Of bCIE

PHOCEEDINaS

i3o6ton Socictu of JCatiiral ^istori).

VOL. V.

1854 TO 1856.

BOSTON:

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY,

1856.

-757^ f^J

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.

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PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY

TAKEN FROM THE SOCIETY'S RECORDS.

January 4, 1854.

The President, in the Chair.

Dr. T. M. Brewer presented a communication on the Ornithological Fauna of Wisconsin, from the Rev. A. Con- stantino Barry, of Racine, Wisconsin, as follows :

Order — ACCIPITRES. Family — VULTURIDtE.

Cathartes aura. Found in our State only in rare in- stances.

Family — FALCONIDiE.

BuTEO BOREALis. Very abundant at times, and always met with in considerable numbers about the groves and forests bor- dering our prairies, where they subsist principally upon moles, snakes, frogs, etc ; these being often found in their stomachs bolted entire. B. lineatus. Occasionally met with in this vici- nity, (Racine;) in some portions of the State considerably nu- merous, particularly about the large marshes frequented by water fowl, upon which it preys. B. Pennsylvanicus. A few spe- cimens have been obtained.

proceedings B. S. N. H. 1 JULY, 1854.

Archi-buteo Sancti Johannis. Very rare, and exceedingly- difficult to be taken.

Aquila chrysaetos. Occasionally met with. Two or three fine specimens have been shot near this city.

Haliaetus leucocephalus. Only now and then an indivi- dual is latterly seen. Opposite this city on the Michigan shore, is an old pair, that for many years have held undisputed posses- sion of the locality — a " brave old oak," where in the same nest they annually rear their young.

Pandion haliaetus. Common along our rivers and lakes.

IcTiNEA plumbea. A single bird of this species was seen last spring.

Nauclerus furcatus. At one time quite numerous upon our prairies, and quite annoying to us in grouse shooting ; now rarely met with in this vicinity.

Falco peregrinus- Rare.

Hypotriorchis columbarius. Common.

TiNNUNCULUs sparverius. Abundant, and breeds here in considerable numbers.

AsTUR PALUMBARius. Abounding largely in this state. A friend of mine in his excursions has shot twenty of them in a season.

AcciPiTER CooPERi. Not numcrous.

Circus cyaneus. Common. Breeds here.

Family — STRIGIDiE.

Strix funerea. Found here occasionally. S. pratincola. The only bird of this species known to have been found in the State, and now in my possession, was shot in the vicinity of this city.

Nyctea nivea. This regular winter visitor is at times quite numerous upon our prairies ; always most numerous during our severest winters. They generally frequent the vicinity of marshes, and only appear about the farm-houses when driven by

hunger. In a i'ew instances they have been known to remain with us during the whole year.

Athene passerina. Only now and then met with. I have been able to obtain but a single specimen.

Syrnium cinereum. Very rare, unless it may be in quite the northern part of the State. I have met with it in two instances only. S. NEBTJLosuM. Found every.where in our forests.

Otus WiLsoNius. Abundant. O. Brachyotus. Very com- mon.

Bubo Virginianus. A somewhat rare species.

Ephialtes ASIC. Common, and found in almost every grove and thicket upon our prairies. These seem to be their favorite haunts, in preference to the heavy forests. E. n^via. This species 1 have good reasons for believing to be separate and dis- tinct from the former. The difference in plumage, I knoic^ is not owing to different states of the same bird. With the young and the old of both species I am quite familiar. E. Kirt- LANDii. Recently discovered and described by Dr. Hoy, of this city ; a beautiful small species, considerably less than the A. passerinci. Two specimens only have been obtained.

Order — PASSERES. Family — CAPRIMULGIDiE.

Capri mulctUS vociferus. Among the most common of our birds.

Chordeiles virginianus. Very abundant.

Family — HIRUNDINID^.

AcANTHYLis PELASGIA. Only Occasionally found, Progne purpurea. Visits us in great numbers.

Hirundo FULVri. Only a single specimen observed. H. rus- TiCA. Very abundant. H. thalassina. Reported in the inte- rior.

CoTYLE riparia. Numerous in early spring. C. serripen- Nis. Occasionally found in conpany with the Sand Martin.

Family — MUSCICAPIDiE.

Tyrannus intrepidijs. Common.

Myiobius crinitus. The only specimen known to have been obtained here was shot by me last spring. M. ater. Rare. M. ACADicus. Numerous early in May, only in rare instances found during the season. M. fuscus. Abundant. M. virens. Ar- rives about the middle of May. It nests here in considerable numbers.

Setophaga ruticilla. Makes its appearance quite early in the spring, and frequents low grounds abounding in the willow and poplar, about the blossomed tops of which it darts incessantly in pursuit of its prey. It remains with us during the summer.

Vireo flavifrons. Among the rarest of our spring visitors. V. SoLiTARius. Exceedingly rare. I had not seen it in the State until last spring, when I shot a single bird ; a second one, the male, I failed to secure. V. Noveboracencis. Abun- dant. V. GiLVUS. Plentiful during the month of May, and many remain to breed. V. olivaceus. Quite numerous during the warm season.

Family — LUSCINIDiE.

CuLicivoRA c^RULEA. Quite abundant.

IMniotilta * CANADENSIS. Stops with us for a few days, on its northward journey, about the first of May, but rarely remains to breed. M. coronata. In spring very numerous. M. stri- ata. Common. Makes its appearance from the lOth to the

* This point (Eacine) seems to be a favorite rendezvous for the whole family of Warblers, with perhaps two or three exceptions, — Lake Michigan forming a sort of guide-post on their northward journey. From the mouth of the Osage they make their way in great numbers across the country to this immediate point; so that half a mile south, or the same distance north, scarcely a bird of them all will be found. Of their numbers, an idea may be formed from an entrj^ in my note book: — " Shot on the moi-nings of May 2d and 3d, 1853, Cerulean Warbler, 3 ; Parti-colored, 6 ; Cape May, 2 ; Tennessee, 1 ; Black-Throated Blue, 4 ; Chestnut-sided, 6. And on the mornings of May 10th, 11th, and 16th, Pine, 1; Blackburnian, 4; Bay-breasted, 5; E. Throated Green, 3; Canada, 3; Mourning, 1 ; together with Finches, Vireos, Thrush, &c. &c.

15th of May. M. superciliosa. Only a single specimen ob- served. M. CASTANEA. Numerous .'about the middle of May, remaining for two or three days only. M. Pennsylvanica. Among the most numerous of our warblers, and one of the ear- liest to visit us in the spring. Occasionally nests here. M. PiNus. Rare. Have met with it only in two or three instances. M. PARus. Like the ill pinus, only an occasional visitor. M. viRENs. Visits us in considerable numbers from the 5th to the 10th of May. A few remain during the breeding season. M. MARiTiMA. Seldom met with save at this point, and here no more than two or three of a season. M. ccerulea. Rather common. M. blackburni^. Among the first to come in the spring. Occasionally very abundant, and a few remain to breed. M. ESTIVA. Rare. M. nigrescens. Seldom found. M. cana- densis. An occasional visitor ; never plenty. M. discolor. A single specimen in the cabinet of Dr. Hoy. M. agilis. Some seasons quite abundant. M. peregrina. Rare. M. rubrica- PiLLA. A iew only visit us in the annual migration. M. Pu- siLLA. Some seasons quite numerous. A few remain to nest and rear their young.

Trichas PHILADELPHIA. Very rare ; two specimens only have been obtained. T. marilandicus. Common, and breeds here abundantly.

Parus atricapillus. Common in all our wooded districts. Regulus cristatus. Common. R. calendula. Abundant at this point.

SiALiA Wilsoni. Common.

Enicocichla aurocapillus. Not common. Makes its ap- pearance here in the spring in company with the warblers, and usually journeys with them farther to the north. E. novebg- racensis. Visits us in small numbers.

Anthus pipiens. Rather abundant.

Family— -CERTHIDiE.

Certhia varia. Common, and breeds here in considerable numbers. C. familiaris. Abundant, and remains during the season.

SiTTA Carolinensis. Common. S. Canadensis. Abundant in ihe northern part of the State.

Troglodytes Americanus. Somewhat numerous. T. ^don. Very abundant. T. arundinaceus. Frequently met with on our marshes, and about our slues. T. brevirostris. Also common, — both species breeding with us.

Family — TURDIDiE.

MiMUs Carolinensis. Abundant. M. rufus. Common.

Turdus migratorius. Abundant. T. mustelinus. Another common, and sweet singer. T. fuscescens. Usually found in considerable numbers. T. solitarius. Generally distributed throughout the forests of our State.

Icteria viridis. Extremely rare.

Family — FRINGILLIDiE.

Otocoris alpestris. Met with everywhere upon our prai- ries, especially along the highways. Mounts upward when it sings.

Plectrophanes lapponica. Abundant. P. nivalis. Com- mon.

ZoNOTRicHiA grammaca. Common. Z. savanna. Breeds here in considerable numbers. Z. pallida. Rare. Z. so- ciALis. As everywhere in the United States, a common bird. Z. MONTicoLA. Met with occasionally. Z. palustris. Fre- quently met with in our swamp-thickets, where it nests. A very shy bird, and a sweet singer. Z. Lincolnii. Rare. Have seen it only in one or two instances. A nest and eggs were pro- cured by me last spring in the low grounds near this city ; the bird I failed in capturing. Z. iliaca. Common, and frequents low wooded grounds and the borders of streams. Z. melodia. Abundant. Z. Pennsylvanica. Very plentiful. Z. leuco- PHRYS. Common. Z. atricapilla. Met with only occasion- ally.

Emberiza passerina. Common. E. Pusilla. Abundant in all settled portions of the State.

FrIx\gilla hyemalis. a common winter visitor. F. linaria. Common. F. pinus. Rare. F. Americana. Abundant.

Spiza cyanea. Not common.

PiPiLo erythrophthalma. Abundant.

Carpodacus ptjrpureus. Some seasons quite abundant.

LoxiA cuRviROSTRA. Like C. purpureus, at times quite nume- rous.

GuiRACA LuDOviciANA. Abundant, making their appearance early in May.

CoccoTHRAUSTEs VESPERTINUS. Rare ; a few specimens only have been secured.

Pyranga estiva. Rare. P. rubra. Abundant.

Family— STURNID^.

DoLicHONYx oRYZivoRus. Extremely abundant.

MoLOTHRUS FEcoRis. Common.

Agelaius xanthocephalus. Seldom found. I have never seen more than a single bird. A. phceniceus. Abundant.

Yphantes Baltimore. Common, though not numerous.

Xanthornus spurius. Found in considerable numbers near this city, where they breed.

QuiscALUS purpureus. Common.

ScoLECOPHAGUS FERRUGiNEus. Very abundant.

Sturnella LUDOVICIANA. Extremely plentiful.

Family — CORVIDtE.

CoRvus coRAx. Rare. C. corone. This bird has not yet made its appearance to any extent in our State ; a few only have ever been seen.

Pica Hudsonica. Seen only in a single instance.

Cyanocorax cristatus. Abundant.

Perisoreus Canadensis. Found in the northern part of the State.

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1

Family — LANIIDiE.

Lanius Ludovicianus. Abundant, and breeds hre in consi- derable numbers. L. BOREALis. Rare. A very fiv only have come under my observation.

Family — AMPELIDtE.

Ampelis garrulus. Visits us in great numbc. during the winter, frequenting our gardens in search of foe Scores of them are taken every season. A. Carolinensis. 'ommon.

Family — TROCHILIDiE.

Mellisuga colubris. Abundant. Makes i; appearance early in May, when it is seen about the tops of tr willows and poplars in the low grounds.

Family— ALCEDINIDiE.

Ceryle alcyon. Common.

Order— SCANSORES. Family — ICIDiE.

Dryocopus pileatus. Abundant.

Picus viLLOSUs. Frequently met with, thoup not plentiful. P. puBESCENS. Common. P. varius. Commo.

Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Common.

CoLAPTES AURA'TUS. Very abundant.

Family — CUCULID^.

CoccYzus erythrophthalmus. Rather comrva.

Family — COLUMBIDiE.

EcTOPisTEs MiGRATORius. Abundant in sprig and fall. E. MARGINATUS. Abundant.

Order — G ALLINtE. Family — TET.AONID7E.

Ortyx Virginianus. Distributed in immenr numbers over the entire State. Even our gardens in the cit at times abound with them.

S

BoNASA UMELLUS. Abundant.

Tetrao Caadensis. Said to be plenty in the extreme northern part othe State. T. cupido. Common. Large num- bers are taken dring the shooting season. Forty and fifty are not unfrequently^agged by a single sportsman of an afternoon. T. PHASiANELLu Occasionally met with.

Order — xRALL^. Family — RALLID^. PoRPHYRio MATiNicA. A fcw breed here every season.

FuLiCA Ameriana. Common, and breeds here in threat numbers. ^

Ortygometra arolina. Rare.

Rallus crepitxs. Not unfrequently met with on our prairie marshes, where itmdoubtedly breeds. R. Virginianus. Rare.

Family — ARDEID.^.

Grus Americaa. Often found in very large flocks upon our prairies, and numars are killed every year. The young are easily domesticate, but make naughty pets. The flesh of this bird is highly esteoied by many.

Tantalus locuitor. A single bird of this species was shot neaMVIilwaukie a -jar or two since.

Platalea ajaj. Found along the Mississippi within the bounds of our Sta-, and occasionally about our small lakes in the interior.

BoTAURUs LExNTicNosus. Abundant. Breeds here in great numbers.

Ardea exilis. .bundant. A. virescens. Occasionally met with. A. occiDENT.is. A few of this species visit a large slue in the vicinity of th city every spring, but all our efforts to cap- ture one have thus .r proved unavailing. A. Herodias. Com- mon about our rivei and marshes.

Nycticorax NiEvis. Rare.

Family — LANIIDiE.

Lanius Ludovicianus. Abundant, and breeds here in consi- derable numbers. L. BOREALis. Rare. A very few only have come under my observation.

Family — AMPELIDtE.

Ampelis garrulus. Visits us in great numbers during the winter, frequenting our gardens in search of food. Scores of them are taken every season. A. Carolinensis. Common.

Family — TROCHILIDiE.

Mellisuga colubris. Abundant. Makes its appearance early in May, when it is seen about the tops of the willows and poplars in the low grounds.

Family— ALCEDINIDJE.

Ceryle alcyon. Common.

Order— SCANSORES. Family — PICIDiE.

Dryocopus pileatus. Abundant.

Pious villosus. Frequently met with, though not plentiful. P. PUBESCENS. Common. P. varius. Common.

Melanerpes erythrocephaltis. Common.

CoLAPTES AURA-Tus. Very abundant.

Family — CUCULIDJE.

CoccYzus ERYTHROPHTHALMUs. Rather common.

Family — COLUMBIDiE.

EcTOPisTEs MiGRATORius. Abundant in spring and fall. E. MARGiNATUS. Abundant.

Order — G ALLINiE. Family — TETRAONIDJE.

Ortyx Virgintanus. Distributed in immense numbers over the entire State. Even our gardens in the city at times abound with them.

BoNASA UMBELLXJS. Abundant.

Tetrao Canadensis. Said to be plenty in the extreme northern part of the State. T. cupido. Common. Large num- bers are taken during the shooting season. Forty and fifty are not unfrequently bagged by a single sportsman of an afternoon. T. phasianellus. Occasionally met with.

Order — GRALLiE. Family — RALLIDiE.

PoRPHYRio MARTiNiCA. A few breed here every season.

FuLicA Americana. Common, and breeds here in great numbers.

Ortygometra Carolina. Rare.

Rallus crepitans. Not unfrequently met with on our prairie marshes, where it undoubtedly breeds. R. Virginianus. Rare.

Family — ARDEIDiE.

Grus Americana. Often found in very large flocks upon our prairies, and numbers are killed every year. The young are easily domesticated, but make naughty pets. The flesh of this bird is highly esteemed by many.

Tantalus loculator. A single bird of this species was shot near Milwaukie a year or two since.

Platalea ajaja. Found along the Mississippi within the bounds of our State, and occasionally about our small lakes in the interior.

BoTAURUS lentiginosus. Abundant. Breeds here in great numbers.

Ardea exilis. Abundant. A. virescens. Occasionally met with. A. occiDENTALis. A fowf of this species visit a large shie in the vicinity of this city every spring, but all our efforts to cap- ture one have thus far proved unavailing. A. Herodias. Com- mon about our rivers and marshes.

Nycticorax n^vius. Rare.

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Family — CH ARADRIDiE.

Chakadrius Virginicus. Plenty in spring and fall of the year. Immense bodies of them sometimes gather upon the open prairie, especially upon portions over which fire has run. Ilhave seen hundreds of them thus assembled, and busily engaged in feeding — upon what, I am puzzled to know. C. vociferus. Abundant. C. melodius. Not common.

CiNCLUS iNTERPRES. Somcwhat numerous, especially in the vicinity of Lake Michigan.

Family — SCOLOPACIDiE.

Tringotdes Bartramia. Abounds largely upon our prairies in autumn and spring, where it breeds, though in less numbers. T. MACULARiA. Common. T. canuta. Found in small num- bers about our lakes and ponds. It undoubtedly breeds here, though I have not as yet found its nest. T. cinclus. Visits us in company with others of its species on its annual journey to and from the north. T. subarcuata. At one time quite com- mon in the vicinity of this city, but has entirely disappeared. Found in considerable numbers in unsettled districts about the slues.

ToTANUs SEMiPALMATUS. Frcqucnts the shores of our lakes, and occasionally may be seen in large flocks. I found them more numerous about Lake Winnebago than elsewhere. T. MELANOLEUcus. Quitc abundant along our forest streams, and wet, wooded marshes, where it breeds. T. flavipes. Abun- dant. T. GLOTTIS. Have seen two or three only.

LiMOSA FEDOA. Rare. I have never obtained more than a single specimen.

Gallinago Wilsonii. Very abundant for a few weeks in spring and autumn, and shot in great numbers.

Philohela Americana. Found in small numbers, but is evi- dently increasing.

Recurvirostra Americana. Rare.

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NuMENius LONGiROSTRis. Has disappeared from this part of the State, though a few probably visit other and unsettled por- tions.

Order — ANSERES. Family — ANATID.E.

Bernicla Canadensis. Abounds largely, and occasionally breeds in our State. A curious fact connected with the habits of this bird, is the intelligence displayed in opening and keeping open ponds and slues upon which ice has formed, or is forming. A flock alights upon the thin ice and commences a jumping-up process, at the same time giving hard blows with their wings. When the ice has thus been sufficiently broken to admit them into the water, there begins a splashing process, and this is con- tinued at intervals, by individuals, during the night, preventing ice from forming. Large flocks of this bird frequent our small lakes and ponds during the fall, from whence they go out upon the grain fields to feed. They are shot in considerable numbers at this season. B. Hutchinsii. Rare. B. Brenta. Abun- dant in all parts of the State, and large numbers breed here.

Anser Bruchi. An occasional visitor. A, hyperboreus. Frequently found in company with the B. Ca7iadensiSj sometimes in separate flocks. Not very numerous.

