurer-C. L. Shear.

The following committee on organization and relation to the other societies was appointed by the president: C. L. Shear, S. M. Tracy and Dr. Roland Thaxter.

The following program was presented: CHARLES THOM: 'Suggestions for the Study of Dairy Fungi.'

GEO. G. HEDG COCK: A New Disease of the Cultivated Agave.'

J. C. ARTHUR: A Study of North American Coleosporiaceæ.'

E. J. DURAND: Classification of the Geoglossaceæ.'

J. C. ARTHUR: The Terminology of the Spore Structures in the Uredinales.'

E. A. BURT: 'Generic Characters of North American Thelephoraceae.'

PERLEY SPAULDING: 'Cultures of Wood-Inhabiting Fungi.'

G. F. ATKINSON: 'Two Fungous Parasites on Mushrooms.'

G. F. ATKINSON: The Genus Balansia in the United States.'

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. AUBUBON'S ACCOUNT OF THE NEW MADRID

EARTHQUAKE.

WITHIN the last few years there has been a reawakening of interest in the New Madrid earthquakes as evidenced by the papers of Dr. W J McGee in the fourth volume of the Geological Society of America, Dr. G. C. Broadhead in the American Geologist in August, 1902, and Professor E. M. Shepard in January-February number of the Journal of Geol ogy of the present year. In Broadhead's paper are given abstracts of a considerable number of contemporaneous and other early publications on the earthquake phenomena, but the description by Audubon seems to have been overlooked. As he was one of the few, quite possibly the only, scientist who was in the region at the time, his account is of interest. It is of significance that it agrees very closely with the descriptions of many of the residents, indicating that the accounts are probably not so distorted as has sometimes been thought. Audubon's description is in part as follows:* Traveling through the Barrens of Kentucky

in the month of November [1812], I was jogging on one afternoon, when I remarked a sudden and strange darkness rising from the western horizon. Accustomed to our heavy storms of thunder and rain I took no more notice of it, as I thought the speed of my horse might enable me to get under shelter of the roof of an acquaintance, who lived not far distant, before it should come up. I had proceeded about a mile, when I heard

*Audubon and his Journals,' Vol. II., pp. 234-237, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1897. The first of the series of shocks was on December 16, 1811.

a

what I imagined to be the distant rumbling of a violent tornado, on which I spurred my steed, with a wish to gallop as fast as possible to a place of shelter; but it would not do, the animal knew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so nearly stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on the ground, with as much precaution as if walking on smooth sheet of ice. I thought he had suddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on the point of dismounting and leading him, when he all of a sudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, spread out his four legs as if to save himself. from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to groan. I thought my horse was about to die, and would have sprung from his back had a minute more elapsed, but at that instant all the shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, the ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled waters of a lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered that all this awful commotion in nature was the result of an earthquake. * The fearful convulsion, however, lasted only a few minutes, and the heavens again brightened as quickly as they had become obscured; my horse brought his feet to their natural position, raised his head, and galloped off as if loose and frollicking without a rider. * * * Shock succeeded shock almost every day or night for several weeks, diminishing, however, so gradually as to dwindle away into mere vibrations of the earth. Strange to say, I for one became so accustomed to the feeling as rather to enjoy the fears manifested by others. * * * The earthquake produced more serious consequences in other places. Near New Madrid and for some distance on the Mississippi, the earth was rent asunder in several places, one or two islands sunk forever, and the inhabitants fled in dismay towards the eastern shore.

*

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

M. L. FULLER.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FACILITATING THE WORK OF ZOOLOGISTS.

Two plans have occurred to me which would, I think, considerably lighten the work of zoologists if they could be carried out. As they do not seem wholly impracticable, I venture to present them for consideration and discussion.

