Annual Meeting at University College, LondonSource: Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 8, No. 1 (May, 1939), pp. 207-209Published by: British Ecological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1269 .

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207

BRITISH ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ANNUAL MEETING AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON

5-6 JANUARY 1939

Soire'e in the Department of Botany

ON the evening of Friday, 5 January, about 80 members and guests were entertained at a soir6e in the Department of Botany, University College, London.

An interesting series of exhibits was shown. Dr F. W. Jane showed a large number of very beautiful drawings and microscopic preparations of a large number of little known British flagellates. Many species of flagellates appear to be rare because not looked for at all, or at the wrong time of the year. Included in the exhibit were many hitherto undescribed species and even genera. A rough classification of habitats was suggested, and the habitat was shown for each of the species. Other exhibits showed the appearance of "annual rings" in sections of the fossil Lyginopteris, and vivipary in the fruiting heads of Dipsacus vulgaris.

Prof. Salisbury exhibited a series of full-scale drawings of the root systems of dune plants excavated by blowing away of sand. They included Calluna vulgaris, Lotus corniculatus (80 cm.), Euphorbia portlandica, E. paralias (130 cm.), Hypochaeris radicata (60 cm.) and H. glabra (60 cm.), Ononis arvensis (150 cm.), Galium verum (150 cm.), Diplotaxis tenuifolia (70 cm.), Salvia verbenaca and Eryngium maritimum (155 cm.).

At 9 p.m., Sir Arthur Hill gave an interesting talk on "The Art of living upside-down". He described the reaction of flowers to suspension in inverted positions, and illustrated the resultant types of movement by a large series of specimens, photographs and drawings. He pointed out also the interest of the natural inversion of leaves of Aistroemeria and Bomarea and of the positions taken up by the pitchers of Nepenthes.

The Annual Meeting

The twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Society was held in the Department of Botany, University College, London, on the following morning, Friday, 6 January, at 10 a.m., the President, Prof. A. G. Tansley, occupying the chair.

Prof. Tansley explained how pressure of work had made him unable to prepare a presidential address, and how the Council had made arrangements for it to be read at a meeting at Easter.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The resignation of Mrs Hands was accepted and Mr Elflyn Hughes was elected to the membership of the Society. The report of the Hon. Secretary was then read and adopted.

Hon. Secretary's Report for the year 1938

The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Society was held in the Botany School, Cambridge, on 6 January. On the evening of Friday, 5 January, between 80 and 100 members and guests were entertained at a soir6e in the department where a large series of exhibits had been set out.

The Annual Meeting was held on the 6th, and after the business meeting seven very interesting papers were read to the Society. On the following morning a party of 30 under the leadership of Dr Godwin and Mr Tidmarsh, made an excursion by bus through the south- eastern fens and the Breckland margin. The sincere thanks of the Society are due to Prof. Brooks for having given us the generous hospitality of his department.

A new departure in the arrangements of the Society was the holding of an additional

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208 British Ecological Society

meeting on 20 April in the Botany Department of Bedford College, London, to discuss problems of soil toxicity in Dorset heathland. After introductory accounts by Prof. Neilson- Jones and Dr Rayner, a long and interesting discussion followed, in which several distinguished guests spoke of the problems in relation to their own fields of forestry and soil science. After lunch there followed the inspection of a long series of exhibits illustrating different aspects of the problem. We are greatly indebted to Prof. and Mrs Neilson Jones and their assistants for an extremely profitable meeting.

The Summer Meeting of the Society was held in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, from 16 to 21 July. Several expeditions of very great interest were made to Tregaron Bog, to the Dovey dunes and salt marshes, to the Welsh Plant Breeding Station and to the field experiments in the Welsh mountains. A soiree was held on the evening of 16 July and evening meetings were held on the 19th and 20th. About 30 members attended the meeting and a number of these remained after the 21st and were conducted on further local ecological excursions. The Society has seldom had so successful a Summer Meeting and must be extremely grateful to Profs. Newton, Laurie and Stapledon, and their staffs for contributing so wholeheartedly and successfully to it.

In the past year two numbers of volume seven of the Journal of Animal Ecology have been published, appearing respectively in May and November; they contain respectively 198 and 226 pages. Twenty-eight original papers were published with 14 plates, in addi- tion to notices and reviews. Notices of publications on Animal Ecology in this volume totalled 288.

Since the last annual meeting there have been issued two numbers of the Journal of Ecology, appearing in February and August, and containing respectively 254 and 247 pages with 7 plates. In this volume have been published 26 original papers, as well as notes and book reviews.

The Society's transplant experiments at Potterne are continuing satisfactorily in the hands of Mr Marsden Jones and Dr Turrill, and accounts of them occur in the current issue of the Journal of Ecology.