Cygnus Americanus. Rare.

Anas boschas. Exceedingly abundant, and breeds here in great numbers. A. obscura. Found in small numbers in our rivers and lakes during the fall, especially those bordered by the wild rice. Breeds in the State.

Chaulelasmus strepera. The first observed in the State, was procured by me in a recent excursion on Fox River.

Mareca Americana. Abundant.

Dafila acuta. Common.

Aix spoNSA. Found here in great numbers ; nearly every wooded stream abounding with them. In autumn they gather in large flocks about the rice marshes, along the margins of our rivers.

QuERQUEDULA Carolinensis. Common.

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Pterocyanea discors. Abundant.

Spatula clypeata. Rare. A few only have been seen.

Nyroca valisneria. Met with only in rare instances. A large flock was reported to have been seen near our city, No- vember 2d, 1853. N. FERiNA. Abundant during the month of October. Breeds, to some extent, in the northern part of the State.

FuLiGULA MARiLA. Not commou. F. coLLARis. Found only occasionally.

Erismatura rubida. Rare.

Clangula albeola. Abounds on all our rivers, though it breeds generally far north.

Harelda glacialis. Exceedingly rare.

Mergus Castor. Frequents our lakes and rivers in consider- able numbers ; more abundant in autumn. Breeds in the north- ern part of the State. M. serrator. Common. M. cucullatus. Abundant in all parts of the State.

Family — PELECANID^.

Pelecanus track yrhyncus. Common about the Mississippi, and occasionally finds its way into our small lakes in the interior.

Family — LA RIDiE.

Hydrochelidon nigra. Abundant, and breeds in great num- bers in the low, reedy marshes about our lakes and rivers. The young, when able to leave the nest, are fed by the parent birds while upon the wing.

Sterna minuta. Not so common as the former, and proba- bly does not breed in the State.

Larus Bonapartii. Some seasons quite abundant, particularly in the month of October, and along the shore of Lake Michigan. L. marinus. Common.

Family — COLYMBIDiE.

Colymbus glacialis. Common. C. septentrionalis. Rare, and seldom found away from Lake Michigan.

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PoDicEPS CRISTATUS. Common. p. coRNUTUS. Abundant in the fall of the year about Lake Michigan, and the larger streams that empty into it. P. auritus. Reported in the State, though I have not seen it.

PoDiLYMBUS Carolinensis. Found only occasionally.*

Dr. Brewer also read a letter from Mr. Wm. Hopkins, of Auburn, N. Y., giving a list of some birds obtained there, part of which are sea birds, and others supposed to be in- habitants only of other regions, as follows : —

Large White Egret, Egretta alba.

Glossy Ibis, Ihis Ordi.

Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps rubricollis.

Red Phalarope, Phalaropus fulicarius.

Kittiwake Gull, Rissa tridactyla.

Mealy Redpoll, Linaria horealis.

Large-billed Guillemot, TJria Brunniclii.

Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carlo.

Prof. J. Wyman gave an account of observations upon the Surinam Toad, Pipa Amer^icana, lately presented to the Society by Dr. Cragin, as follows :

As yet, no complete description of this animal has been given, though it is not uncommon in collections. The eggs, when dis- charged, are not permitted to escape into the water, as is the case with the allied species, but are received by the male, after- wards deposited upon the back of the female, and there impreg- nated, when the skin thickens between them, rises, and partly surrounds each egg, forming a kind of sac or pouch. The dark cuticle is found to be prolonged some distance into the pouch, which is covered by a thin operculum, formed of a layer of gela- tinous substance, in a dried state, probably a portion of the gela- tinous matter which previously surrounded the egg.

* The abundance and variety of our water-fowl may be inferred from the fol- lowing result of a short himting excursion, only a few miles from this city: — 6 Coot, 5 Eing-neck, 1 Tufted duck, 3 Green-winged Teal, 5 Blue do., 2 Shovel- ler, 1 Dusky, 4 Gadwall, 4 Crested ^Merganser, 6 Buffle-head, 6 Widgeon, 15 Mal- lard, 1 Eedheaded,3 Ruddy, 8 Summer ducks.

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The yolk is of large size. In the development of the legs, these are seen to be formed distinct from the vertebral column, so that, morphologically considered, they cannot be called ap- pendages of the spine. The external branchiae are developed and disappear at a very early period. The tail is fully formed in the embryo, but afterwards is absorbed, so that when the ani- mal escapes from the egg the latter has disappeared.

Prof. Wyman exhibited the embryos in three stages of devel- opment, and a section of the back of the female. The fully formed embryo is larger than the original egg, so that the ani- mal must have absorbed something from the pouch in which it was lodged — a fact in the embryology of batrachians entirely by itself.

Prof. W. B. Rogers exhibited a series of fossils from the middle secondary belts of North Carolina, Virginia, Penn- sylvania, and Massachusetts ; chiefly, he said, with the view of calling attention to the evidence afforded by some of them, of the close relation in geological age between what has been called the New P^ed Sandstone of the Middle States and Connecticut Valley, first designated by Prof. H. D. Rogers as the Mi'Qdle Secondary Group, and the coal bearing rocks of eastern Virginia and North Carolina.

Prof. R. referred to the existence in Virginia of three distinct belts of these rocks. The most eastern of these, extending almost continuously from the Appommatox River to the Potomac, includes the coal-fields of Chesterfield and Henrico Counties. The middle tract, about twenty-five miles west by south of the preceding, is of much less extent, and has not yet furnished any workable coal seam. Somewhat intermediate in trend to these is a belt of analogous rocks in North Carolina, commencing* some distance south of the Virginia line and stretching south- westwardly across the State, and for a few miles beyond its limits, into South Carolina. This area, first mapped by Prof. Mitchell, includes the coal bearing rocks of Deep River. The western belt extends, with two considerable interruptions, entirely across Virginia, being prolonged towards the southwest in the course of

the Dan River in North Carolina, and towards the northeast through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, forming what is usually called the New Red Sandstone Belt.

Eastern and Middle Belt of Virginia and Eastern Belt OF North Carolina. From an examination some twelve years ago of the fossil plants of the most eastern of the Virginia belts here designated, Prof. Rogers had been led to refer this group of rocks to the Oolite series on or near the horizon of the carbona- ceous deposits of Whitby and Scarborough in Yorkshire. Some years later he discovered many of the same plants in the middle belt of Virginia, and, in the summer of 1850, he found several of these plants in the coal rocks of Deep River, in North Caro- lina. In each of the latter districts we meet with Equisetum columnare, Zamites, and a plumose plant referred to Lycopodi- tes, and strongly resembling L. Williamsonis of the Yorkshire rocks. These are among the usual forms occurring in the east* ernmost of the Virginia belts.

Besides the fossil plants common to these three areas, they contain two species of Posidonomya and two of Cypris. Of the Cypridse, one species has a smooth, the other a beautifully gran- ulated carapace. They are both very small, seldom exceeding ^^ an inch in length and yL- in width. Both species of Posido- nomya differ in proportion from the P. minuta of the Euro- pean Trias, but one of them strongly resembles the P. Bronniioi the Lias, although of larger dimensions.

Prof. Rogers remarked upon the uncertainty which exists as to the true nature of the small shell-like fossils, which being as- sumed as molluscs, have been referred to Bronn's genus Posido- nomya. But, whatever may be their zoological affinities, the fossils now under consideration have great interest, as affording further means not only of comparing together the mesozoic belts of North Carolina and Virginia, above referred to, but of approximating more justly than heretofore to the age of the so- called New Red Sandstone, or Triassic rocks which form the prolonged belt lying further towards the west.

In the report of Prof. Emmons, published in the autumn of 1852, mention is made of the remains of Saurians in the Deep River deposits, as well as of the Posidonia and Cypris, and of

16

an Equisetites, a Lycopodites and other allied forms, together with a naked, rather spinous vegetable, regarded by him as a cellular cryptogamous plant.

In view of the general identity of the fossils thus far found in the Dry River and Middle Virginia belts, with those of the most eastern deposit in Virginia, viz., that including the coal of Ches- terfield, Prof. Rogers maintained that the general equivalency of these three areas may be regarded as established, and therefore the Dry River belt of North Carolina, as well as the Middle Vir- ginia belt, ought to be placed in the Jurasic series, not far proba- bly above its base.

Western Belt of North Carolina and Virginia and its Extension towards the Northeast, forming the so-called New Red Sandstone of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and probably of the Valley of the Connecticut. In North Carolina, on the Dan River, where the rocks include one or more thin seams of coal, the same Cypridse or Posido- niae are found in great numbers in some of the fine-grained shales and black fossil slates. The latter were noticed as early as 1839, by Dr. G. W. Boyd, while on the Virginia Geological Survey. Regarding this fossil, of which specimens were also obtained about the same time from the middle belt in Virginia, as identical with the Posidonia of the Keuper, Prof. Rogers had, many years ago, announced the probability that a part or all of the great western belt was of the age of the Trias, instead of being lower in the Mesozoic series.

Specimens of the Posidqpise and Cypridse, from both belts in North Carolina, and from the eastern and middle belts in Vir- ginia, were exhibited by Prof. Rogers at the Albany meeting of the American Association of Science in 1851, for the purpose of showing the close relationship between these deposits, in geolo- gical time. Among the specimens from the Dan River, Prof. Ro- gers on the present occasion referred to the impression of a Zamite leaf and a joint of Equisetum Columnare. Prof. Emmons, in the report above referred to, speaking of the marly slate of this sys- tem, says that " it differs in no respect from that of Deep River, bearing the same fossils, Posidonia and Cypris, in great abun- dance."

17

In the. belt in Virginia, toward the Potomac River, Prof. Rogers had lately found immense numbers of the same Posidonice and Cypridse, crowded together in fine argillaceous shales, and at several points he had met, in the more sandy rocks, vegetable impressions, which, although obscure, are strongly suggestive of the leaves of Zamites.

In the same belt in Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of Phenix- ville, early last spring, Prof. H. D. Rogers discovered Posidonise in great numbers in a fissile black slate, and on subsequent exa- mination, the same beds were found to contain layers crowded with the casts of Cypridse. Along with these are multitudes of Coprolites, apparently Saurian, resembling in size and form the Coprolites found in the carbonaceous beds on Deep River, and also some imperfect impressions of Zamites leaves. These facts Prof. Rogers considers sufficient to identify, as one formation, the disconnected tracts of this belt in North Carolina and Virginia, and the great, prolonged area" of the so-called New Red Sand- stone of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

As to the geological date of this belt, Prof. Rogers said, that the discovery at various and remote points of its course of Posi- donise, Cypridse, and Zamites, most or all of which are identical with these forms in the eastern middle secondary areas of Vir- ginia and North Carolina, makes it extremely probable that these rocks, formerly referred to the New Red Sandstone, and of late more specially to the Trias, are of Jurassic date, and but little anterior to that of the Coal Rocks of Eastern Virginia.

Prof. Rogers considered the frequent occurrence of Cypridoe in all these belts as a strong evidence of their Jurassic age. While only a few species of Cypridse, and many of the. allied genus Cytherina occur in the Silurian and Carboniferous rocks, there is a total absence of these crustacean remains throughout the series of deposits extending from the base of the Permian to the lower limits of the Oolite. But on entering the latter, the Cypridse re-appear, and become very abundant there, there being no less than twelve species known to belong to the Oolite forma- tions of Europe.

On comparing the silicified wood, found in the western and eastern belts, Prof. Rogers had found its structure to be the

PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. V. 2 OCTOBER, 1854.

18

same, and to agree very nearly with the fossils figured by Witham under the name of Peuce Huttonia. As this particular structure does not appear to have been met with below the Lias, and occurs in that formation, it furnishes another argument in favor of the Jurassic age of all these rocks.

Prof. Rogers added, that he had not found in the New Red Sandstone of the Connecticut Valley either the Posidonia or Cypris, although he had met with obscure markings which he was inclined to refer to the latter. He had however satis- fied himself that one of the plants, from the vicinity of Green- field, in Massachusetts, was identical with the form in the Virginia coal rocks referred to Lycopodites, and probably L. Williams onis ; and that, among the other very imperfect impres- sions associated with this, was one which he regarded. as the leaf of a Zamites.

On the whole, therefore. Prof. Rogers concluded that the addi- tional fossils from the coal-bearing rocks of Virginia and North Carolina served to confirm the conclusion of their being of Jurassic date, and that the fossils thus far found in the more western belt, and its extension through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, rendered it proper to remove it from the Trias and place it also in the Jurassic period, a little lower probably than the eastern belt of North Carolina and Virginia ; and there could be little doubt, he thought, that the same conclusion would apply to the New Red Sandstone of the Connecticut Valley.

January 18, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

Prof. Wyman stated, that since he had presented to the Society his observations on the Amhlyopsis spelceus or " blind fish " of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, he had, through the kindness of Prof. Agassiz, been furnished with two other specimens, one of which was larger than any he had seen before.

19

He stated at that time, (see Proceedings, Vol. IV, p. 396,) that he had found a lenticular-shaped body connected with the eye, and which might possibly be a lens. He had now satisfied him- self that this body is truly a lens, and though not a perfectly refracting organ composed of fibres, yet it is to be considered as the rudimentary lens of the eye of this fish.

Another point, more satisfactorily determined, is the presence of a layer of cells beneath the choroid coat, resembling the retina, and corresponding to it in position.

A sclerotic coat, a choroid coat, a layer resembling the retina, a lens, and a nerve, have now been found in the eye of the Amblyopsis. Nevertheless, it is an imperfect eye, and the areo- lar tissue and skin which cover it prevent all transmission of light to it, except in a different condition. It has heretofore been compared with the eyes of the invertebrate animals, but the above observations show that it is more like the eyes of other vertebrates.

The organ of hearing was examined by Dr. Wyman, in a dif- ferent manner, and the semicircular canals were seen to be largely developed, and the vestibules to contain large otolithes.

The President exhibited one of a series of specimens of Ornithichnites obtained by exchange w^ith Pres. Hitchcock, and numbering from fifteen to twenty different species. This specimen was prepared in a peculiar way, a section having been made directly through the fossil so as to show the impression from four points of view. It was the track of the Ornithopus gracilis.

Mr. Sheafe presented a specimen from Dr. Codinse, of Philadelphia, found near Memphis, Tennessee. It resem- bled somewhat an extremity of a large fossil bone, with a central cavity.

Dr. Wyman, from a cursory examination, remarked that it probably was not a bone, but one of those clay masses commonly called clay-stone. The specimen could be split in layers at the extremity as well as on the shaft, which is not a character of fossil bone. Its form was imitative of bone, but clay-stones take on great varieties of form. Many sub-

20

Stances resembling bone have been at times mistaken for it.

Mr. Edward Daniels, of the State Geological Surveying Corps of Wisconsin, was chosen Corresponding Member of the Society.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Mrs. Teschemacher, in reply to the resolutions transmitted to her by the Secretary ; also, one from the Editors of Silliman's Journal, thanking the Society for the notice transmitted to them of the life of the late Mr. Teschemacher. Also, a letter from the Linnsean Society, acknowledging the recep- tion of certain volumes of this Society's Transactions.

Mr. James A. Dupee was elected a Resident Member.

^February 1, 1854. The President in the Chair.

Mr. C. J. Sprague presented, in the name of Dr. Charles Pickering, a specimen of common Eel Grass (Zostera ma- rina) in fruit, and described in detail the mode of reproduc- tion in this plant as made out by Gronland and Hofmeister.

Mr. T. T. Bouve remarked that it is very rare to see Zostera in fruit ; he had looked in vain for it for several years along our coast.

Dr. Charles Pickering stated that Prof. Asa Gray had seen it in flower not unfrequently on Beverly Beach, and in that neighborhood.

Dr. Henry Bryant exhibited the peculiarly formed trachea of the Courlan (Aramus scolopaceus.) It had a remarka- ble bend, so as to present a number of convolutions upon itself in the form of a watch spring. There is no regular- ity in the number of turns, nor in the situation of this pecu-

21

liarity. It is higher up in the neck than a similar anomaly in the Swan, Whooping Crane, and other birds.

The President exhibited a specimen of Ornithichnite in shale, split into two layers, the impression of a tetradactylous foot. This, as well as other tracks in the same shale, has the appearance of a double impression, as if two feet had been placed in the same spot, and makes it somewhat doubtful if they are not the impressions of a quadruped.

The President also stated that he had received a slab of sandstone, bearing an impression of the Otozoum. The impression is that of four toes, all directed forwards, and each track is twenty inches in length.

Prof. Wyman stated that he had recently dissected a Tor- pedo, (T. occidentalis Storer) and had directed his atten- tion particularly to the termination of the nerves in the laminae which compose the efficient part of the battery. The results at which he had arrived agreed with those of Wagner, who has made a special study of the minute structure of the electric apparatus.

The plates consist of an exceedingly thin membrane, which appears to be nearly homogeneous, its surface showing only traces of striations. On this membrane are distributed ultimate nerve fibres and capillary vessels. When the primitive nerve tube reaches the plate, it breaks up into numerous fibres, and these in turn subdivide and reunite, so as to form a regular net- work, with large meshes over the whole surface. Connected with these last divisions of the nerve tubes, are to be seen pro- longations, into which the white substance of Schwann either does not enter, or if it does, extends only for a short distance, so that the branch loses its double outline. Tiiis divides into numerous branches, and frequently, at the point of bifurcation, there is to be seen a large nucleated cell ; the ultimate branches terminating, as described by Wagner, in an extremely delicate filament, which seems to be lost on the surface of the plate.

Prof. Wyman estimated the whole number of the plates at be-

22

tween 250,000 and 300,000. There were about 100 to the inch in each electric prism, which is less than the number counted by Mr. Hunter, viz. 150 to the inch. The number of prisms in each battery was about 1200, each prism measuring from one to two inches in height. The interval between the plates was filled with a fluid, consisting of about 90 per cent, of water, containing albu- men and common salt in solution.

On examining the contents of the stomach, it was found that, during the process of the digestion of the bones, the calcareous matter was removed before the gelatinous matter was dissolved, and Dr. Wyman had noticed the same result in the dissection of other fishes. This is the reverse of what occurs in dogs and hyenas, where the gelatinous matter alone is removed, the calca- reous matter not being dissolved. The stomach of the specimen had been acted upon by the gastric fluid after death, and was perforated in its large curvature. Hydrochloric acid was de- tected in its contents.

Prof. Rogers alluded to the analogy between this animal bat- tery and the ordinary metallic battery. The nervous tissue might act both as generator and conductor, generating in its minute ramifications, and conducting by its larger branches. The disproportionate quantity of nervous tissue would not be an objection to this, as batteries are constructed in which the copper plate bears but a small proportion in size to the zinc, not more than one twelfth perhaps, which yet exert a powerful effect, espe- cially when a hot acid is employed.

Prof. H. D. Rogers made a communication on the Epoch of the Mammoth or Elephas primigenius.

