BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON Research Articles

Message from the Biological Society of Washington

Message from the Biological Society of Washington

Ixion Alderslade, 2001 and Ixioninae Alderslade, 2001 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Xeniidae): correctio errorum

In 2001 a Festschrift was published in the Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington to honour Frederick (Ted) Bayer, preeminent octocoral taxonomist and Zoologist Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, on his 80th birthday. The volume was edited by Stephen Cairns and Charles Messing and contained papers and articles by many of Bayer’s colleagues and past students. The contents included a paper by the first author (Alderslade 2001), within which a number of new genera were described and a new xeniid subfamily was proposed. Not long after the volume was published a nomenclatural problem in the paper was brought to the attention of the first author. Sometime after this a second problem became apparent; one of imperfect technique that also has nomenclatural implications. Despite good intentions for prompt action to correct the situation, the task slipped furtively into the first author’s “must-not-forget-to-do-that” receptacle: a container already over-full and seemingly with very limited attention-holding ability, all too easy to blame on “Busy Life Syndrome” (Miriam R.). This very belated note finally addresses the nomenclatural issues.

Mesenchytraeus gigachaetus, new name, a replacement name for Mesenchytraeus megachaetus Shen et al., 2011

The species name Mesenchytraeus megachaetus Bretscher, 1901 is preoccupied, although it is a junior synonym of Mesenchytraeus armatus (Levinsen, 1884). Following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, hererin, I rename Mesenchytraeus megachaetus Shen et al., 2011, which was published in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (2011. 124:127–133), to Mesenchytraeus gigachaetus. The etymology is from the Greek prefix ‘‘giga-’’ (meaning giant, large), and ‘‘chaetus,’’ referring to the possession of enlarged ventral chaetae in segments V and VI. Literature Cited

Biological Society of Washington 134ThAnnual Meeting, 7 June 2007

President Heyer called the meeting to order at 10:00 a. m. in the Waldo Schmitt Room, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Council members and editorial staff present: Wayne Mathis (President-Elect); Stephen Cairns (Secretary); Chad Walter (Treasurer); Mike Carleton, Steve Gotte, Ashley Smythe, Cristian Thompson, Jeff Williams (Elected Council); Bruce Collette (Past-President); and Stephen Gardiner (Editor). Heyer stated that much of his time as President had been devoted to representing the Society at BioOne conferences, being involved in the dialogue concerning the Alliance Communications Group (ACG) proposal, and in appointing people to serve on committees. On behalf of the Publication Custodian Storrs Olson, Heyer reported a modest sales of back issues of the Proceedings but a respectable sale of the Gabon bulletin (Bulletin 12, published in 2006). Heyer then made a plea to the membership for a volunteer to represent the Society in the Washington Academy of Sciences as well as for someone to present a paper in a conference they are organizing in March 2008. Minutes of the 133 annual meeting, held on 14 November 2006 and published in Volume 120(1) of the Proceedings, were approved. The financial audits of the Society for years 2005 and 2006 were then reviewed and accepted. President Heyer called on Chad Walter for the Treasurer’s report. Income from the period 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006 was $94,158.16, and expenses for the same period were $72,632.63. Total Society assets as of April 15, 2007 were $148,607.75, up from $124,755.09 at the same time in 2006. This increase is due primarily to a 17.4% increase in the value of the Endowment Fund, which resulted from interest and gifts of about $4000. The Society subsidized nearly 22% of page charges in 2006, amounting to $8125. Waived page charges were offset by income from dues, interest, and sales of the Society’s inventory publications. The Treasurer’s report was accepted, and Wayne Mathis made a motion to thank Treasurer Chad Walter for the 12 years that he has served in this capacity. The motion was passed unanimously. Editor Stephen Gardiner reported that 2006 was a transitional year in that he started as Editor at about the time that issue 119(2) went to the printer. The transition was very smooth because of the great efforts of the former Editor, Dick Banks. Stephen extended his sincere thanks to Dick Banks for all of his help during his first months as Editor. Two Bulletins were published in 2006 entitled:

The trilobite from Ohio with preserved legs: 1Mickelborough 1883 and Walcott 1884

ABSTRACT: Part and counterpart of a trilobite collected from Upper Ordovician strata near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, provided additional information on the legs of trilobites. These appendages had only been certainly known for less than a decade. The specimen was described by a local paleontologist in the local natural history journal, but part of the text was repeated in a leading American biological journal, and repeated in full in the Geological magazine. This trilobite was subsequently redescribed by C. D. Walcott in Science, following a speech in which he discussed it before the Biological Society of Washington. The specimen is now in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

Bibliography and scientific name index to amphibians and reptiles in the publications of the Biological Society of Washington, Bulletin 1-8, 1918-1988 and Proceedings 1-100, 1882-1987

Bibliography and scientific name index to amphibians and reptiles in the publications of the Biological Society of Washington, Bulletin 1-8, 1918-1988 and Proceedings 1-100, 1882-1987

Erratum: Hydrothermal Vent Animals: Distribution and Biology

The "turritid gastropod" referred to on page 713 (column 2, line 22) of the article "Hydrothermal vent animals: Distribution and biology" by J. Frederick Grassle (23 Aug.) should have been a "turrid gastropod." The first reference 26 on page 716 (column 2, line 14) should have been to R. A. Lutz and D. C. Rhoads, Eos 64, 1017 (1983). The statement at the end of page 716 that vent animals have metabolic rates that are orders of magnitude higher than relatives in other parts of the deep sea cannot be substantiated because, although many deep-sea organisms have low metabolic rates, benthic decapod crustacea and echinoderms from areas away from hydrothermal vents in the deep sea have metabolic rates similar to those of vent species when measured at the same temperature. This is further discussed in a forthcoming issue of the Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington.