Since the last annual meeting the membership of the Society has risen from 350 to 363 members. 12 members have resigned or have died, and 25 new members have been elected. Of the present membership list 193 members received the Journal of Ecology alone, 116 the Journal of Animal Ecology alone, 52 received both Journals and one neither.

During the year the Society has suffered the loss by death of several valuable members, among them Mr B. D. Burtt and Mr C. F. M. Swynnerton, killed during air reconnaissance in East Africa, Prof. A. E. Boycott, F.R.S., and Prof. J. W. Bews, both men of the highest rank in our science. Prof. Boycott had been president of the Society in 1932 and 1933.

We are glad to note in the New Year's Honour's List the name of Sir R. G. Stapledon, an ecologist in practice and agriculturist in profession.

This year marks the end of the very long and devoted service of Mr Boyd Watt as Hon. Treasurer to the Society. We offer him our deep thanks for his able handling of our affairs and give him our sincerest good wishes.

The Hon. Treasurer made a provisional statement on the financial position of the Society, reporting a considerable positive balance on the year's working (see statement on p. 249). It was proposed from the chair and accepted nem. con. that Messrs William Norman and Son be reappointed auditors of the Society for 1939. Similar approval was given fcr grants of ?5 to the Society's transplant experiments and of ?10 to the Freshwater Biological Association.

The President then explained to the meeting that in view of Mr Boyd Watt's twenty-five years devoted service to the Society, the Council had nominated him on retirement from his post as Hon. Treasurer for Hon. Life Membership of the Society. This was carried with acclamation.

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British Ecological Society 209

The alterations of rules proposed by the Council, to give effect to their wish that there should be two Hon. Treasurers and two Hon. Secretaries, were explained by the President and Hon. Secretary and were agreed nem. con. (for rules so approved see p. 251).

The meeting then proceeded to the election of officers and council members as follows:

Vice-Premident: Mr C. DIVER (Dr TURRILL retiring). Hon. Treasurers: Dr A. S. WATT and Mr V. S. SUIMMERHAYES.

Hon. Secretaries: Dr H. GODWIN and Dr G. C. VARLEY.

Ordinary Council Member: Dr 0. W. RICHARDS (Dr ASHBY retiring).

The President then mentioned the arrangements for the Easter Meeting, which by the kindness of Prof. William Brown would be held in Imperial College, South Kensington. He mentioned the possible alternatives of the New Forest or Plymouth for the Summer Meeting, and outlined a scheme for a National Atlas, in the preparation of which the Society had been asked to co-operate. The Hon. Secretary briefly indicated the steps which the Council had taken to co-operate with the Forestry Commission in initiating a scheme for Ecological reserves in different parts of the country.

Mr Richard Freeman, Magdalen College, Oxford, was elected a member of the Society. The President read a letter from Mr Dudley Stamp suggesting the possibility of having a

mechanism for life membership of the Society instead of the payment of annual subscriptions: it was agreed to refer the matter to the Council.

At 11.10 a.m., the President opened the symposium on the Reciprocal Relationship of Ecology and Taxonomy. An account of the proceedings will be found in the Journal of Ecology. Those who spoke were:

The President Prof. E. J. Salisbury Dr 0. W. Richards Dr J. Huxley, F.R.S. Dr D. H. Valentine Capt. C. Diver Mr V. S. Summerhayes

Dr J. Burtt Davy Mr A. J. Wilmott Dr B. P. Uvarov Dr A. R. Clapham Mr C. B. Williams Mr C. S. Elton

Mr R. Ross Mr H. Baker Dr H. Godwin Dr A. S. Watt Mr F. T. K. Pentelow Dr W. B. Turrill

The discussion continued through the afternoon. In adjourning the meeting the President gave very hearty thanks to Profs. Salisbury and Hill for their hospitality, and to Prof. Salisbury and Dr Barbara Russell-Wells for the trouble they had taken in organizing the soir6e and the meeting. The meeting closed at 4 p.m. with tea generously provided by Prof. Salisbury.

EASTER MEETING, 1938 A SPECIAL meeting of the Society was held in the Botany Department, Bedford College, London, at 11 a.m., on 20 April 1938, the President, Prof. A. G. Tansley, in the chair.

Several distinguished guests were present by invitation, Dr Crowther, Dr Jacks, Dr Lewis, Dr Guillebaud and Sir Albert Howard.

An informal account was given by Prof. Neilson Jones of some of the characteristics, including that of apparent toxicity, associated with the soils of Wareham Heath. He described the poor growth of conifers in this soil and showed that Nicotania seedlings grown in pots of it only thrive at the margins. He showed that steaming the soil mitigated the

effect, and that the vapour from steamed soils produced epinastic movements in tomato like those produced by ethylene. In a film of nutrient agar poured over the soil, fungal spores germinate but the hyphae do not grow: steaming and other pre-treatments remove this effect. The condition of "fused needle" in Pinus contorta and P. insignis was described and it was said that no pathogen had been detected.

Journ. of Animal Ecology 8 14

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