He called attention to the interesting Palceontological bear- ings of a fact, which he thinks demonstrable ; that while the remains of the Fossil Elephant, or Siberian Mammoth of the Eastern Continent, are imbedded in the great Drift Stratum, those of the Fossil Elephant of North America are as invariably above it, lying in superficial deposits of a distinctly later age. It is now generally conceded, that the relics of the Mastodon giganteus of North America, which do not extend beyond this continent, are nowhere involved in the general or earlier drift,

23

but lie upon it, inclosed either in more recent swampy deposits or in the nearly as recent, later, local diluvial clays and gravels of the great lake and river valleys of the country. But the fact that the bones and teeth of the extinct Elephant on this conti- nent are entombed in the same superficial materials, seems not to have been sufficiently adverted to by geologists, or, if pass- ingly stated, its bearings have been overlooked.

That the American Elephant was the contemporary of the Mastodon giganteus, is not only proved by the occurrence of great numbers of their teeth and bones, side by side, in the marshy alluvium of Big Bone Lick, but is manifest, on a scru- tiny of the conditions under which its remains are alleged to be imbedded. A careful review of all the cases on record of the positions of the Elephant remains, must satisfy geologists, fami- liar with the more recent strata of this country, that these two colossal animals lived together in the long period of surface tran- quillity which succeeded the strewing of the general drift, (the period of the Laurentian clays,) and were overtaken and exter- minated together by the same changes, partly of climate, partly of a second but more local displacement of the waters ; that namely which reshifted the Drift, and formed our later lake and river terraces. The fact, that these extinct animals thus occur only above the true drift in North America, and in it in Siberia and Europe, would seem to indicate one of two things : either that the Drifts of the two continents are not of the same epoch, or these being of one age, that the fossil Elephants of the two re- gions are not of one and the same species. If we admit, with the great body of geologists, that the general Drift covering of all the northern latitudes of both continents is of one origin and one date, we are constrained to regard the Mammoths of these respective lands as different. Yet the identity of date of the two Drift formations should not be dogmatically pronounced upon in the present incomplete condition of comparative geology.

Prof. Rogers exhibited maps of the Arctic discoveries in the years 1850 and 1851, and explained why Albert Land, of the English charts, should be justly called Grinnell Land, the name given to it by Lieut. I)e Haven, its discoverer.

24

Dr. Pickering stated, that between Salem and Danvers were two hills covered with boulders, and between them a plain where no boulders were to be seen. The western hill is of Sienite, the eastern of Greenstone, and the plain level. He had been at loss, until this evening, to account for the absence of boulders in this narrow plain, situated as it is between the two steep hills, but he thought it probable now that boulders would be found under the soil of this plain, if it could be removed so as to expose the curved bed of rock which must be the prolongation of the curved sides of the hills.

Dr. James Lewis, of Mohawk, N. Y., was chosen Cor- responding Member of the Society.

February 15, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

Mr. Bouve read extracts from the printed report of a jury trial, which took place in Edinburgh during July and August last. The case involved the right to work a certain mineral as coal, in the lands of Torbanehill, Linlithgow county, Scotland, commonly known as the Boghead gas coal ; and the principal question upon which the whole case turned was, whether this mineral substance was really a coal, or whether it was bitumen, shale, clay, or other sub- stance. The case showed to what extent the most eminent scientific men may differ upon practical points in geology, mineralogy, microscopy, and chemistry, and into what humi- liating exhibitions they are sometimes drawn unawares.

Prof. Wyman exhibited the stomach of a lama, which, by the kindness of Fletcher Webster, Esq., he had had an op- portunity of dissecting.

25

The stomach is that of a true ruminant. The paunch, which is of great size, compared with the digestive cavity of the sto- mach, has a large portion of its surface, as in the camel, provided with sacs, which open into the general cavity by a narrow mouth, and capable of retaining water. The necessity for this arrange- ment is not exactly understood, as the lama does not generally inhabit desert regions, but places supplied with water.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Dr. James Lewis, of Mohawk, N. Y., thanking the Society for his election as Corresponding Member, and transmitting a description of a new species of Shell, Cyclas crocea, as follows :

Cyclas crocea Lewis.

Shell small, fragile, and translucent; outline simple, rounded, without angles ; beaks nearly central, full, not large, elevated conspicuously above the gently curving hinge margin ; posterior curve distinct from hinge and basal margins, forming a segment of a circle of a radius three times longer than the radius of the anterior curve ; the posterior is separated by a somewhat abrupt turn from the basal margin, which extends forward in a con- stantly diminishing curve, and blends with the curve of the anterior extremity ; the valves are rotund rather than compressed ; surface marked with distinct striations, in some specimens reticu- lated with faint or obsolete radiate scratches ; surface of young shells shining ; adults frequently obscured by a thin ferruginous film.

Cardinal teeth, in left valve, two, very projecting ; in right valve not discernible. Lateral teeth delicate, prominent and laterally extended, not elevated above the margin of the right valve.

Color. Young specimens yellowish ; adults, orange, with zones of gray and yellow, which are sometimes retained in the dried shells. Young shells dried become nearly colorless, or of a bluish gray. Animal colorless; tubes of the siphon very wide, forming an important distinguishing feature.

Dimensions. Long. .275 inch. ; lat. .165 inch. ; ah. 245 inch.

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Habitat. Swamps and sluggish streams in the vicinity of Otsego and Schuyler's Lakes, in Otsego County, and in Little Lakes, Herkimer County, N. Y. This shell seems to be rare. Found most abundant in the muddy bottoms of sluggish streams, in deep water.

Mr. J. M. Barnard, from the Committee on the purchase of the Greenfield Fossils, gave notice that the subscription list was completed ; and on his motion it was

Voted, That when the Treasurer's receipt, and the usual vote of thanks are transmitted to the subscribers, that those who have contributed the sum of fifty dollars and over, shall be notified that they are enrolled as patrons of the Society.

On motion of Mr. Stodder, it was

Voted, That a Committee be appointed to revise the by-laws of this Society, and to report thereon to the So- ciety '\x\ print.

Dr. Gould and Dr. Shurtleflf were appointed this Com- mittee.

> March 1, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

The President congratulated the members of the Society, on the reception of the fossils which had lately been pur- chased for the Society, the largest of which were then reposing against the walls of the library. He observed that the best thanks of the Society were due to the Committee for their endeavors in obtaining them, and for the successful accomplishment of their labor.

The President also stated that he had the pleasure of notifying the Society of a new act of beneficence in the name of an old friend to the Society, and presented a letter

27

from the daughters of the late Hon. T. H. Perkins, offer- ing the Society his collection of shells and minerals, which they had reason to believe he intended personally to present to the Society.

On motion of Dr. Keep, it was Voted, That the dona- tion be gratefully accepted, and that the thanks of the Society be transmitted to the daughters of the late Col. Perkins.

Dr. Cabot stated that he was requested to ask the Society to appoint a Committee to take charge bf this collection, and to offer for the acceptance of the Society the cases in which they were now contained, if of any value to the Society.

Dr. A. A. Gould, Dr. John Bacon, and the Curators of Conchology and Mineralogy, were appointed this Committee.

The Treasurer gave notice that the sum of one thousand dollars had been received from the estate of the late Hon. T. H. Perkins, for the benefit of the Society, and offered the following order, viz. :

Ordered, That the sum of one thousand dollars received from the estate of the late Hon. Thomas H. Perkins, on account of a subscription for the purchase of the building now occupied by the Society, be invested by the Treasurer as a commencement of a fund, to be called the Building Fund, and that the income be annually added to the said fund.

The order was unanimously adopted.

The Secretary read a letter from Dr. James Lewis, com- municating the following observations on a species of Lim- nsea, (L. catascopium,) which presents different appear- ances in different localities. The letter was accompanied by specimens.

At certain seasons of the year, Lymnsea catascopium may be observed in considerable abundance, in the water of the Erie

28

Canal, clinging to the stones of the embankment, at the margin of the water. At the close of navigation, each winter, the level of the water is reduced, so that usually there is scarcely more than a thin stratum at the bottom of the canal.

In the spring, before the opening of navigation, many of these Lymnsese may be found in the spaces' between the stones of the embankment, far above the water, and in positions where it may be safely assumed they have passed the winter. A greater por- tion of the shells so found, will be observed to have the orifice of the shell closed with a thin transparent membrane, behind which the animal reposes, alive, awaiting the coming of the condition favorable for renewed activity. This fact may be one of import- ance to those persons who are interested in tracing the connection between Lymnczm and Helices, in which latter it is not at all un- common to observe this peculiar membrane, or epiphragm.

Previous to the enlargement of the Erie Canal at Mohawk, the canal at the " upper lock " was about sixty or eighty feet north of its present position, and the former bed of the canal for a short distance, and the " old lock " now remain, as several puddles or pools of water, in which may be found many shells no doubt descendants of the ancestors of those which may be also found in the canal proper, at this time. It is worthy of remark, however, that those shells which are found in the most shaded places, amid the ruins of the " old lock" are most like the shells found in the canal ; and those shells which are found more remote from the shade of the lock, and in warmer loca- tions, are of a laj^er and coarser growth, and to one not acquainted with these facts, might appear to be different species. Those shells found most remote from the lock, are subject to various changes of conditions; the water frequently dries away? even so much that the mud becomes hard and fissured ; the shells disappear, but reappear again in the spring, and reach a growth that is never seen in the shells found in the more equally tem- pered water of the canal.

The apparent differences between the shells found in the canal, and those found in those parts of the old canal bed most liable to changes, are as follows : —

The latter grow to nearly twice the length of the former. The canal shell is of a uniform color generally ; the " old lock "

29

shell exhibits two stages of growth ; the first in color and appear- ance much like the canal shell, and equivalent to the adult shell found in the canal ; the second stage of growth, separated from the first by a very distinct varix or cicatrix, is of a lighter color, usually of an ochraceous yellow, the surface of the shell check- ered or broken up into irregular facets, evidently the result of the rapid growth of the animal, by which the shell was too rapidly enlarged, to be evenly solidified. The " old lock " shell is a less solid shell than the other.

Dr. Lewis's communication was accompanied by the fol- lowing note from Mr. T. J. Whittemore.

Gray " is of opinion that the calcareous rim within the peri- stome of certain Lymnsese and Planorbes, is formed when the waters they inhabit are nearly dried up ; or in winter, when they are affected hy cold, preparatory to their secretion of a dia- phragm for their protection at these times," (see Haldeman's work on Lymniades,) and this was distinguishable in a variety of L. fragilis, marked D in Jiis work, L. 7, Plate 6 ; and he further says " that the varieties D and E have the minute spiral lines, very distinctly marked, but the irregular reticulations are want- ing ; when these are present, the surface is divided into a series of facets, which have been compared to those upon cut glass."

The remarks of Dr. Lewis are very interesting, particularly in regard to the growth and change in appearance of the Lymncea catascopiimi, and appear by the shells to indicate that the two neighboring localities produce the same shell, although so differ- ent in appearance ; yet the old growth has the same appearance.

Mr. Bouve called the attention of the Society to some points of interest in the Collection of Ornithichnites, recently purchased for the Society, deferring a more elaborate report to a future meeting. He remarked that the largest and most valuable slabs were then in the room, and of these he called attention to one upon which the impressions of rain drops were very numerous and distinct. Another, of coarser sandstone and of lighter color, exhibited rain drops in relief.

30

One, which was on movable supports, had been sent as a present to the Emperor of Russia, but having been impro- perly directed, was returned. One showed not only the foot prints of an animal, but the passage over its surface of a shell fish or a worm. One exhibited the stride of a gigantic animal, this stride being about nine feet in length. The largest of all had over sixty impressions of feet upon its sur- face. Mica can be seen upon the surface of many of these slabs, and Mr. Bouve thought that this might account for the easy separation of these sandstones into layers. He suggested that in the process of deposition of this rock, mica might have been deposited in greater abundance at certain intervals than at others, and that in these places was the greatest tendency to splitting into layers.

Prof. Rogers remarked, that some of these specimens had a shining appearance, as if they were once covered with a kind of slime ; finely comminuted mica would give the proper degree of density and plasticity for preserving slight impressions, and he had always been in the habit of looking for the best impressions on glazed surfaces.

Dr. J. B. S. Jackson observed that Mr. Marsh, who had col- lected the specimens in question, had called his attention to what he called " his books," that is, layers of stone in which the impressions grew less distinct towards the surface, upon which merely a line could be traced. This line had often been a guide to Mr. Marsh to search in lower layers. He supposed the impression to have been made in deep and soft mud, which settled in slowly after the foot was with- drawn.

Some discussion ensued as to whether certain of these tracks were made by birds or reptiles.

Mr. Bouve thought they were made by birds. The arti- culations could be counted, and coproliles, which have on analysis been found similar to guano, are found with them.

31

Dr. Cabot thought that those referred to could not have been made by birds. Birds which walk in soft mud have widely spread toes to support them. An impression sup- posed to be that of the tarsus, could be plainly seen ; but no wading bird touches the tarsus to the ground. He thought these particular impressions may have been made by rep- tiles, or by animals ranking between reptiles and birds.

Prof. Wyman remarked that Prof. Owen formerly enter- tained the opinion, that an impression exactly like one of the largest of these, was made by a reptile.

Dr. D. H. Storer presented a new species of Fish, from Captain N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, and found in the harbor at that place, which he proposed to call Sebastes fasciatus.

Sebastes fasciatus Storer.

Body elongated , not convex in front of dorsal fin as in the Sebastes Norvegicus. Four distinct dark, brown, tranverse bands upon the sides, the broadest at the posterior portion of the body. Length, 3f inches.

Fin rays as follows : D. 13 - 14. P. 20. V. 1 - 5. A. 3 - 7. C. 19.

A communication was received from Dr. W. I. Burnett, upon the Poison-apparatus of the Rattlesnake, as follows :

Notes upon the Poison-apparatus of the Rattlesnake. By W. I. Burnett, M. D.

In the spring of 1853, I presented to the Society the results of some investigations of mine upon the development of the fangs, and the nature and mode of action of the poison of the common Rattlesnake. But these investigations were not complete in many points, as the specimens examined did not present all the cha- racteristics of structure of this apparatus.

Since that time, in some parts of Florida, where these snakes are peculiarly abundant, I have enjoyed rare opportunities for the

32

further study of this subject, and especially as to one or two doubtful points of some interest.

The specimen which yielded the most satisfactory results, was one of the largest I have ever seen, being 5^ feet long, and 8 inches in circumference. It was a female, and contained 16 more or less matured eggs. The fangs were very prominent, beincr |. of an inch long from their apex to the point of their insertion in the sockets ; the mucous fold below contained, on each side, seven supplementary fangs of a graduated size, and the development of which in their capsules I described in the previous paper. On the left side, there were two fangs at- tached, of equal size — the old one external, and the new one internal — this coexistence being due to the persistence of the old fang, until the relations of the new one should be fully esta- blished. The canal of this old fang was more or less obstructed, and it was evident that it had not been used for some time. The canal of the new fang, on the other hand, was pervious, but con- tained no poison. The duct of the poison gland did not appear to connect with the base of either fang, but lay between them, apparently in a state of transition from the base of the old fang to that of the new.

On the right side, there was only one fang fixedly attached, the next succeeding fang lying in its future socket, but its anchy- losis not yet having taken place. Here, the duct of the gland communicated with the base of the fang, its fibres embracing, fan-like, the portion including the commencement of the canal of the fang, but not, as is stated in books, entering this canal. In this way the current of the poison would be direct and continuous from the duct to the external end of the fang where it is dis- charged into the wound.

It would appear, then, from this examination, that the succes- sion of fangs takes place in the following manner : — The new fang appears behind, pushing upwards as it grows ; posteriorly and somewhat internally to the socket of the old fang, it acquires its socket and becomes attached therein ; as this attachment is be- coming complete, it pushes still further forwards, at the same time crowding the old fang outwards, and finally takes its place more or less exactly. By this lateral pressure, the socket

33

of the old fang is absorbed, and the fang itself is probably entirely removed at last, by falling out, or being broken off. But the interesting question which now arises, and one too on which there has been some obscurity, is : How, in this succession of fangs, does the transference of the poison-duct from the old to the new take place ? From the appearances of the specimen in question, it would seem that, as the old fang is pushed aside, the expanded extremity of the duct on its base leaves it, and is finally transferred to the corresponding part of the new fang. There would therefore be a period during which the duct communi- cates with neither fang, but lies between them, as in the case in question.

If then, the appearance of a new fang took place simultane- ously on both sides, the snake would be left, for a time, without an effective poison-apparatus ; but, if the present case is a fair example, this does not occur ; for, as above mentioned, there was only one fang attached on the right side, and the new fang lying behind would not probably have become anchylosed before the old fang on the opposite side had been wholly replaced by the new.

The phenomena here presented, of the succession of the fang- teeth, with subsequent adaptation of their vessels, appear to be quite like those of the succession of ordinary teeth in the higher animals.

The poison-gland, situated in the midst of muscles behind and below the eye, was of a fusiform shape, and of the size of a small almond. It was invested with a thick tunic of fibrous tissue, from which prolongations were given off inwardly, which em- braced and supported each lobule of the gland.

The gland is botryoidal, and carefully dissected out from all its investing fibrous tissues, internal and external, it would quite resemble a bunch of grapes ; each grape representing one of its lobules, and the free stem the main duct leading to the fang. As to the microscopic structure, each lobule is composed of the branchings of the pedicle by which it is connected with the main stem or duct. This ramification of canals occurs precisely as in other glands ; but the tubes terminate coecally. These tubes are composed of a basement membrane, covered internally with

PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. V. 3 OCTOBER, 1854.

34

a single layer of epithelial cells. These cells are undoubtedly the secreting organs.

The connection of the glandular tissue with the vascular system, whereby the secretion is effected, is very extensive and complete. The investing fibrous tunic of each lobule is filled with a net- work of blood-vessels, and in this way the secreting tubes are brought inclose contact with the vascular system. These vascu- lar net-works are so dense, that they give the whole gland a very red, spleen-like aspect. This relation of the blood-vessels to the secreting tubes, is worthy of note, from its being exactly the reverse of that found in the kidneys. In these last, the Malpighian bodies consist of a sac-like dilatation of the end of the secreting tube around a knot of blood-vessels ; while in the case in ques- tion, the blood-vessels surround in a capsular manner the secret- ing tubes.

The poison, examined microscopically, appeared only as lim- pid, hyaline serum, but I was surprised to find in it crystals resembling those of the ammonio-magnesian phosphate.

I may remark, finally, that a microscopic examination of the sheath of the gland showed no muscular fibres there, contrary to the statements of authors. (See Comp. Anat. by Siebold and Stannius, Vol. II. § 107.) But the poison is probably expressed forcibly into the fang by the pressure of the temporal muscle pen the gland during the act of striking.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Mr Charles J. F. Binney, making a donation of Bird Skins to the Society.

The thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. Binney for his donation.

Mr. Elijah Swift, of Boston, was elected Resident Member.

35

March 15, 1854. The President, in the Chair.