1. No generic name is allowed to be used twice in zoology; so that when any name is used a second time, by inadvertence, it falls

Now

as a homonym, and a substitute has to be proposed. As a matter of fact, the literature swarms with such homonyms, and we are constantly finding ourselves under the necessity of making changes because of them. that we have Scudder's 'Nomenclator' and Waterhouse's 'Index,' bringing the list of names proposed up to 1900, it ought to be quite possible to overhaul the whole series up to date, and make a list of all the homonyms known. If such a list were made in manuscript it might be divided into minor series. according to the groups of animals, and each of these sent to a specialist in the group concerned. These specialists might then go carefully over the lists, seeking the advice and assistance of colleagues, and sift out all the names for which substitutes had already been proposed, and those which stood for invalid genera, leaving a residue of homonymous names for valid genera to be dealt with. This residue would have to be again examined to see whether any other names, hitherto placed in the synonymy, could be substituted, and when this could not be done new names should be proposed. This would involve a great deal of work, but it would get rid of the trouble from homonyms once for all, so far as the past is concerned; except, of course, those resulting from names overlooked in the indices. It would save us from the present sense of insecurity regarding names, and from a great deal of duplicated labor in looking up the names in use, lest they should be preoccupied. If the full list were published, it would also prevent the proposal of new substitutes for names which had already been suitably replaced on account of homonymy.

Such a work ought to be cooperative; because it could not be done well-even the first part, of matching names and detecting homonyms-by persons unfamiliar with scientific names; while it would not be reasonable to expect a working zoologist to devote his time to it to the exclusion of his original investigations. If each letter, in the first part of the work, were undertaken by one individual, it would not be long before it might be finished. For the later investigations, specialists would have to be allowed to take their

own time; but the groups first done could be published, without waiting for the others. The publication of the lists would be rather expensive, and would have to be undertaken by some institution. Whether the work itself could be done by volunteers, I do not know; but if any money could be obtained in payment for it, it would probably be easier to find workers.

2. At present new species of animals are described in all sorts of publications, in consequence of which it often becomes expensive or difficult to obtain the descriptions relating to any one group. It might be a very good plan if all descriptions of new species and varieties of North American animals were published (or republished) in a single series, on leaflets somewhat like those issued by the Biological Society of Washington. It might be so arranged that each leaflet should include only a single species or variety, or perhaps only those of a single genus, and each might be sold at a stated price. One could then subscribe for all the new descriptions pertaining to a certain genus, family or order, and receive them immediately upon publication. They could be bound up, when numerous enough, in any way that proved convenient; e. g., all the new animals from Colorado, or all the new mammals from North America. The descriptions should, of course, be published promptly, and strictly in the order of their receipt at the editorial office. All descriptions of reputable authors should be accepted, but it would be appropriate to make certain rules, applicable to all; thus it might be required that the descriptions should be reasonably complete, or not conspicuously incomplete; that the exact locality and collector's name should be given, if ascertainable; and that comparison should be made with allied species. The same plan would be equally applicable to plants, of course. A special series of leaflets, issued with the others, might be devoted to the proposal of synonymy, or of new combinations. How much financial support such a plan would require I do not know; perhaps it would pay for itself, or nearly. It would probably not be necessary to take any special steps to persuade authors to send their new descriptions

for publication in the leaflets; the majority would doubtless soon do so as a matter of course, while those who did otherwise would find their descriptions reprinted in the regular series. T. D. A. COCKERELL.

BOULDER, COLORADO.

SPECIAL ARTICLES.

A CARD INDEX STOCK LIST FOR USE IN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. ONE of the administrative difficulties confronting the head of a university department of organic chemistry is the proper listing of the great variety of chemicals carried in stock, and constantly accumulating year by year as the result of the various investigations conducted in the laboratory. The troubles of the organic chemist in this respect are much greater than those of his inorganic colleague, for he must carry in stock not only about all the chemicals required by the inorganic chemist, but his own innumerable organic chemicals as well. In the larger universities, this accumulation of stock in the departments of organic chemistry amounts to many thousand lots, generally distributed in various rooms— the general stock rooms and closets, the main laboratory, the research rooms, the rooms of the officers of the department, the chemical museum, and elsewhere; in all kinds of containers, large and small, boxes, crocks, bottles, specimen tubes, and the like. To classify and list this mass of scattered material in such a way that an instructor can tell in a few moments whether a certain chemical is available in the department, and if so, in what amount and quality, and, further, to keep such a list constantly up to date, in spite of daily removal of stock and addition of new material, is not a simple task, as I think most of my colleagues will admit. And yet, without such a list more or less confusion is likely to result, and much valuable time will be wasted in pawing over a lot of bottles or specimen tubes in a vain search for a compound which is not in stock at all or can not be found, or, in other cases, for substances which, when found, prove to be too impure or too small in amount to be of any use. In this country, the failure to keep