A DARWIN LETTER

THE issue of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science of December 1945 (vol. 48, No. 3) contains an editorial note and a copy of a letter from Charles Darwin, hitherto unpublished, which it seems probable was the last he wrote before he died. The original of this letter is now in the Library of Kansas University, presented by the son of the late Prof. J. E. Todd (of Iowa), to whom it was written on April 10,1882, nine days before Charles Darwin's death. As is pointed out in the editorial comment, Darwin had been suffering from heart attacks some months before, but with the spring he seemed to be rallying, and schemes for further experimental work filled his mind. Prof. Todd's article, which gave rise to the letter, appeared in the American Naturalist of April 1882, though it was read before the Biological Society of Washington in March 1881, and must soon have come to the notice of Charles Darwin after publication. The title runs: “On the flowers of Solanum Rostratum and Cassia Chamsecrista”, and it deals with the asymmetrical arrangement of the reproductive organs, and in the case of Cassia, of the flower as well.

A Sketch of the Natural History of the District of Columbia, together with an Indexed Edition of the U. S. Geological Survey's 1917 Map of Washington and Vicinity . By W. L. McAtee. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, No. 1, May, 1918, pp. 142, 5 maps.

<i>A Sketch of the Natural History of the District of Columbia, together with an Indexed Edition of the U. S. Geological Survey's 1917 Map of Washington and Vicinity</i> . By W. L. McAtee. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, No. 1, May, 1918, pp. 142, 5 maps.

Note on the Etiology of Verruga as Deduced from a Study of the Asexual Stages of Bartonella

Dec. 4, 1915, the writer presented before the Biological Society of Washington a paper on the identification of the asexual stages of Bacrtonella bacilliformis, the causative organism of verruga, which was published in the Dec. 19, 1915, issue of the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Jan. 7, 1916, he presented the same subject before Section VIII of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, during which presentation he announced certain points additional to those previously announced. This second paper will be published in due course in the Proceedings of the Congress, but it is desirable to place on record at once the additional points announced therein. They are as follows, and should be added to the paper published Dec. 19, 1915: The toxin resulting from the extensive asexual multiplication of Bartonella in the vascular endothelial cells of the subcutaneous tissues is liberated in quantity into the blood, causing the rise of temperature which marks the fever stage of verruga, the anemia following through hemolysis. The proliferation of vascular endothelial cells incited by this toxin not only imprisons the toxin itself, thus arresting the hemolysis, but also prevents the erythrocytes from coming into direct contact with endothelial cells containing merozoites of Bartonella, thus cutting short the infection of the erythrocytes. As the natural result, the fever and anemia both subside, and the gametes of Bartonella are no longer to be found in the peripheral blood. The infected endothelial cell, in situ in the capillary wall, is positively chemotropic for uninfected freshly oxygenated erythrocytes, attracting and holding them in contact with itself until transfer of a certain number of merozoites of Bartonella has been effected, the presence of which reduces the oxygen tension in the substance of the erythrocytes, thereby transforming their tropic qualities, the sufficiently infected erythrocytes being set free through negative chemotropism. The localized proliferation of vascular cells following verruga eruption-tissue inoculations is not due to any new activity of a living organism or virus. The reason why Drs. Strong ct al. were unable to obtain proliferation lesions by injection of a filtrate from these tis-

Biological Society of Washington, 312th Meeting, Saturday, November 19th

Biological Society of Washington, 312th Meeting, Saturday, November 19th

Biological Society of Washington, 311th Meeting, Saturday, November 4th

Biological Society of Washington, 311th Meeting, Saturday, November 4th

Biological Society of Washington, 311th Meeting, Saturday, November 4th

Biological Society of Washington, 311th Meeting, Saturday, November 4th

Biological Society of Washington 310th Meeting, Saturday, October 21st

Biological Society of Washington 310th Meeting, Saturday, October 21st

Biological Society of Washington, 303d Regular Meeting, Saturday, February 25

Biological Society of Washington, 303d Regular Meeting, Saturday, February 25

Biological Society of Washington—298th Meeting, December 30th

Biological Society of Washington—298th Meeting, December 30th

Biological Society of Washington—298th Meeting, December 30th

Biological Society of Washington—298th Meeting, December 30th

Biological Society of Washington—297th Meeting, November 19

Biological Society of Washington—297th Meeting, November 19

Erratum: Biological Society of Washington—289th Meeting, March 12

On page 675 above first column, line 33, for Wabash Creek read Walnut Creek.

Biological Society of Washington.—296th Meeting, Saturday, November 5

Biological Society of Washington.—296th Meeting, Saturday, November 5