Dr. A. A. Gould made some remarks upon the collection of shells presented to the Society by the family of the late Col. Perkins. Upon examining the collection, he found there were many specimens of species not previously in the pos- session of the Society, and many specimens superior to those already in the cabinet. To one shell in particular, he called especial attention, the large Argonaut, commonly called Paper Nautilus, and which is the largest specimen known to exist. Its measurements are 11| by 11 inches; the next largest specimen, in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London, measures | of an inch less than this. This large specimen was brought from the Indian Ocean.

In the collection, is a series of Argonauts of different ages ; some with and some without horns, but otherwise similar in the number of undulations and tubercles. These horns are often different on opposite sides of the shell, and are often wanting on one side. Many of the shells differ in symmetry in other respects, so as to render all external appearances doubtful marks in the determination of species belonging to this genus.

The animal has been found to have no fixed connection with the shell, and it has been a question if it were not a parasite. It has, however, been recently determined that the animal found in it truly belongs to the shell. It has the power of sinking and rising in the water ; when crawhng at the bottom or rising, the keel is uppermost ; and upon reaching thesurface, the open portion of the shell becomes uppermost. The animal employs a part of its arms for mo- tive power, and with the remainder the shell is clasped.

When the shell is broken, the animal has the pov*^er of

36

repairing it by a secretion from the arms, as has been proved by experiment by Mrs. Powers, in Italy. It has been said that the females alone have shells, and then only at the time of depositing eggs ; this idea seems to have been recently confirmed by specimens carried home by the English Ex- ploring Expedition.

Dr. John Bacon exhibited a part of the collection of Minerals, which accompanied the collection of Shells. In the whole, there are somewhat more than 800 specimens, and of these about 400 are from the mines of Peru, and com- prise many valuable gold and silver ores. Amongst them are an ancient Peruvian implement in silver ore, and a speci- men presenting a polished surface, supposed to have been used as a mirror. Specimens of salt and water from the Dead Sea were also received with this collection.

Mr. T. T. Bouve stated, that no better arrangement than the present could be made for the Greenfield Fossils. Though they were not in their proper place, nor in a good light to be examined, he thought they might safely remain where they are until accommodations could be provided for them.

Dr. Gould said he was reminded by circulars sent from the Natural History Society of Portland, that the Boston Society of Natural History had it in their power to furnish that Society with many duplicates from their shelves, parti- cularly in the department of Conchology. He hoped that such of the duplicates belonging to the Society as might be selected, when the Portland Society of Natural History was ready to receive them, might be presented to that Society.

Dr. H. R. Storer stated that he had come to the meeting expressly for a similar purpose, to move that a set of the " Journal " of this Society be presented to the Portland Society of Natural History ; and on his motion it was

37

Votedy That a complete set of the Journal of this Society be presented to the Portland Society of Natural History.

On motion of Dr. Gould, it was also

Voted, That a series of duplicate shells belonging to this Society be presented to the Portland Natural History So- ciety, whenever they are prepared to select and receive them.

Mr. Bouve remarked that probably it was not generally known that perhaps the next best specimens of the Ornith- ichnites of the Connecticut Ptiver Sandstone, after those in Boston, belonged to the Portland Society, and were de- stroyed when its Museum was burned.

Dr. Cornehus Kolloch, of Cheraw, S. C, and Dr. A. S. Baldwin, of Jacksonville, Fla., were elected Corresponding Members.

Rev. David G. Haskins, of Boston, and Mr. Robert M. Copeland, of Pvoxbury, were elected President Members.

DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM. A Sturgeon, from Minnesota ; from Dr. Kneeland.

BOOKS RECEIVED DURING THE QUARTER ENDING MARCH 31, 1854.

Annals of Science. Nos. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. Cleveland, 1853-4. Received in Exchange.

American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. 17, Nos. 49, 50. Received in Exchange.

Farmer's Companion. Kos. 1, 2, 3. Vol. 3. 8vo. Pamph. Detroit, March, 1854. Received in Exchange.

New York Journal of Medicine. Nos. 1, 2. Vol. XII. New Series. 8vo. Pamph. New York, 1854. Received in Exchange.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences^ of Philadelphia. Vol. VT. No. 12. Index and Title page to Vol. VI. ; and No. 1, Vol. VH. 8vo. Pamph. 1854. Philadelphia. Received in Exchange.

Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Vols. 4, 5. 4to. Jahresbericht des Wissenschaftlichen Vereins in HaUe. Fiiufter Jahrgang, 1852. 3 und 4 Hefte. 8vo. Berlin, 1853. Received in Exchange.

38

Zeitschrjft fiir Gesammten Naturwissenschaften. January to July, 1853. 8vo. Halle, 1853. Received in Excliange.

Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin. Vols. 2, 3, 4, 5. 8vo. Dublin, 1839 - 53. Received in Exchanrje.

Bulletin de la Socidt6 Geologique de France. 2ieme sdrie. TonaeX. Feuillcs 17-22. (17 Jan. — 4 Av. 1853.) 8vo. Paris. Received iri Exchange.

Transactions of American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Parts 2, 3, Vol. VII., and Part 2, Vol. VIE. Vol. X. Part 3. New Series. 4to. Philadel- phia, 1853. Received in Exchange.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Vol. IV., Nos. 36, 37 ; and Vol. V. No. 43, and No. 50; July, Dec, 1853. Received in Ex- change.

■ Mdmoire surles Ph6noni6nes erratiques do la Suisse compar(^s aceux auNord de I'Europe et de I'Amerique, par E. Desor. 8vo. Pamph. 1852. From the Author.

Eeport on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District. By J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney. Part 2d. With Maps. 8vo.^ Washington, 1851. From the Author.

Descriptions of New Species of Eeptilcs, collected by the XJ. S. Exploring Expedition. By C. Girard. 8vo. Pamph. From the Author.

Geological Map of Keweenaw Point, Lake Superior. Mounted. By J. D. Whit- ney, assisted by S. W. Hill and W. H. Stevens. From the Authors.

Characters of New Genera of Plants, mostly from Polynesia. By Asa Gray. 8vo. Pamph. Cambridge, 1853. From the Author.

Destiny of the Solar System. ByD.Vaughan. 8vo. Pamph. Cincinnati, 1854. From the Author.

Researches upon Nemerteans and Planarians. By C. Girard. 4to. Pamph. I. Embryonic Development of Planocera elliptica. Philadelphia, 1854. From the Author.

Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Eussian America. By John Cassin. Nos. 1, 2, 3. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia, 1853-54. Received from the Coiirtis Fund.

American Almanac for 1854. 12mo. Boston. Received from the Courtis Fund.

Genera of Eeccnt Mollusca arranged according to their Organization. By H. and A. Adams, Nos. 5-8. 8vo. Pamph. London, 1853. Received from the Courtis Fund.

Annals and Magazine of Natural History for January and Februaiy, 1854. London. Received from the Courtis Fund.

History of British Birds. By William McGillivray. 3 vols. . 8vo. 1837-40. London. Received from the Courtis Fund.

Types of Mankind. By J. C. Nott, M. D., and George E. Gliddon. 4to. Philadelphia, 1854. Received from the Courtis Fund.

Genera of Eecent Mollusca. By H. and A. Adams. Parts 9 and 10. 8vo. London, 1854. Exchange icith 11. Cuming.

Proceedings of Zoological Society of London. Parts 2, 3, 4. April to Decem- ber. 8vo. Sheets. London. Exchange with II. Cuming.

Zeitschrift fiir Malakozoologie. Herausgcgeben von K. T. ]\Ienke and L. Pfeifler. Nos. 6 - 12, 1852 ; and 1-9, 1853. 8vo. Sheets. Exchange loith II Cuming.

Eeport on the Copper Mine of the North Carolina Copper Company in Guil- ford County, N. C. 8vo. Pamph. Fr<m C T. Jackson, M. D.

S9

Notices of New Species of Mosses from the Pacific Islands. By W. S. SuUi- vunt. 8vo. Pampli. Cambridge, 1854. From Prof. Asa Gray.

Histoire Naturelle des Mammifdres, avec des Figures originales, coloriees, dessin<5es d'apres des Animaux vivans. Par M. GeofFroy Saint Hilaire et Frederic Cuvier. 3 vols. Folio. Paris, 1824. From Hon. F. C. Gray.

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. Vol. X. Part 1. No. 37, for February, 1854. Deposited by the Repuhlican Institution.

April 5, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

Dr. Hamel, of Russia, and many gentlemen, subscribers to the fund for the purchase of the Greenfield Fossils, pre- sent by invitation.

In pursuance of a vote passed at the previous meeting, the President nominated the following gentlemen as members of the Building Committee, viz. : Prof. Henry D. Rogers, Mr. Thomas T. Bouve, Dr. N. B. ShurtlefF, Mr. Francis Alger, Mr. James M. Barnard ; and they w^ere accordingly elected.

The Secretary read a letter from Dr. Kaup, of Darmstadt, addressed to the President, offering for sale some newly discovered fossil teeth and bones.

The President announced the donation, from Hon. Fran- cis C. Gray, of the valuable work of Frederic Cuvier on the " Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes."

Mr. Bouve made a full and minute report upon the Greenfield Fossils, and remarked upon each of the larger slabs in detail. The report was preceded by a lucid and comprehensive sketch of the Science of Geology, particu- larly in its bearings on the subject of Paloeontology, as it exists at the present time.

Descriptions of three New Species of Fish from Massa- chusetts, viz. : Pomotis ohesus, Boleosoma fusiforme, and

40

Esox ornatus, were received from Mr. Charles Girard, as follows :

Description of some New Species of Fish from the State of Massachusetts. By Charles Girard.

1. PoMOTis oBESTTs. General form subelliptical, the head being of a perfect continuity with the dorsal and abdominal line of the body. Peduncle of the tail short. Greatest depth about the middle of the length, the caudal fin excluded. Mouth rather small, and its cleft, when shut, obliquely direct- ed upwards. Dorsal fin composed of nine spiny rays, and eleven soft ones, the latter being elongated, the posterior ones extending beyond the base of the caudal. The anal has three spiny and eleven soft rays, the posterior ones extending likewise beyond the base of the caudal. Caudal fin posteriorly rounded, and composed of seventeen rays. Ventral fins com- posed of one spiny and five soft rays, their insertion being a little in advance of the pectorals ; their tip extending beyond the anterior margin of the anal. The pectorals, composed of eleven rays, are subelliptical, rounded posteriorly, and extend as far backwards as the ventrals, that is to say, beyond the anterior margin of the anal.

D. IX. 11. A. III. 11. C. 2. I. 8. 7. 1. 2. V. I. 5. P. 11.

The scales are proportionably larger, disposed upon sixteen rows across the line of greatest depth, and eight or nine rows on the peduncle of the tail. The lateral line forms a regularly arched curve from the upper angle of the opercular bone, to beneath the posterior margin of the dorsal fin, thence almost straight, and very obsolete, to the base of the caudal.

The ground color is light, transparent olive, with five or six vertical black bands. A tinge of rose color on the posterior part of the abdomen. Scales generally with a V-shaped gold mark- ing, smaller and more like a spot, on the peduncle of the tail. Iris reddish brown, with a vertical bar of brown. Opercular apparatus, greenish golden ; rest of the side of the head provided with golden lines and spots. A large and subcircular black patch is observed at the upper angle of the operculum, extending

41

over the gill flap, upon which a double crescent is seen ; this is golden at the base, with a horizontal blue or golden line below.

Total length, about four inches ; greatest depth, one and three eighths of an inch.

Specimens were procured by S. F. Baird, from the fresh waters about Hingham, and in a branch of the Charles River, at Hol- liston.

2. BoLEOsoMA FUsiFORME. The largest specimens which we have seen of this species, are nearly two inches long. Body slender and fusiform in shape, snout blunt. First dorsal iin not contiguous to the second. Caudal posteriorly rounded. The tip of the pectoral fins extends as far back as that of the ventrals.

Ground color yellowish brown, with crowded and irregular black spots distributed all over the back and sides. The dor- sal fins are likewise spotted. Caudal fin barred with the same color ; the other fins unicolor, similar to the color of the lower part of the body, which is somewhat lighter than the ground color of the back and sides.

Specimens were caught by S. F. Baird, at Framingham, in a tributary of the Charles River.

3. Esox ORNATUS. A small species, about seven or eight inches in length, having the general physiognomy of Esox Ameri- canus and Esoxfasciatus. The head forms a little less than the fourth of the total length. The lower jaw is longer than the upper one ; both are provided with very small and acute teeth. The posterior extremity of the maxillary extends beyond the pupil. Caudal fin forked, composed of nineteen rays ; ten to the upper, and nine to the lower lobe, with a few rudimentary ones above and below. Dorsal subquadrilateral, and com- posed of twelve rays and an anterior rudiment. The anal has about the same shape as the dorsal, and is composed of ten rays and an anterior rudimentary one. The anterior margin of that fin is situated a little behind the origin of the dorsal. Ven- trals, situated on the middle of the space between the base of the caudal and the tip of the snout, elongated and composed of nine rays. Pectorals scarcely larger than the ventrals, con- taining fourteen rays.

42

D. 13. A. 11. C. 3. 1. 9. 8. I. 2. V. 9. P. 14.

Twenty-eight to thirty longitudinal rows of scales nfiay be counted from the insertion of the ventrals to the dorsal line.

Color, above and on the sides mottled with yellowish and dark brown, deeper above. Traces of vertical bands broken up into spots. Isolated scales, exhibiting greenish reflections ; at other times, golden. A vertical black vitta beneath the eye ; another from the eye to the snout. Iris, dark green. Inferior fins, red ; upper ones margined with red. Length of specimen described, 7f of an inch. Head, from snout to posterior margin of oper- culum, 1^ of an inch.

Specimens collected by S. F. Baird.

Dr. J. B. Cordeiro, of Boston, and Mr. Nathaniel H. Bishop, of Medford, were chosen Resident Members.

April 19, 1854. The President in the Chair.

The President gave notice that the next meeting would be the regular Annual Meeting, for the election of officers, and other business.

Prof. H. D. Rogers and Dr. N. B. Shurdeff, were chosen a Committee to nominate officers for the ensuing year.

Mr. J. M. Barnard and Dr. Kneeland were chosen a Committee to audit the accounts of the Treasurer.

Prof. H. D. Rogers made some remarks upon the Cornwall Iron Mines, in Lebanon County, Penn., which he had lately visited. These mines have an almost unlimited source of supply, having been worked for the last eighty years, and still afford material to an increasing number of works. The two principal sources of iron in the United States, are hematite and the magnetic oxide of iron ; these mines affi)rd another copious source in the form of the brown hydrated oxide.

43

The President made some remarks upon the relation be- tween the vegetable impressions of the coal beds, and those of the New Red Sandstone. In connection with this sub- ject, Mr. Bouve stated that the Sandstone slabs from the Connecticut Valley exhibit a large number of vegetable impressions.

In answer to a question by the President, as to the best received theory of the formation of coal, Prof. Rogers stated that it is generally admitted at the present day, that each bed of coal was an ancient peat deposit ; that it was formed at a period when the climate was warmer than at present, and when the fall of rain was also much more abundant; when vegetation was rank and redundant, the plants abounding in cellular tissue, and evidently of quick and easy growth.

The Curator of Oology announced the donation of nine specimens of choice eggs from Florida, by Dr. Henry Bry- ant, of the following species :

Trogiodptes Ludoviciamis, Carolina Wren; Quiscalus major, Boat-tail Grakle ; Charadrius WilsoniuSy Wilson's Plover ; Tantalus loculator, Wood Ibis ; RhynchojJS nigra, Razor-bill Shearwater ; Anous stolidtis, Noddy Tern ; Sterna fuliginosa, Sooty Tern ; Sterna acuflamda, Cabot's Sandwich Tern ; Plotus anhinga, Snake-bird.

Also a donation of twenty-four specimens by himself, viz. : — American Species : Chordeiles Virginianus, Night Hawk ; Acanthylis pelasgia, Chimney Swallow ; Progne purpurea, Purple Martin; Myiobius crinitus, Crested Flycatcher ; Ammodramus passerinus, Yellow-shouldered Sparrow ;• Ammodramus mariti7nus, Seaside Finch ; Frin- gilla tristis, Goldfinch ; Rallus crepitans, Clapper Rail.

European Species: Alcedo ispida. Kingfisher; Upupa epops. Hoopoe; Calamodytapalustris, Fauvette Warbler ; Accentor modularis. Hedge Chanter; Turdus 7nerula, European Blackbird; Enneoctonus collurio, Red-backed

u

Shrike ; Corvus corone, European Crow ; Fringilla car- duelisj European Goldfinch; Fring-illa cannabina, Com- mon Linnet ; Emheriza miliaria^ Common Bunting ; Co- lumba livia, Rock Dove ; Perdix cinerea, European Par- tridge ; Glareola pratinicola^ Collared Pratincole ; Chara- drius pluvialis^ Golden Plover ; Vanellus cristatus, Lap- wing ; Platalea leucorodia, Spoonbill.

The Curator of Comparative Anatomy presented the skull of a wolf, from Florida, in the name of Dr. Bryant.

Prof. Rogers gave notice that he had been informed by Mr. Chesbrough, that the Cochituate Reservoir at Brook- line would be drained in the course of the succeeding week, and that Mr. Chesbrough would be glad to give assistance to any members of the Society in collecting specimens. Prof. Rogers had seen, at the draining of the Fairmount Reser- voir, in the mud left after the flowing off of the water, appearances similar to those exhibited by glacier action in Switzerland. Prof. Forbes had made out this analogy on a small scale, by means of soft solids conducted through troughs, but here the experiment was seen upon a grand scale, extending over an acre or more of ground.

Mr. Charles Eliot, and Mr. E. S. Holden, of Boston, were elected Resident Members.

May 3, 1854.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The President in the Chair.

The customary Annual Pvcports of the Treasurer, Libra- rian, and Curators were received and read ; the following are abstracts :

45

The Curator of Comparative Anatomy reported, that during the last year, the increase in his department had been small. The additions have been — a skeleton of a loon ; crania of a wolf and porpoise ; cranium of a Sandwich Islander ; and about a dozen national skulls, deposited by the Curator.

The Curator of Comparative Anatomy took this opportunity to remind the members and friends of the Society, that a collection of national skulls would be a very desirable addition to the cabi- net, and that it would not be very difficult, with their assistance, to obtain one. Many authentic specimens are in the possession of individuals who take no special interest in Ethnology ; many are in the possession of, or easily obtained by friends among Indians, in Australia, in California, and the Pacific Islands. If these could be collected, and added to those already possessed by the Society, a collection might be made of exceeding interest and value to the students of Anthropology, who are now so rapidly increasing in number. At any rate, the Society should possess a collection of the skulls of the Ahoriginal American Tribes^ who are now rapidly and forever fading away ; in a few years it will be impossible to obtain authentic specimens.

The Curator of Oology reported, that at the commencement of the year, the collection of eggs amounted to 240 specimens, belonging to 165 species, inclusive of six undetermined. During the year, 37 species have been added, of 33 species. The collection now contains the eggs of 198 species. Of these, 106 are North American ; 79, European ; 8, South American ; 2, African ; 1, Australian.

The Curator of Oology availed himself of the present occasion once more to solicit donations from members and others to this department. In the hope to stimulate others to aid him in mak- ing this collection more worthy of the Society, he had prepared a catalogue of the Society's collection, to be submitted for publi- cation in the Proceedings to enable gentlemen to observe and supply its wants.

The Curator of Oology also announced the donation of three specimens of birds' eggs from Dr. Henry Bryant, viz. : Ephialtes asio, Caprimulgus Carolinensis, Pytilis cardinalis.

The Curator of Geology reported, that the portion of the cabi-

46

net under his charge was in good condition, and as well arranged as the present contracted space allotted to it would admit. This department had been enriched, during the past year, by the addi- tion of a splendid collection of the Footmarks of Birds and other animals upon the Red Sandstone of the Connecticut Valley, and by a series of Silurian fossils from the State of New York ; also, by the presentation of several fossils from various persons, as reported at the meetings of the Society.

The Curator of Botany reported, that the Herbarium was in good order. About 800 specimens had been added to the col- lection during the past year, obtained mostly by exchange from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Jamaica. A portion of these were presented by the Curator, a portion by Prof. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, and a valuable collection of Swiss Mountain Plants was received from Mr. B. F. Kendall.

The Herbarium now contains a large proportion of the New England plants ; still there are many of the rarer species yet wanting, as well as some of those belonging to our Western bor- der. The Curator is particularly desirous of obtaining a full suite of New England specimens, and he solicits the aid of those interested in Botanical pursuits.

The Curator of Icthyology reported, that the collection of Fishes remained nearly the same as at the last report, only a few specimens having been added.

The Curator of Herpetology reported, that in this department are contained, at the present time, about 480 specimens, classi- fied as follows, viz. : Chelonians 50 ; Serpents 227 ; Saurians 122 ; Batrachians 81. Under the Curatorship of Dr. H. R. Storer, much progress was made in identifying and labelling the different species ; the tortoises and batrachians having been nearly all labelled, and a large portion of the saurians. It is to be regretted that little progress has as yet been made in classify- ing the serpents, in consequence of the deficiency of the requi- site books and plates. There are many valuable specimens be- longing to the Society, from South America ; some of which, in all probability, are undescribed species.

The Curator of Conchology reported, tliat during the past year, the principal donations to this department have been from

47

the family of the late Hon. Thomas H. Perkins, and Dr. James Lewis, of New York.

The Librarian reported that there had been received 328 bound volumes, and 170 pamphlets and parts of volumes, being a considerable increase over the number of works received the preceding year. Of the bound volumes, 249 have been depo- sited by the Republican Institution.

Among the most valuable works presented to the Society, may be mentioned the splendid work of Geoffrey St. Hilaire and Fred. Cuvier, entitled, " Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes," 3 vols, folio, elegantly bound, from the Hon. Francis C. Gray.

The Librarian took this occasion to say a few words respect- ing the publication of the Journal of the Society, on which the continuance of its system of exchanges mainly depends. The intervals of publication are too long, four years having elapsed since the publication of Vol. VL No. 2 ; within a few weeks only, Vol. VI, No. 3, has been published, and during this interval the subscription list has sensibly diminished, by death and other causes. The Librarian felt it to be very important that a large addition should be made to the subscription list, and if all the members of the Society would subscribe, two numbers a year might easily be published.

On examining the record of books borrowed from the Library since the last Annual Meeting, he found that 471 charges had been made ; a good evidence, if any were needed, that the col- lection is accomplishing its legitimate object.

Mr. Bouve, from the Committee on the Purchase of the Greenfield Fossils, reported that the total amount of expend- iture for their purchase and transportation, was $1,352.32 ; and that the sum of $*57 only was now wanting to remu- nerate the Committee.

Dr. Shurtleff, from the Committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year, reported the names of the fol- lowing gentlemen ; being the same as those of the past year, with the exception of the substitution of the name of Dr. Bryant for that of Dr. Cabot, who declined reelection, — as follows :

48

President,

John C. Warren, M. D.

Vice-Presidents,

Charles T. Jackson, M. D., and D. Humphreys Storer, M. D.

Corresponding Secretary, Samuel L. Abbot, M. D.

Recording Secretary, Benjamin S. Shaw, M. D.

Treasurer, Nathaniel B. ShurtlefF, M. D.

* Librarian,

Charles K. Dillaway.

Curators,

Thomas T. Bouve, Of Geology.

Francis Alger, Mineralogy.

Waldo I. Burnett, M. D. Entomology.

Samuel Kneeland, Jr., M. D. Comparative Anatomy.

Jeffries Wyman, M. D. Herpeiology.

Thomas M. Brewer, M. D. Oology.

Silas Durkee, M. D. Ichthyology.

Charles J. Sprague, Botany.

J. B. S. Jackson, M. D. Crustacea and Radiata.

Thomas J. Whittemore, Conchology.

Henry Bryant, M. D. Ornithology.

Cabinet Keeper, Charles Stodder.

The gentlemen nominated were elected to their respect- ive offices.

On motion of Dr. Kneeland, the thanks of the Society were presented to Dr. Samuel Cabot, for his long contin- ued and valuable services as Curator of Ornithology.

On motion of Dr. Bryant, the thanks of the Society were

49

presented to the Committee on the purchase of the Green- field Fossils.

A letter from Sir John Richardson to the President, referring to some points in the anatomy of the Mastodon, was read to the Society.

Dr. Kneeland read some extracts from an analysis, which he had made of the work of Messrs. Nott and Gliddon, on the '^ Types of Mankind," highly commending the work as one of extreme value, and favoring the view adopted by its authors, of the multiple origin of the human race.

May 17, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

The President laid upon the table, for distribution to members of the Society, copies of his recently published monography upon fossil impressions, entitled " Remarks on some Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone Rocks of Con- necticut River."

Dr. Kneeland exhibited specimens of the bark, foliage, cones, and seed of the Wellingtonia gigantea, from the large tree recently cut down in California.

The bark was about seventeen inches thick, charred on the outside, and with indications on the inside that the layers nearest the wood did not exist on the specimen ; so that it must have constituted at least three feet, and probably much more, of the diameter of this tree. It resembles the bark of the Southern Cypress, though it is less fibrous and stringy. The piece exhibited contained about twelve layers to the inch, making an age of two hundred and sixteen years, if each layer represents exactly a year's increase, all the layers being of about the same average thickness ; this calculation, supposing the tree to be two thousand

PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. V. 4 OCTOBER, 1854.

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years old, and the annual increase the same, would give the bark the thickness of nearly one half the diameter of the tree ; whereas, in the Philadelphia specimen, at the height of twenty- five feet, the bark was about one sixth of the diameter. Taking this ratio, which will probably be not far from the truth, [as the thickness of the annual layers of wood is greater in the youth of the tree, the diameter of the entire bark would be between five and six feet, supposing none to be lost by ex- foliation ; the probability is, however, that from constant exfo- liation, the bark is no thicker now than it was five hundred years ago. The specimen of foliage is cypress-like, and is probably only one of the two forms common in trees of this family ; it is well known that the deciduous cypress has two forms of leaves. The cones are oblong, and are said to have a thick woody axis ; which cannot be fully verified, from the unwillingness of the owner of the specimens to have them cut into. They will, how- ever, be submitted to Prof. Gray, and will doubtless serve to con- firm or reject the genus Wellingtonia, which name has been given by Dr. Lindley.

The specimens were accompanied by a lithograph, taken at San Francisco, of the tree from which these specimens were obtained. It is one of many gigantic trees found near the head of Stanislaus River, on the Sierra Nevada, California. Its height was two hundred and ninety feet, its circumference ninety-six feet,^ and its diameter near the ground about thirty-one feet. The age was estimated at three thousand years, which, from the investigations of Prof. Gray on a larger tree of the same genus, is probably too great by at least one thousand years. The size and age of these trees is a matter of much interest ; the one now on exhibition at Philadelphia was sound from the sap-wood to the centre, which is almost never the case in trees of other families, as the Oaks, which often attain a great size. The diameter of the tree in Philadelphia, at five feet from the ground, was over twenty-nine feet ; at eighteen feet, fourteen and a half feet ; at twenty-five feet, twelve and a half feet, the bark being two and a quarter feet thick ; at two hundred feet, about five and a half feet, — its* length being about three hundred and twenty feet. The section, at twenty-five feet from the ground, (without the

51

bark over ten feet thick) has been hollowed out by fire and other means, to a shell of about four inches in thickness. A piece of this wood Dr. Gray found to contain, on an average, forty-eight annual layers to an inch ; the semidiameter at this point being five feet two inches, (viz. at twenty-five feet from the ground.) Supposing the tree increased in diameter at the same rate during its whole life, there would be nearly three thousand annual lay- ers ; but Dr. Gray, in consideration of the greater thickness of the layers of a young tree, and from comparison of sections of the so-called Cypress of the Southern States, Taxodium distichum, (as given in detail in the Proceedings of the American Academy, Vol. 3, p. 96,) assigns about two thousand years as its highest probable age.

This tree is nearly allied to the Redwood of California, Taxo- dium sempervirens. Don, of late described under the new genus Sequoia, which is now growing in England, and rarely in this vicinity, where it is barely hardy. As we have now seeds of the VVellingtonia, it is hoped that ere long we shall have some young specimens of this gigantic conifer.

Prof. Wyman communicated the results of his recent re- searches upon the structure of the heart, and the physiology of the respiration in the Menobranchus and Batrachians.

The group of reptiles, known as Perennibranchiates, retain the gills throughout life, associated with rudimentary lungs ; there has been a question as to the structure of the heart in this group, i. e. as to the existence of a single or double auricle. It has been pretty well determined that the proteus has but one au- ricle ; the axolotl of Mexico has been found likewise to have only one auricle. Prof. Wyman had found the heart of the meno- branchus provided with a single auricle and ventricle.

It has long been well known, that Batrachian reptiles respire partly by means of the skin, and this has been satisfactorily de- termined by the experiments of Edwards and others. Prof. Wyman had seen, in dissecting the vascular system of the frog, after minute injection with coloring matter, that the branch of the pulmonary artery described by Muller as going only to the occi- put, actually sends all of its blood to the skin, a fact to which attention has been recently called by Bernard. There are also

52

branches from the vertebral artery, coming off with the spinal nerves and going to the skin, and subserving the purspoes of respiration. It is difficult to say, at present, what is the exact analogue of this branch of the pulmonary artery.

The following connmunication from Mr. James Lewis was read :

Notes on Paludina decisa Say. By James Lewis.

Paludina decisa Say, is probably the only species of Paludina to be found in New England and the eastern portion of the State of New York.

It has been observed, that this species often presents speci- mens that are reversed. From several hundreds of specimens obtained in the Erie Canal, at Mohawk, Herkimer County, N, Y., for purposes of exchange, the embryonic young pre- sented in one lot, a proportion of about one reversed shell to 92 nor- mal ; these were all taken from normal adult specimens. On another occasion, from a similar lot, the proportion was as 1 to 55.5 ; giving in the two between 1 and 2 per cent, of reversed specimens (young.) The embryonic young of reversed adults, gave as follows :

Large reversed adult. 3 reversed young. 13 normal.

Smaller '' " 2 *' " 12

Still smaller '' 0 " *' 12

c( (( (( Q *' ^^ 8 '"''

P. decisa obtained near Boston, Mass., first presented to my notice reversed specimens. The same thing has been noticed in other portions of New England. (See " Shells of Vermont, by C. B. Adams, A. M." ) I have also noticed it in Paludina in Mohawk River, a variety of P. decisa, which, owing to the greater abundance of lime in the water, seldom has its spire truncated, o,s is seen in shells found in localities deficient in lime. (I would here remark, that samples of these shells of the normal form, sent to a friend in Boston, were pronounced P. integra Say.) ^

In the Erie Canal, these shells, favored by peculiar circum- stances, attain a very large growth, some of them being 1 /g- inches long, by 1 xV wide. They also present, within certain

53

limits, considerable diversity of form and structure. Some of them present traces of an umbilicus, especially those specimens which are of the thinnest texture. The thin shells are some- times more slender than the others.

The opercles of the shells present also considerable diversity of form ; in the largest (adults) the opercle is long and narrow, closing the mouth of the aperture, in length, but not in width. In the smaller shells, the opercle seems to close the shell com- pletely, about one fourth of a turn back from the mouth of the orifice. This shell corresponds well with DeKay's description of P. Integra. (See Invert, of N. Y.)

I have observed, that the structure of the animal in the re- versed shell, is also reversed.

About twelve miles south from Mohawk, in Schuyler's Lake, are found great numbers of Paludina integra Say. The species, as thus exhibited, is seldom over one inch in length, the shell rather more slender than the specimens of P. decisa, which have come under my notice in the canal and river, at Mohawk, and I have never seen a single reversed specimen among them, notwithstanding I have carefully examined hundreds of specimens in various stages of growth, and at different times, to ascertain if they were pre- sent. I have also examined Paludina, in other small lakes and ponds having connection with the above-named lake, but have never seen a single reversed specimen among them.

From all I have been able to ascertain in relation to reversed specimens of Paludina decisa, I am disposed to consider this peculiarity as exclusively incident to this species ; and I regard its occurrence as a distinct indication that the shell is P. decisa Say, and also that the occurrence of occasional reversed specimens among dextral shells of this genus, is a clear indication of the species.

Prof. William B. Rogers communicated some observations recently made by him on the natural Coke, and the asso- ciated igneous and altered rocks of the Oolite coal region in the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia.

In the district on the north side of the James River, where the most valuable seam of coke has been explored, it is at present

54

wrought by two vertical shafts. In that nearest the outcrop, the coke is reached at 112 feet from the surface, in the other at 207 feet, the dip of the coal measures being nearly west, and at a low angle. A third shaft, recently wrought, which lies nearer the margin of the basin, than either of the preceding, cuts the stratum of coke at the depth of 90 feet. A bed of whin stone, or coarse gray trap, is intercalated in the coal measures of this part of the basin, intersecting the two first mentioned shafts, but cropping out a little west of the third. This bed is met with in the deepest and most western of the shafts, at a distance of about 100 feet from the surface, and is more than 30 feet thick where it is cut through ; but in the next shaft, it is struck at a depth of less than 30 feet, and has thinned down to about half the preced- ing thickness.

One of the most remarkable effects produced by this igneous bed, is seen in the stratum of carbonaceous fire-clay which lies next beneath. This, which in the second shaft has a thickness of eleven feet, has been greatly indurated, and made to assume a columnar structure, by which the whole mass is converted into a congeries of closely packed five and six-sided prisms, often quite regular, usually about half an inch in diameter, and always at right angles to the lower surface of the trap. A portion of this bed, originally occupied by impure coaly matter, presents the same columnar structure, but the material is a compact plumba- ginous coke, with much earthy matter intermixed. The general aspect of the gray part of this bed strongly resembles that of the coarser varieties of fire-brick, after they have been long exposed to intense heat. This is what might be expected, for in the bed in question, we have the very materials of fire-brick, and in the overlying trap we have a source of igneous action, which, in the originally molten condition of this substance, could not fail to work great changes in the contiguous strata. This columnar indurated clay, or natural fire-brick, when recently broken, emits a most offensive odor, partly that of sulphuretted hydrogen, and partly perhaps caused by a sulphuret of carbon.

At the depth of about seventy feet below the bottom of the trap, occurs the bed of natural Coke, for the mining of which chiefly these openings have been made. This interval below the

55

fire-clay is occupied by bluish and drab argillaceous and sandy slates, with some worn sandstone, the former abounding in im- pressions of plants, among which may be noted Equisetum co- lumnare, Zamites obtusifolius, and Tseniopteris magnifolia — forms which, many years ago, Prof. Rogers pointed out as mark- ing the Oolite age of these coal-bearing strata. The baking action of the trap is curiously shown in all these fossils. The coaly matter of the stems and fronds, when closely examined, is seen to be blebby or blistered. It is in fact coke, which, while it retains the outlines and stronger markings of the plant, has in its partial fusion obliterated all the finer characters of the organ- ized surface.

The coke, where it has been successfully mined, forms a bed about five feet thick, including but little slate, and presenting a nearly homogeneous mass of a bluish black color,i uniformly vesicular, and light enough to float in water. It retains only a minute fraction of the volatile ingredients of the unaltered bituminous coal of this region, but it ignites readily, and burns like the compactor kinds of ordinary coke. Throughout the bed, but especially towards the top, it presents a partially co- lumnar structure. Where this structure is marked, the coke is found to crepitate when heated. In some localities, on the south side of the James River, where the whole mass of coal and adjoining shale has been rendered completely columnar, the material, in the process of heating, breaks up with explosions like the crack of a pistol, at the same time projecting its fragments to some distance from the grate.

The gradually diminishing influence of the Trap bed, as we recede downwards, is illustrated by the section in one of the shafts which embraces a thickness of fifty feet of strata below the seam of coke above described. After passing through in- durated fire-clay, lying immediately beneath the coke, we have a thickness of about twenty feet of slates, followed by a thin seam of semi-coke or coky coal — more bituminous below than at the top ; and after this, descending through some twenty feet more slates and sandstones, we come upon a bed of bituminous coal, which appears to have sustained no alteration beyond the de- velopment throughout the mass of a columnar structure. In the deepest of the three shafts, the seam now wrought under the

56

intelligent direction of Col. Worth, corresponds to the coky coal above described, the lower layer retaining much of its original bitumen. In all these workings, the gradation of metamorphic influence is beautifully marked within a distance of less than fifty feet of strata, from the greatly altered shale or fire-clay, immediately beneath the Trap, through the successive slates and coke seams, to the unchanged bituminous coal at the bottom of the section.

Dr. Brewer exhibited the eggs presented by Dr. Bryant, at the last meeting. The egg of the Chuck-wills widow {Caprimulgus Carolinensis) is of considerable value, being quite difficult to procure.

June 1th, 1854. The President in the Chair.

Letters were received and read from Prof. H. D. Rogers and Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, relative to a collection of specimens for the Society, to be furnished by the Smithsonian Institution, and asking that a sum of money be placed at the disposal of the Institution, for the payment of their preservation and transportation.

On motion of Mr. Barnard, these letters were referred to a committee of three, viz. Prof. H. D. Rogers, the Trea- surer, and Mr. Barnard, with instructions to report at the next meeting.

Dr. Durkee exhibited a piece of cloth, a part of the envelope . of the Peruvian Mummy ^ the skull of which was presented to the Society at the last meeting. According to Quekett, in his lectures on histology, published as late as 1852, the enveloping cloths of Peruvian Mummies have been found to be composed of cotton only. In this specimen, no cotton fibres could be detected, and the texture was found to be of hair or wool, possibly that of the lama.

57

Dr. Cabot exhibited a unique specimen of a hybrid duck, a cross between the Golden eye and the Hooded Merganser {Clan- gula Americana and Mergus cucullatus.) This hybrid preserves the distinctive characters of each of the parent stock, although they belong to distinct genera. Dr. Cabot remarked upon the peculiarities of the bird, and gave some of its anatomical mea- surements, but deferred a full report upon the specimen to a future meeting.

Dr. J. B. S. Jackson exhibited and presented to the Society a large collection of objects which he had recently obtained in the western country. Amongst these were specimens of the Mistle- toe, growing upon the locust tree {Rohinia pseudacacia,) upon the banks of the Ohio, near Louisville. Dr. Jackson was in- formed that it is most common there upon the locust, maple, and elm, and that it is rarely if ever seen upon the oak, which is generally supposed to be its favorite tree. At sixteen miles be- low Louisville, it is so abundant that the trees are quite green with it all winter.

Dr. Jackson stated, on the authority of the guides to the Mammoth Cave, Ky., that craw-fish with well developed eyes, had been found in the waters of the cave, and that the blind fish had been found in the waters of Green River, outside of the cave, both alive and dead ; evidence of a communication of Green River with, or its passage through the cave.

A letter was read from Dr. Samuel Kneeland, Jr., giving notice to the Society of his resignation of the office of Curator of Comparative Anatomy.

The thanks of the Society were voted to Dr. Kneeland, for his faithful services as Curator, and the Corresponding Secretary was requested to express to him the sincere regret of the Society at his departure from Boston.

Prof. Jeffries Wyman, after resigning the office of Cu- rator of Herpetology, was elected Curator of Comparative Anatomy, in place of Dr. Kneeland.

58

Prof. Wyman, to whom were referred the reptiles belong- ing to the collection of Dr. T. H. Webb, reported, that a large proportion of them were from Mexico, and the south- ern part of the United States, and belonged to genera and species not yet described by systematic writers ; that this So- ciety has not the proper books and plat.es for their determi- nation ; and that as Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, has already studied these reptiles, and has a complete library of works on herpetology, he advised Dr. Webb to send them to Prof. Baird, who had accordingly done so.

Dr. D. H. Storer read portions of a letter from Dr. W. O. Ayres, of San Francisco, upon subjects of Natural His- tory. At the suggestion of Dr. Ayres, the Society voted to send a copy of the "Journal" and "Proceedings" to the California Academy of Natural Sciences, a newly established society of San Francisco.

The following gentlemen were elected Corresponding Members : Rev. A. Constantino Barry, of Racine, Wis. ; Thure Kumlien, Esq., of Albion, Wis. ; and William Hop- kins, Esq., of Auburn, N. Y.

June 2lst, 1854.

Dr. Silas Durkee, in the Chair.

Dr. Shaw exhibited specimens of the Coccue insect upon the locust tree, placed in his hands by Mr. C. J. Sprague. The small branches of the locust were completely covered by the insect. They were all females, each containing an immense number of ova, and are apparently of the same spe- cies as that which infests the grape vines in Boston, though the cotton-like secretion which envelopes the eggj is much less abundant in the Coccus of the locust.

59

DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

I\Iay ocl. The eggs of Epliialtes asio, Cajmmulgiis Carolinensis, and Cardinalis Vir- ffiniatius ; by Dr. Henry Bryant. Two large specimens of jNIarine Vases, from the East Indies ; by Gustavus Tuckerman, Esq. The skull of a Sandwich Islander, obtained by exchange with the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. The skull of a Porpoise {Delphinus delphis) obtained in latitude 2 N. Nut from the West Indies; and a Clay-stone from Waterbury, Vt.; by Dr. Samuel Knee- land, Jr.

May 17th. The skull of a Peruvian IMummy, in good state of preservation, repre- sented to have belonged to a person of royal blood, and to have been found in one of the royal tombs ; also some Ears of Corn, found with the mummy ; by Mr. N. H. Bishop. Several small articulates from Matanzas; some frogs in different stages of growth; some Gulf-weed, &c., by Dr. Samuel Kneeland, Jr. Specimens of Paludina decisa from the Erie Canal, at Mohawk, N. Y, ; also specimens of the revei-sed Shell, and a Jar of the embryonic Young, natural and reversed, by Dr. James Lewis.

June 7th. A hybrid from a Golden-eye duck ( Clangula Americana^) and a Hooded IMerganser {Mergus cucullatiis) ; by Henry D. Morse, Esq. Mistletoe from the Locust tree ; Encrinites and other fossils from the neighborhood of Louisville; specimens from the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, consisting of Bats, Craw-fishes, Insects, &c. ; also Carbonate of Lime in incrustations ; also. Sand from the Artesian well at St. Louis, brought up from the depth of 2200 feet; by Dr..J. B. S. Jackson.

June 21st. A portion of a Maple tree from Goffstown, N. H., exhibiting two small branches fused into one ; by Mr. Philip Lovejoy,

BOOKS RECEIVED DURING THE QUARTER ENDING JUNE 20, 1S54.

Beitrage zur Gesammten Natur-und Heilwissenschaft ; herausgegeben von Dr. W. E. Weitenweber. 4 vols. 8vo. Prag. 1838.

Dr. J. C. E. Hoser's Eiickblicke auf sein Leben und Wirken. By the same. 8vo. Prag. 1848.

Der Arabischer Kaffee. 8vo. Pamph. Prag. 1837. By the same.

Aus dem Leben und Wirken des Herrn Dr. J. T. Holds. 8vo. Prag. 1847. By the same. From the Author.

Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Vols. 1-6. 8vo.. From the Association.

. Notices of the Meetings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Parts 1 2, 3. 1851 - 53. 8vo. Pamph. London. From the Royal Institution.

Journal of the Eoyal Geographical Society. Vol. 23. 8vo. 1853.

General Index to the Second Ten Volumes of the Journal of the Eoyal Geographical Society. 8vo. Pamph. London, 1853. From the Royal Geogra^ phical Society.

60

Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Fiinfter Band. Erste Lieferung. 4to. Wien, 1853. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Sechster Band, 1854. Band xi. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. 8vo. 1853. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie, &c. Band ix. x. xi. 8vo. Wien, 1353. From the Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Seventh Census of the United States. 1850. Cong. Doc. 4to. Washington,

1853. Finance Keport, 1853 - 54. Cong. Doc. Washington. Congressional

Eeport on Commerce and Navigation. 8vo. Washington, 1854. From Hon. S. H. Walley.

Catalogue of the Public Library of the City of Boston. 8vo. Boston, 1854. From the City of Boston.

Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon. By Lieut. Herndon. Parti. 8vo. Washington, 1853.

Maps to Ditto. 1853.

Keports of Prof. Henry D. Rogers on Wheatley, Brookdale, and Charlestown Mines, Pennsylvania. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia, 1853.

Eeport on the Geology and Mining Resources of Part of Lackawana Coal Basin. By Prof. H. D. Rogers. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia. From Prof. H. D. Rogers.

Seventh Annual Report of the Regents of the University of New York, on the condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, &c. 8vo. Pamph. 1854. Albany.

Sixty-seventh Annual Report of the Regents of the University of New York. 8vo. Pamph. Albany, 1854. From the Regents of the University.

New York Journal of Medicine. Vol. XIL No. 3. May, 1854. From the Editor.

Descriptions of New Fluviatile Shells of the United States. By J. G. Anthony. 8vo. Pamph. Cincinnati, 1854. From the Author.

Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. New Series, Vol. H. Part IV. 4to. Philadelphia, 1854.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Vol. VH. No. H. 8vo. Pamph. 1854.

Discourse in Commemoration of the Founding of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. By W. P. Foulke. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia, 1854. From the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Coal Measures of the South Joggins, Nova Scotia. By J. W. Dawson. Svo. Pamph. London, 1853. From the Author.

Metamorphic and Metalliferous Rocks of Eastern Nova Scotia. By the same. Svo. Pamph. London, 1850. From the Author.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. Vol. VL Nos. 2-4. New York, 1854.

Appendix to the History of Vermont ; Natural, Civil, and Statistical. 1353. By Zadock Thompson. 8vo. Burlington, Vt. From the Author.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Library of the State of New York. 8vo. Pamph. Albany, 1854. From T. R. Beck.

61

Gelehrte Anzeigen herausgegeben von Mitgliedern fder K. Bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften. Band 36, 37. Miinchen, 1853. From the Akademie.

Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Preussichen Rheinlande und Westphalens. Zweites Heft. 8vo. Pamph. Bonn, 1853. From the Naturhis- torischer Verein.

Information concerning the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. By H. R. Schoolcraft. 4to. Vol. 4. Washing- ton, 1854. From G. W. Manypenny, Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Bulletin de la Soci^t(^ G^ologique de France. 2ieme s^rie. Tome X. Feu- illes 29-40(16 Mai— 8 Septembre, 1853.) 8vo. Paris. From the Societe Geo- logique.

Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, and Russian America. By John Cassin. 8vo. Nos. 2-5. Philadelphia, 1853. From ike Author.

Bulletin de la Socidt^ de Geographic. 4ri^me s^rie. Tomes V. VI. 8yo. Paris, 1853. From the Societe de Geographie.

Farmer's Companion and Horticultural Gazette. Nos. 6, 6, Vol. HI. No. 3, Vol. IV. 8vo. Pamph. Detroit, 1854.

Annals of Science, for April, 1854.

Silliman's American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. XVII. No. 51. 8vo. New Haven, 1854.

Genera of recent Mollusca, by H. and A. Adams. Parts XI. XII. 8vo. London, 1854.

Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte. Gegriindet von A. F. A. Wiegraan. Fortgesetzt von W. F. Erichson. Sechstes Heft. No. 6. 8vo, Berlin, 1851. Funftes Heft. Nos. 1-5. 1852. Received in Exchange.

Species Filicum. By W. J. Hooker. Parts 4, 5, 6. 8vo. London, 1853.

Annals and ^Magazine of Natural History. Vol. XIH. No. 75 for March, No. 7 for April, No. 77 for May, No. 78 for June, 1853.

Thesaurus Literatures Botanicse. Curavit G. A. Pritzel. Fasciculi I. - VII. 8vo. Lipsi^, 1854.

Index Volume of the American Journal of Science and Arts. 8vo. Pamph. New Haven.

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Vol. X. Part 2. May, 1854. London.

Hortus Jamaicensis. By John Lunan. 4to. Jamaica, 1814. Received from the Courtis Fund.

Gazeteer of the United States. By T. Baldwin and J. Thomas. 8vo. Phila- delphia, 1854.

Works of John Adams. Vol. IX. 8vo. Boston, 1854. Deposited by the Re- publican Institution.

62

July 5th, 1854.

Dr. C. T. Jackson, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Present by invitation, Mr. Jules Marcou, United States Geologist, and member of the Geological Society of France.

The Chairman announced to the Society the death of Dr. Waldo I. Burnett, which had taken place since the last meeting.

On motion of Dr. Abbot, it was Voted, That Prof. Jef- fries Wyman be a Committee to draw up resolutions, ex- pressive of the regret of the Society at the loss they have experienced in the death of Dr. Burnett, and also to pre- pare a notice of his life and scientific labors.

Dr. C. T. Jackson read an account of a new mine of Gold, Silver, Lead, and Copper, recendy opened at Bridgewater, Vermont. The minerals at present known in this mine are as follows, viz.

Native gold in scales, and small irregular grains, in quartz, in black blende, and in other minerals of the vein ; Argentiferous Galena ; Black Zinc blende ; Yellow Copper pyrites ; Gahnite or Zinciferous Spinelle ; Crystals of quartz in geodes ; Brown oxide of Iron.

This mine is about twenty miles from the principal railroads leading to Boston and New York, and the produce of it will pro- bably be brought to market by way of Woodstock and Hartland, as the country is less mountainous in that direction than towards Rutland. It is gratifying to find that Vermont may justly rank among the mineral States. Already extensive and valuable cop- per mines have been opened in Vershire and Corinth, and there is reason to believe that many other valuable mines of that metal will be opened along the line of the copper bearing rocks which extend from Strafford to Orange in a line a little west of north.

Dr. Jackson also exhibited specimens of Mexican Native Iron,

63

from the neighborhood of Sonora, where they are sometimes used as blacksmiths' anvils and for corner stones to buildings. One specimen contained between five and six per cent, of Nickel, showing it to be meteoric. It is said that these masses are quite common, even of very large size, near Santa Rosas.

The Chairman likewise exhibited a fragment in bronze, of a Chilian instrument, probably a crowbar, It contained 7.615 parts of tin, the remainder being copper. This bronze is well adapted for such instruments as were to be hammer-hardened. Ancient Egyptians' bronze tools contain from 17 to 2*^ per cent, of tin.

The Corresponding Secretary read letters fronri various societies and institutions, acknowledging the reception of copies of the Journal and Proceedings of the Society, as follows : From Harvard College, Essex Institution, Ameri- can Philosophical Society, Societe de Geographic at Paris, Naturhistorischer Verein at Bonn, Bibliothekariat der K. Bayerischen Akademie, K. Akademie der Wissenchaften at Vienna : also from the office of Indian Affairs, accompa- nying the work of Schoolcraft on the Indian Tribes of the United States.

Prof. Lunsford P. Yandell, of Louisville, Ky., was elected Corresponding Member.

July 19, 1854. Dr. D. H. Storer, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Prof. Henry D. Rogers presented a paper entitled, " A Description of New Species of Fossil Plants, from the An- thracite and Bituminous Coal Fields of Pennsylvania, col- lected and described by Leo Lesquereux, with Introductory Observations by Henry D. Rogers."

Referred to the Publishing Committee, for insertion in the next number of the Journal.

64

Prof. Jeffries Wyman, in accordance with a vote passed at the preceding meeting, read the following

NOTICE OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE LATE DR. WALDO IRVING BURNETT.

Mr. President — From lime to time Death has entered our circle, and taken from our number one and another of those who have been our most active associates, and to whom we have been bound by the ties of personal regard or of friendship. In nearly every instance they have been removed in full manhood, or even at a later period, when the labors of a life of the ordinary length had been nearly finished. But never before has there been taken from amongst us one who, in his devotion to natural science, has, in so brief a life, left so many memorials of zeal and industry as he, to whose memory we would now pay our tribute of respect.

Waldo Irving Burnett was born in the town of Southboro', Mass., July 12th, 1828. His father (the late Dr. Joel Burnett) was a man of distinguished excellence in his profession, and to the qualities of a good and useful citizen, united those of an ar- dent lover of nature, of whose works he was a close and faithful observer. Botany and Entomology especially received his atten- tion, and without the aid of genial spirits, or the intercourse with kindred minds, were studied with no ordinary zeal during the few leisure moments which were left him after the demands upon his time by a laborious profession had been satisfied. His love of nature was transmitted to the son, and was manifested in early boyhood, when the observation and study of insect life took a strong hold upon his mind. His father experienced a just pride in witnessing these tendencies ; but in place of encouragement, which he at first extended with delight, he was soon, though re- luctantly, obliged to substitute restraint. His son's mind was too intently absorbed in his pursuits, and fears were excited lest his studies, prolonged into hours stolen from the usual period of repose, should be attended with disastrous results to his physical constitution. His passion, however, grew with his growth and strengthened with his strength, and in the face of all obstacles, through health and through sickness, from an early youth to his early grave, it was never abated.

He had not the advantage of a collegiate education ; this he

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chose to forego, not from any indifference to its value, but from a sensitive unwillingness to subject his father to any unnecessary expenditure of his means. He gave early indications of great mental activity, and mastered with ease all the studies of the Academy ; in mathematics, especially, he was unusually profi- cient, and drew from his teacher the confession that in this department he was no longer capable of giving him instruction ; and it was the habit of other teachers in the neighborhood to send to young Burnett for the solution of difficult questions which they themselves were incompetent to master. Almost without assistance, at a later period, he made himself familiar with the French, Spanish, and German languages, and during the latter part of his life had made some progress in the Swedish.

At the age of sixteen he had become thoughtful beyond his years ; and then commenced the development of those tenden- cies in his mind which ever afterwards were so conspicuous, and which continued to exert a controlling influence, viz. : the desire of gaining an insight into the nature of things, and of forming philosophical ideas and conceptions of natural processes, concep- tions and ideas which can be obtained only by the exercise of the higher powers of the mind. Mesmerism, materialism, and theological questions occupied his thoughts, and were frequently written upon and discussed by him. On all of these he mani- fested independence and continuity of thought, and persistence in whatever direction his mind was turned. It was at this early age that his interest in the study of medicine commenced, when he accompanied his father in his professional visits, and witnessed the effects of disease, as manifested in the examination of bodies after death. Entomology now especially engrossed his thoughts, and nearly all his leisure moments were occupied in collecting, studying, and classifying insects. While yet in his sixteenth year, his father died. This event materially changed his prospects, and was met with firmness and decision, and in the course of the following year, finding that something must be done for his sup- port, he commenced teaching school, and at the same time gave his attention to the study of medicine.

The subsequent years of his student life were spent under the direction of Dr. Joseph Sargent, of Worcester, with whom there

PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. V. 5 NOVEMBER, 1854.

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grew up a warm mutual personal regard and friendship ; in the Tremont Medical School in Boston, which has given to the pro- fession so many zealous and productive laborers in medical sci- ence ; and in the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was ar- dent and industrious as a medical student, but never allowed his attention to be withdrawn from the study of nature, the micro- scope becoming his constant companion, and a source of never- failing pleasure. As evidence of his ability, it may be stated that in two successive years he gained the annual prize offered by the Boylston Medical Society. The subject of the first essay was Cancer^ which he treated with especial reference to its mi- croscopic structure ; and of the second. The Sexual System, or the production of being, considered as to its physiology and philosophy.

In 1849, at the age of 21, he graduated in medicine, and soon after visited Europe, where his attention, especially at Paris, was given almost exclusively to natural history and microscopic ob- servation. The expectations of intellectual progress which he now looked forward to with so much interest, were soon doomed to severe disappointment. It was in Paris that he received the first serious warning that consumption, the disease which event- ually destroyed his life, had already marked him for its early victim. After an absence of only four months, he reembarked for America, to receive the benefit of a more genial climate in one of the southern States, and each successive winter he passed either in Carolina, Georgia, or Florida, in order to avoid the inclement and uncongenial climate of New England. He had now no permanent location, was constantly shifting from place to place, to mitigate, as far as possible, the steady progress of his disease. Every thing seemed adverse to any thing like connected study. Nevertheless, it was during these few unsettled years that he accomplished an almost incredible amount of intel- lectual labor. He was incessantly occupied with his microscope ; his mind was ever on the alert, and he allowed scarce a day to pass without some observation, without something added to his stock of acquired knowledge.

In the winter of 1851, he delivered at the Medical College in Augusta, Ga., a successful course of lectures on Microscopic Anatomy. In the summer of 1852 he prepared the principal

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work of his life, the Essay which received the prize from the American Medical Association. His two former prizes were competed for only by his fellow students ; but the third, it is no small praise to say, was open to the compethion of the whole medical profession throughout the country.

While yet a medical student he became an active member of the Boston Society of Natural History, and was soon after elected Curator of Entomology. In 1851 hej was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences — one of the youngest members ever admitted into that body. His communi- cations to different scientific bodies and journals were very nu- merous and on a great variety of subjects, and give such evi- dence of industry and enthusiasm as cannot fail to excite our wonder and admiration. They are too numerous for analysis or even enumeration in this place ; but some of the more important ones are found under the following list of subjects, which com- prises those of about one third of the whole number of his me- moirs and communications, and which serves to show that his mind was interested in a great variety of questions, and that whenever an opportunity for investigation presented itself, he was always ready with a cheerful heart and patient industry to enter upon his work.*

" On the Hybernation of Insects, and its Relation to their Met amor pho sis y

*' An Account of certain microscopic animals found in a per- son who died of an enlarged spleen^

" On the external parasites of warm-Hooded animals,'*'' This was a subject to which he had devoted much attention, and in illustration of which he had made large collections of specimens preserved for microscopic study.

" On the Emlryology of the Articulata,^'' including remarks on the alternation of generations in the Humble-Bee, (Bombus

* His various scientific papers or abstracts of them may be found in the Pro- ceedings^ also in the Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History. In the Pro- ceedings of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, in the Proceedings and in the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in the American Journal of Science, in the Transactions of the American Medical Association for 1853, in the Boston Medical and Surgical Jounwd, and in the American Journal of Medical Science.

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Americanus,) in which last he ascertained that three generations are produced from one impregnation.

" On the luminous spots of the great Fire-Fly of Cuha.^''

" Observations on the Seventeen-year Locust.^^

** On Spermatozoa.^^

" On the origin, development, and structure of the Kidneys throughout the vertehrated division of animals.''''

" Notes on the Rattle-snake, relating to its dentition, to the physiological effects of its poison, and to alcohol as a remedy.^''

" Some account of an Insect, (Rhinosia pometella, Harris,) and its recent injuries to the fruit and forest trees of New England.'''*

" On the development of Viviparous Aphides, or plant lice.'''' This is a subject of great interest, and it was investigated with great ability. Since the days of Bonnet, it has been well known that several successive generations of Aphides are produced after a single impregnation. Dr. Burnett studied the successive gene- rations as they first appear in the body of the parent as illus- trated by the species infesting the hickory. If a fully developed, but wingless Aphis is examined in the spring, it is found to con- tain an embryo nearly mature ; and this embryo contains already the first germs of the third generation, in the form of single cells or a small number of cells inclosed in a sac. While a few germs are thus formed, others are formed by their subdivision from con- striction, until the requisite number is obtained. When they have reached the size of about one three-hundredth of an inch, a yellowish mass forms at one extremity of the egg, and then commences the development of the parts of the insect, which eventually inclose the mass just mentioned. It is this last yellow- ish mass which furnishes the materials for the next generation. All this, it should be remembered, is effected without the aid of any distinct reproductive organs. There is no ovary or oviduct, but the embryos are developed in the cavity of the abdomen, and discharged through a genital opening merely. In view of the fact that the viviparous aphides are sexless. Dr. Burnett re- garded their mode of reproduction as belonging to the gemmipa- rous type. Viewed in this way, the different broods cannot be looked upon as so many generations ; but on the contrary, the whole suite, from the first to the last, that is, till the production

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of a winged Aphis constitutes but a single generation. This ex- planation by a species of budding seems far more satisfactory than that which supposes that either cells or nuclei of the first individual are transmitted by successive inclusions to the last. As this latter idea cannot be supposed to be the result of direct observation, and as no proof is adduced that identical cells and nuclei really pass from one generation to the other, the whole stands merely as an ingenious theory ; while Dr. Burnett's ex- planation (and this view is not proposed for the first time by him,) is in accordance with direct observation. But, in accepting his view, we are compelled to admit the hypothesis, that the ger- minating force imparted to the first ova is transmitted to the suc- cessive broods without the aid of spermatozoa.

" On the microscopic appearances presented in the intestinal discharges and muscular fibres of a patient who died of the epi- demic cholera.^^

" Tissue and its retrograde metamorphosis.^'

" On the Geology and other points connected with the natural history of Florida.'''

" Considerations on a change of climate hy northern invalids^ a7id on the climate of Aikin^ S. C."

" Considerations of some of the relations of climate to tuber- cular disease.^''

To these should be added his various critical notices of recent scientific publications in Silliman's Journal, which, in view of the short time he occupied the position of associate editor, were quite voluminous, and serve to give us a good idea of his powers of analysis and discussion.

There is no one of his productions, which embodies more of the results of his labors, than the prize dissertation, consisting of two hundred closely printed octavo pages, presented to the American Medical Association in the year 1851, and entitled " The Cell, its physiology, pathology and philosophy, as deduced from original observations ; to which is added its history and criticism. ' Natura in minimis maxima est."* "

To those who are acquainted with modern physiology, it will be seen at once that he had selected a great subject, one which even the most accomplished minds might approach with distrust.

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The nucleated cell ! that minute organic structure which the unaided eye cannot discern, yet constituting the first stage of every living being, the seat of so many of the complex pheno- mena of animal and organic life, and the agent by which even the mind itself retains its grasp and exerts its influence upon the living structures with which it is associated. In entering upon so difficult a subject as this, it was not expected, nor is there any reason to suppose that he himself expected, that he should not lay himself open to criticism. The ablest living histologist, KoUiker, in speaking of the subject of the development of tissue, uses the following language : " Not only does histology not possess a single law, but the materials at hand from which such could be deduced are as yet relatively so scanty, that not even any consi- derable number of general propositions appear well founded." As laws and general propositions were among the especial objects of Dr. Burnett's researches, it will be seen at once that he has entered boldly into a contested field. But it is to follow him in his labors, and not to hold up to criticism his results, that we have at present to do.

His subject is discussed under the following heads :

1st. Cell-genesis, under which he treats of the origin of cells, and advocates a peculiar mode of development, which he claims as original with himself, and the result of his own observations.

2d. Cell physiology, or healthy function.

3d. Cell pathology, or diseased function.

4th. Cell philosophy , or 1st, the relations of cells to the teleo- logical view of organization ; 2d, the direct agency of cells in the production and manifestation of nervous power, the intellect- ual processes, &c.

The general results of his studies of cell life and cell genesis are in his own words as follows : '^ The great outstanding fact which appears before us as the result of these studies is, that there is fundamental unity of organization. This we have seen to consist in elementary particles, which in both animals and plants are formed upon a common plan. It was the opinion of Schwann and Schleiden, who truly originated this view, that this plan consisted in the precixislence of a solid fundamental body, (the nucleus) around which is formed a membrane ultimately

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expanding and constituting the cell. It has been one of my objects to show, that this is not of universal application, by an attempt to demonstrate another mode of cell formation, which is that the fundamental idea of a cell is a simple vesicle, and that the nucleated cell is simply one cell containing another within its walls. With Schwann the nucleus is exogenous and germina- tive — with me the nucleus is endogenous and reproductive.

" The two conclusions of the studies of cell life are then, 1st. The existence of an elementary particle having an invaria- ble unity of expression, the cell. 2d. The universality of the application of this particle for the formation of organized parts, the tissues. "^"^

In studying cells in relation to pathology, he regards this last as an erring physiology, and concludes, that, both as to their genesis and general aspect as cells, those which belong to abnor- mal cannot be distinguished from those belonging to normal con- ditions of life. The genetic and general relations of cells in physiology and pathology are therefore the same. Their differ- ence does not relate to structure, but to their destiny. Physio- logical cells must be considered teleologically, but pathological ones have no ulterior object.

Each of the different heads of his dissertation he discusses with great ability, and gives ample evidence that he is not only familiar with the scientific labors of others, but that he is per- fectly at home in the different departments of investigation which his essay involves. If it be allowable to express an opinion of its merits in general terms, it may be truly said that it gives evidence of wonderful zeal and industry in research, of acute powers of observation, and of great readiness in perceiving general relationships. It is in connection with this latter faculty that he seems the most liable to error. He appears to have par- taken something of the spirit of Oken, and to have given way at times to the suggestions of the imagination, instead of subjecting himself to the severe mandates of reason, and the rigid rules of induction. This is naturally the fault of youth, and for which scientific minds, at the present time, with their tendencies to hasty generalization, may be justly said to be in part responsible. But in one who combined industry, a desire for truth, and an

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almost unlimited patience in observation, it might have been fairly anticipated that, sooner or later, the better and safer quali- ties of the mind would have eclipsed all others.

While constantly active as an observer. Dr. Burnett found time to engage in another service which occupied some of the latest hours of his life, and the non-completion of which was a source of anxiety to him in his last moments. This was the translation from the German, of the Comparative Anatomy of Siebold and Stannius. All who are familiar with the published volume, will not fail to see in it another proof of his industrious habits as exhibited not in the translation merely, (itself in this case no ordinary labor) but in the numerous additions to science which, scattered far and wide through scientific journals, have been brought together, and in the contributions he himself has made from his own stores of accumulated observations.

The last scientific investigation to which his time was devoted was into the natural history of the Orange insect^ which is so destructive to the orange trees of Florida. The habits of this insect he had studied during his last winter's residence in Florida, and had prepared a memoir in reference to it for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but his ill health prevented his attending their recent meeting.

Such is an imperfect sketch of the scientific labors of our late associate. It only remains to consider his life from another point of view, in regard to its moral aspect. Of this I do not feel jus- tified in treating at length, as my relations to him were not suffi- ciently intimate to speak from personal observation ; but from all I can learn from his associates, from his fellow-students and his more intimate friends, he was a kind and affectionate son and brother, one who enjoyed to an unusual degree home and all its associations ; he was a man of a truly benevolent heart, into which irreverent thoughts seemed to gain no admission, or from which they certainly obtained no expression. In all of his stu- dies of nature, he seems to have had a pervading perception of God in his works, and often in eloquent words gives expression to his feelings, when some new manifestation of divine wisdom was uncovered to his inquiring mind.

Dr. Burnett's zeal and devotion could not fail to awaken a

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warm interest wherever he went, among those with whom he associated. He became acquainted with the leading naturalists of the country, and obtained from them and others, willing aid and counsel, as well as respect for his great acquirements. To them he always felt warm feelings of gratitude. But there was one, to whom, more than all others, he was especially grateful, a friend and relative, who at an early period, perceived the indica- tions of uncommon promise for the future, and who with kind heart and benevolent purpose aided and encourged him in all his undertakings.

He had religious faith and religious hope. To a speculative mind like his, it seemed almost a matter of necessity that the momentous questions which the problem of life involved, should sooner or later have been presented for examination and discus- sion, and that before any settled convictions could be reached, they should have found him perplexed and in doubt. Doubts and perplexities in his mind did exist, but eventually they gave way and were replaced by faith and hope, which lightened his burden when, weary and exhausted, he approached the end of life. He had been long accustomed to look upon death and to talk about it as an event that he must meet at an early period. But death, if not imminent, is something that all look forward to calmly and without emotion, and when we speak of it we are not sure that we give utterance to our most solemn feelings and con- victions. But there is one moment when, if ever on earth, the heart, if it opens itself, does so without disguise, if it give utter- ance, does so without reserve ; it is that dread moment when death approaches so near that there is no alternative but to look upon earthly life as finished, its account made up, and when all that remains for the mind to dwell upon, is the dissolution of the body and the realization of another life. A few days before he died, our late associate returned, after a winter's absence, to the home of his family, his bodily health exhausted, his energies prostrate. At first he entertained the hope that as before, rest and quiet might restore him, partially at least, to his usual health, and that he might have yet another opportunity of continuing those labors which he so fondly cherished ; but his fast declining strength, the anxiety of those around him, the announcement of his physician and his own quick perceptions soon told that life

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was drawing to a close, and that for him the great moment was near. In all this he was calm and serene, conversed on the approaching separation without faltering, gave utterance to expres- sions of deep affection to those who were bound to him by the ties of kin, uttered his prayer for forgiveness, and expressed the solemn conviction, which now rose paramount to every other, that if there yet remained much for him to live for, there was yet far more to die for. On Saturday morning, July 1st, a few days before the completion of his twenty-sixth year, he died.

We cannot but sensibly feel, that in his death we have lost an associate of no ordinary talents ; we can point to no other mem- ber of our Society, and to not more than one other naturalist in our country, who has given such proofs of zeal and industry, and who, in so short a life, has accomplished so large an amount of scientific labor. Had he been spared to future years, we cannot but feel the assurance that he would have acquired for himself a far higher place and a still more honorable name in the annals of science. Let us cherish his memory and profit by his example.

The following resolutions, prepared at the request of the So- ciety by Prof. Wyman, were unanimously adopted :

Resolved^ That the members of the Boston Society of Natural History have learned with deep regret the death of Dr. Waldo Irving Burnett ; that, in his decease, we have lost a most active and zealous associate, and science an ardent, disinterested, and productive laborer.

Resolved^ That to the family of our late associate, we would offer our deep sympathy for their affliction, in the loss which they have sustained by the early death of one, with whose memory is associated so much of honorable devotion and noble self- sacrifice.

On motion of Dr. S. L.Abbot, it was voted, that Prof. Wyman be requested to prepare a copy of the Notice and Resolutions for publication in the Proceedings of this Society and Silli- man's Journal ; also voted, that out of respect to the memory of the deceased, the Society do now adjourn.

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August 2, 1854.

Dr. D. H. Storer, Vice-President, in the Chair.

The Chairman read a letter from Dr. WilHam O. Ayres, of San Francisco.

Dr. Ayres states that a species of Leuciscus, is not unfrequently found in the markets of that city weighing twenty-five or thirty pounds. The following items, relating to one of the huge trees of California, derived from Dr. Bigelow, of San Francisco, were also furnished by Dr. Ayres : " The tree lies on the ground, hav- ing fallen many years since. From the base to the point where it is broken off, it is found to he three hundred and ten feet ; all beyond this was burned, probably by the Indians, but fragments lie scattered along to the distance of a hundred and fifty feet, and from the size of these fragments, Dr. Bigelow feels confident the tree must have been at least five hundred feet high. At the base it is, by estimation, one hundred and ten feet in circumfer- ence, and at the end of the three hundred and ten feet men- tioned above, it is by measurement forty feet in circumference. This is almost as much beyond, in size, the great tree which has attracted so much notice, as that is beyond trees of common size."

The Chairman also presented the following communica- tion from Dr. Ayres :

ON A METHOD OF PREVENTING THE RAVAGES OF THE " SHIP- WORM."

A plan for the preservation of submerged timber from the attacks of the " Worm," has been devised by Mr. James G. Swan, formerly of Boston, and now of Shoal Water Bay, W. T. He claims that it is both cheap and effectual ; and having been ap- pointed by the California Academy of Natural Sciences to inves- tigate the matter, I wish to present to you the conclusions reached by us. We find that a marine railway to which it was applied, remains at the end of eighteen months perfectly sound, while timber by its side, of the same species of wood, has

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within that period twice required renewal, having been fairly "riddled" by the Teredo. We could find no reason to doubt that the protection was entirely due to the preparation recom- mended by Mr. Swan.

It is simply the application of a mixture of Asphaltum (one hundred parts,) sulphur (forty parts,) and arsenic (twenty parts,) used as a paint ; the asphaltum being melted, the other materials stirred in, and the whole applied hot, with a common brush ; the wood must of course be dry.

If this proves to be as effectual as the trial here seems to pro- mise, the value of the discovery can scarcely be overrated^ Cannot the Society draw to it the attention of those interested, and thus secure for it a thorough testing ?

Mr. Swan's first experiments were made at Charlestown, Mass., about ten years since, and he claims that they were equally suc- cessful there, but he made no efforts then to publish his results.

Dr. Kneeland exhibited to the Society three skulls of American Indians, presented inl the name of Dr. Josiah C. Nott, of Mobile, a Corresponding Member, viz. : the skulls of an Osage Chief from Arkansas, a Creek Chief from Georgia, and a Choctaw youth from the Alabama River, a few miles above Mobile.

Besides their value as authentic specimens of the above tribes, these crania are interesting as coming from three points far dis- tant from each other, and yet showing the same characteristic Indian conformation ; adding to the proofs, if any are necessary, of Dr. Morton's views, that the American nations form one great family, having the same physical conformation, and differing from all the other great human families.

The Osage skull is quite typical of the Indian conformation ; having a low, receding forehead, prominent vertex, and flattened occiput : a short antero-posterior diameter, a wide interparietal diameter, and a narrow frontal diameter — large quadrangular orbits ; prominent nasal bones (differing in this respect from the Mongolian skull) ; high and broad cheek bones ; large nasal opening ; strong upper jaw, and deep palatine fossa caused by its

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downward elongation. The general shape is quadrangular ; the character of the bone heavy and ivory-like ; the smooth space on each side occupied by the temporal muscle, both in this and the Creek skull, seems more than usually prolonged backwards, indi- cating a corresponding size and power in this muscle, which may possibly be characteristic of the race ; all the muscular attach- ments are uncommonly well marked.

The Creek skull is one of very fine proportions, and indicates a brain superior to that of ordinary individuals. The forehead is broad and high, the vertex prominent, and the occiput flat; in other respects it comes near the usual Indian type. From age, the bones are less dense and strong than in the Osage skull ; the absorption of the alveolar processes detracts from the Indian appearance of the jaw, and gives the face a more vertical facial angle ; the nasal bones are uncommonly prominent, and show marks of disease, apparently from a cut ; in ma^j places the sutures are entirely obliterated. This is evidently tne skull represented in Figs. 302 and 303, p. 442, of Nott and Gliddon's " Types of Mankind^; " a Chief who died while a prisoner, near Mobile, in 1837.

The young Choctaw skull, as far as the shape and proportions of the cranium are concerned, might well pass for Caucasian ; but the width between the eyes, the quadrangular orbits, the high cheek bones, the prominent jaw, and especially the deep palatine fossa, betray the lower type which in this specimen would not be recognized from a retreating forehead, prominent vertex, or flat occiput ; it resembles more a female than a male skull. There is a depression at the posterior third of the sagittal suture, no occipital protuberance, a fine hamular process, a remarkable de- velopment of the vaginal process on both sides, and of the bony processes generally.

The measurements of these skulls were as follows :

Hor. Periph.

19.5 iu. 20.4

1S.7

The examination of the first two skulls shows a narrowness in the frontal portion of the skull corresponding to the seat of the

	Capac.	Long.	Par.	Front	Vert.	I. M.	I. M.	Oc. Front.
	Int.	.D-	D.	D.	D.	Arch.	Line.	Arch.
	cub. in.
Osage.	79i	6.6 in	5.7 in.	4.3 in.	5.2 in.	14.8 in.	4 75 in.	13.75 in.
Ckeek.	92	6.9	5.7	4.6	5.4	15.5	4.75	14.4
Choctaw.	66^	6.5	5.1	4.	4.75	12.5	4.1	13.

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intellectual faculties, and a great width in the parietal portion, corresponding to the phrenological organs of caution, secretive- ness, destructiveness, &c., or the animal propensities ; indicating a weak intellect and a strong animal propensity in the American Indian compared with the white races. This difference in the relative size of different portions of the brain is represented, in a somewhat exaggerated form however, in plates 353 and 354, (p. 464) of Nott and Gliddon's " Types of Mankind."

A line drawn through the auditory meatus upwards shows that the greater part of the brain is anterior, indicating the compara- tively feeble development of the social and domestic atTections. In the African, most of the brain is posterior to this line ; in the Mongolian, it is about equally divided.

The third series of measurements is of little value in determin- ing the characters of the Indian skull ; the subject of them was not an adult, and had not reached the age when the brain has com- pleted its development, which is about the age of 16 years ; the period of second dentition had been about completed, indicating an age not authorized by the size and shape of the skull. [It is not stated by the donor whether the individual was a woman or a half-breed, either of which would explain some of the peculiari- ties.]

The thanks of the Society were voted to Dr. Nott for his donation of valuable crania.

Dr. Durkee called the attention of the Society to a col- lection of insects, principally Acari and other parasites, about 600 in number, prepared by the late Dr. Burnett. He stated that these specimens are mostly mounted on glass slides for the microscope, and the collection is apparently in good order, and contains many new and undescribed species, a portion of them from England and France, the whole col- lection being very valuable.

On motion of Mr. J. M. Barnard, a committee of three, consisting of Drs. Durkee, Abbot, and Gould, was appoint- ed to purchase these insects at a cost of not over fifty dol- lars, or to obtain a refusal of them for the Society.

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Mr. Barnard, from the Committee to whom was referred the letter of Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, re- ported, that the Committee recommend to the Society to appropriate the sum of ^300 for the purposes mentioned in the letter of Prof. Baird.

After some debate upon this subject, the report of the Committee was referred to the Council.

Mr. Samuel L. Fletcher, of Cambridge, was elected Re- sident Member.

August 16, 1854. Dr. Charles T. Jackson, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Extracts from a letter of Prof. L. P. Yandell, of Louis- ville, Ky., to Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, thanking the Society for his election as Corresponding Member, and offering to contri- bute Geological specimens, were read to the Society.

Mr. Whittemore called attention to the large number of glow worms now to be found in the neighborhood of Mil- ton, and asked if they were a new species.

Prof. Wyman remarked that he had seen, some years ago, at West Cambridge, glow worms of peculiar character, with luminous spots upon each segment.

September 6th, 1854.

Dr. C. T. Jackson, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Dr. Durkee, for the Committee appointed to purchase the collection of Acari and other insects belonging to the

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estate of Dr. Burnett, reported that the purchase had been made at a cost exceeding, by ten dollars, the sum appropri- ated. The report was accepted, and the purchase ratified. Dr. Durkee exhibited the collection to the Society, and was requested to take charge of it.

September 20, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

Prof. Jeffries Wyman gave an account of some observa- tions on the development of Anableps Gronovii, a vivipa- rous fish from Surinam.

He described the external conditions of development of fishes in general, as manifest in the oviparous and viviparous species. The latter are divided into two groups ; the first including those species in which the egg enters the oviduct before the development of the embryo begins ; the second includes all such as have a gestation almost wholly ovarian. In the former group are found Spinax, Carcharias, Torpedo and other Plagiostomes ; in the second, Anableps, Poecilia, Blennius, and Embiotoca. Prof. Wyman had examined the ovarian eggs of Anableps, and found them surrounded, after they had acquired a certain size, by a transparent space limited by thickened stroma which formed a distinct closed sac. The egg was free in this sac, as the mam- miferous ovum is in the Graafian vesicle.

The youngest embryos examined were less than four fifths of an inch in length, and had the yelk-bag attached ; this last was covered with papillae, arranged in a linear series, but which were not vascular as stated by Valenciennes. Another series of foetuses were more than an inch in length, and resembled the preceding, except that the eye had begun to assume the pecu- liarity of the adult, viz., the dumb-bell-shaped pupil.

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Other foeluses from a third fish were two and a quarter inches in length, about one fourth the length of the parent. The yelk-bag had disappeared, but the abdomen still presented a fissure, or linear umbilicus, extending from between the pectoral fins to near the anus, separating the ventral fins from each other. These last foetuses had escaped from their ovarian sacs, and were contained in the oviduct, which was very much enlarged. The cornea had become divided as in the adult.

It was obvious from comparison, that the older foetuses consisted of a larger mass than that of the younger ones with the yelk-sac. In other words, the fostuses had grown at the expense of other materials than those contained in the yelk. This additional nou- rishment could only be derived from the fluids secreted from the vessels of the parent into the cavity of the embryo-sac, and their subsequent absorption by the foetus. Such a mode of nutrition exists in Torpedo, Embiotoca, and Blenny.

Referring to some allusions in Prof. Wy man's paper, in rela- tion to the mode of development of EmbiotGCoidce, Mr. Charles Girard said he had recently examined several genera and species of that remarkable group of fish, and, were his observations not to appear soon in print,* he should feel more at liberty to enlarge upon that subject. Within the body of the species to which he gave the name of Embiotoca lineata, he found young, three inches in total length and one inch in depth, exhibiting a struc- ture of the dorsal and anal fins, similar to what is said to exist in Rhacochilus toxotes ; f the posterior margin of the cau- dal being truncated, whilst it is more or less crescent-shaped in the adult. An elongated jet black spot was also observed towards the base of the anterior portion of the soft part of the dorsal fin. In Holconotus rhodoterus, as many as sixteen young were de- tected, being about an inch or a little less in total length. The vitelline abdominal sac was still present, leading to the inference that they had but recently escaped from the egg-shell. Their general form was slender and elongated ; the head being rounded anteriorly and deeper than the body, and the snout much less

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. of Philad. Vol. VII. August, 1854. t Amer. Journ. of Sc. Second Series. Vol. XVII. 1854, p. 387. PROCEEDINGS B. S. N, H. — VOL. V. 6 DECEMBER, 1854,

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prominent than in the adult. The ventral fins were more de- veloped than in the parent ; the caudal was rounded off, its cen- tral rays being the longest. The soft portion of the dorsal and of the anal, proved likewise proportionally higher than in the adult, and extended posteriorly to the very base of the caudal, perhaps beyond that region.

Among the zoological features of the family of EmhiotocoidcE^ a marked ventral area had been spoken of as one of the most characteristic. Mr. Girard said that in several members of that group which he had examined, that character was not found. He, nevertheless, wished it to be understood that he did not under- value the researches of others upon that ichthyic group, simply giving here the result of his own investigations.'

The family of Emhiotocoidce^ Mr. Girard further remarked, seem to have representatives in the fresh — as well as in the salt — waters of California, according to recent accounts,* in which several genera are characterized and given as inhabitants of the Sacramento River.

A letter from Sir John Richardson to the President, on some points in the osteology of the Mastodon and Fossil Elephant, v^^as read to the Society. It inclosed a page from the " Zoology of the Herald," now in course of publication in London, with the following comments: —

At page 102, it is stated that the scapula of the Mastodon does not exhibit the remarkable depression which characterizes the fragmentary shoulder-bones found at Swan River. Since I have (through the kindness of the author) had an opportunity of con- sulting Dr. Warren's excellent work on the Mastodon giganteus^f I have discovered this assertion to be erroneous ; a depression in the same part of the shoulder-blade of that species being noticed in the text by that gentleman, and figured in his large plate. The probability therefore is, that the Swan River bones belonged to the Mastodon gigantens, and that the range of that species

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. of Philad. VII. July, 1854.

t Description of the Mastodon f/iyanieiis, by John C. Warren, ]\I. D. Boston, 1852.

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must be extended northwards in Rupert's Land to the fifty-second parallel of latitude, while the provisional geographical designa- tion of Elephas Rupertianus must be expunged.

The depression in question was most likely designed to afford a firmer attachment to the central fasciculi of the infraspinatus muscle ; and a similar one, though not so sharply defined, exists in the scapula of an Indian fossil elephant from the Seewalik hills, deposited by Dr. Falconer in the British Museum and Has- lar Hospital, the parts in question being in them smooth and convex.

The error of my former notice above alluded to, arose from an inspection of Mr. Koch's skeleton of the Mastodon now in the British Museum, whose shoulder-bones exhibit no such de- pression. Neither is this character visible in two other scapulae purchased by the same institution from Mr. Koch as bones of the Mastodon; all the four scapulae having merely some roughness, but no hollow in that part of the infra-spinal surface. From this fact, one might be led to conclude that the concavity in question is merely an individual peculiarity, and does not occur generally in the species ; but it is rare to meet a mere osteological variety so perfectly alike in form in the two limbs as it is in our Swan River scapulse, and, as we presume it to be, in both shoulder- blades of Dr. Warren's Newburgh Mastodon ; for had it been otherwise, that accurate observer would have mentioned it. And the matter admits of another explanation.

Mr. Koch's skeleton, when first brought from America for exhibition in this country, had its parts not only misplaced, but composed of the bones of more than one individual, there being at least five vertebrae too many in the spine. It may therefore be, that the two scapulse now forming part of the skeleton of the British Museum Mastodon, and the two detached ones, are in reality bones of the American fossil Elephant, of which a cra- nium of great size was purchased by the Museum from Mr. Koch. Dr. Warren has shown that the Mastodon giganteus and the great fossil Elephant were coeval (op. cit, p. 142) ; and Mr. Koch may have dug up the remains of both animals from the same deposit. Not the least doubt rests on the authenticity of every part of Dr,

84

Warren's skeleton of the Mastodon, — the account of its disco- very and disinterment being quite cleat.

The Swan River scapulce belonged to an individual of inter- mediate size, between the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Mastodon and Dr. Warren's.

The President observed that it would be very satisfactory, if it could be well established that a depression exists in the infra-spinal surface of the scapula of the Mastodon and not in that of the Elephant. This he had found to be the case with the Mastodons here, and on this account Sir John Richardson transfers the Elephas Rupertianus to the Mas- todon.

Prof. Jeffries Wyman stated that the " Impression of a doubtful sixth toe in some Batrachian footprints," spoken of by President Hitchcock, might be explained by the presence of a tubercle which exists upon the inside of the great toe in this class of animals. Cuvier speaks of a tubercle in this position supported by a single bone. Prof. Wyman has seen in several skeletons, prepared by Mr. Fletcher of the Scientific School of Cambridge, this tubercle supported by a chain of three bones. It is doubtful if these bones are to be considered as true phalanges ; they are more probably, as Cuvier suggests with regard to the single bone, tarsal bones out of place.

Mr. Girard remarked that many Batrachians have two tubercles, one on the great and one on the little toe, so that two supernumerary impressions might in some instances be made.

The President exhibited a small slab from Turner's Falls, bearing upon its upper surface ripple-marks of two different characters, evidently made at different times, and impressions of a doubtful nature. The President, in a late visit to the Connecticut Valley, had obtained from Mr. Field many fine

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specimens of fossils, and had been shown by him a mag- nificent surface of rock, half the size of the library-room of the Society, completely covered with impressions. This rock, however, was in situ, and it was considered impossible to remove the surface in a single piece. Mr. Field has suc- ceeded the late Mr. Marsh in this work, and is much inte- rested in the discovery of fossil impressions. He is disposed to perfect himself in science, and will soon be enabled to turn to good account the discoveries he may make.

Mr. White presented specimens of erratic rocks bearing fossils, from Mt. Katahdin, Me.

Dr. C. T. Jackson remarked that they were of Silurian origin. The south shore of Lake Superior is covered with erratic rocks containing fossils, and this had led to error in studying the geology of Lake Superior.

Prof. Wyman said he had seen on the coast of Labrador, considerably above the sea, fossils in erratic rocks of Silu- rian origin.

Dr. Durkee called attention to a number of valuable works, recently purchased for the Society from the estate of the late Dr. W. L Burnett.

Dr. Storer presented the third number of his work on the Fishes of Massachusetts.

Dr. Storer had received, since the last meeting, a large shark, (Carcharias Atwoodi,) seven feet in length, from Capt. Atwood of Provincetown. It has been figured and described.

Mr. S. D. Shaw, of East Bridgewater, was elected a Resident Member.

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DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

August 2d. Thi-ee crania of American Indians ; by Dr. Josiah C. Nott, of Mo- bile, Ala. A specimen of Chameleo tigris and several birds eggs ;' by Mr. N. H. Bishop.

August 16th. Two petrified eggs from the guano of the Chincha Islands ; by Capt. J. B. Hildreth. A model, in wood, of the Giant's Causeway; by Mr. Henry B. Stanwood. Eggs of Natica heros, from Great Point Light House, Nantucket; by Mr. Frederick Vinton. A bundle of roots of peculiar form, developed inside of a pump-log ; by Mr. Furst.

September 6th. Nest of Tanagra rvbrci^ and a specimen of Copper ore from Coquimbo ; by Mr. N. H. Bishop.

September 20th. Specimens of erratic rocks bearing fossils, from Mt. Katahdin, Maine ; by Mr. White. Baltimore Oriole, Yphantes Baltimore, egg of the do- mestic goose, and eggs of the Chameleon ; by ^Ir. N. H. Bishop.

BOOKS RECEIVED DURING THE QUARTER ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1854.

Report of th€ Commissioner of Patents for 1853. Part I. Arts and Manu- Axctures. 8vo. Washington, 1854. From Hon. S. H. Walley.

Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 1852. Vol. 2d. Madison, 1853. From J. A. Laplmm.

Recherches sur les Roches globuleuses. Par M. Delesse. 4to. Pamph. From the Autho7\

Legislative Reports on the Geology of the State of New York. 1838 - 40. 8vo. Pamph. Albany. From E. C Bech.

Catalogue of the Lyceum of Natural History of Williams College. 8vo. Pamph.- Williamstown, Mass. From the Lyceum.

Notice of the Types of IMankind. By John Bachman, D. D. 8vo. Pamph- Charleston, 1854. From the Author.

Report of the Trustees of the Free Public Library of the City of New Bed- ford. 8vo. 1853 - 4. New Bedford. From T. A. Greene.

Descriptions of new Reptiles from California. By Edward Hallowell, ^I. D. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia, 1854.

Descriptions of new species of Reptiles inhabiting North America. By the Same. 8vo. Pamph. Philadelphia, 1854.

On a new genus and two new species of African Serpents. By the Same. 8vo. Pamph. 1854. From the Author.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By Henry D. Thoreau. [12mo. Boston, 1849.

Walden; or Life in the Woods. By the Same. 12mo. Boston, 1854. Fro7n the Authoi\

Report on the New Water-works of Montreal. 8vo. Pamph. Montreal, 1854.

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Keport ou the Sewerage of ^lontreal. By C. M. Tate. 8vo. Pamph. ]\Iont real. 1854.

Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Natural History Society of Monti-eal. 12mo. Pamph. Montreal, 1854. From L. 11. Latour.

New York Journal of Medicine. New Series. Vol. XIII. Xos. 1, 2. New York, 1854.

American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. X\nn. Nos. 52, 53. New- Haven, 1854.

Farmer's Companion. Vol. IV. Nos. 1, 2, 3. Detroit, 1854.

New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. Edited by Bennet Dowler, M. D. Vol. XI. No. 1. July, 1854.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Vol. VI. 4to. Washington, 1854.

Report of Special Committee of Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti- tution. 8vo. Pamph. Washington, 1854.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. VI. No. 51 ; Janu- ary to June, 1854. 8vo. Philadelphia.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Vol. VII . No. 3. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1854.

Memoires de la Societe de Physique et d' Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. Tome XIU. 4to. Geneve.

Bulletin de la Soci^t^ Geologique de France. Tome X. FeuiUes 23-28. (4 Avril— 16Mai, 1853.) 8vo. Paris.

Bulletin de la Soci^td de Geographic. 4rieme s^rie. Tome VII. 8vo. Paris, 1854. Received in Exchange.

Genera of Recent Mollusca, arranged according to their Organization. By H. and A. Adams. Part XHI. 8vo. London, 1854.

Zeitschrift flir Malakozoologie. Herausgegeben von K. T. Menke, M. D., and L. Pfeiflfer. Nos. 10 - 12. 8vo. 1853.

Malakozoologische Blatter fiir 1854. Als Forsetzung der Zeitschrift fiir Mala- kozoologie. Herausgegeben von denselben. 8vo. pp. 1 - 80. Exchange with H. Cuming.

Systema Saurinarum. Exposuit Chr. Godofredus Nees ab Esenbeck. Dr. 8vo. Berolini, 1836.

Ferns of Jamaica. By James McFadyer, M. D. 8vo. London, 1837.

Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Vol. XIV. Nos. 79, 80. London, 1854.

Cyclopoedia of Anatomy and Physiology. Part 44. June, 1854. 8vo. Lou- don, pp. 33 - 160. From the Courtis Fund.

Recherches sur la Structure Intime du Pouraon de 1' Homme et les principaux IMammif^res. Par M. Rossignol. 4to. Pamph. Bruxelles. 1846.

Histoire Generale et Particuli^re des Anomalies de 1' Organization chez l' Hom- me et les Animaux. Par M. Isidore Geoffi-oy Saint-Hilaire. 8vo. 3 Tomes avec Atlas. Paris, 1832.

Chemistry of Vegetable and Animal Physiology. By G. J. Miiller. Ti'aus- lated by Dr. P. F. H. Fromberg. With Introduction and Notes by J. F. W. Johns- ton. 8vo. London, 1849.

Beitrage zur Mikroscopischen Anatomie und Physiologie des Ganglien-Ner-

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vensystems des Menschen und der Wirbelthiere. Von Carl Axman. 8vo. Pamph. Berlin, 1853.

Cours de Physiologic fait a la Faculte de Medecine de Paris. Par P. Berard. Vols. 2, 3. Svo. Paris, 1848.

Manuel de Physiologie. Par J. Mueller. 2 Tomes. 8vo. Paris, 1851.

Introduction to Modern Classification of liisects. By J. B. Westwood. 2 vols. Svo. London, 1839.

Owen on Parthenogenesis. 8vo. London, 1849.

Practical Treatise on the Use of the Microscope. By John Quekett. Svo. London, 1848.

Monographia Anoplurorum Britannise. By Henry Denny. Svo. London, 1842.

Rudolph Wagner's Icones Physiologicse. Erlaiiterungstafeln zur Physiologie und Entwickelungsgeschichte. VoUstandig n§u Bearbeitet und Herausgegeben von Alex. Ecker. 4to. Leipzig. Pamph. 1852. Purchased from the Library of Dr. W. 1. Burnett.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. 6th edition. Vols. 1-5. 4to. Boston, 1854.

Works of Fisher Ames. Edited by his son, Seth Ames. 2 vols. Svo. Boston, 1854.

Sketches of the Lives and Judicial Services of the Chief Justices of the Su- preme Court of the United States. By G. V. Santvoord. Svo. New York.

Lives of the Queens of Scotland. By Agnes Strickland. Vol. IV. 12mo. New York, 1854.

History of Russia. By Walter K. Kelley. 12mo. Vol. I. London, 1854.

History of the Jesuits. By G. B. Nicolini. 12mo. London, 1854.

History of ^lagic. By Joseph Ennemoser. From the German, by William Howitt. 2 vols. 12mo. London, 1854.

Journey to Central Africa. By Bayard Taylor. 12mo. New York, 1854. Deposited by the Republican Institution.

October 4, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, Dr. Abbot was chosen Secretary pro tern.

Arenicola natalis, Girard.

Mr. Charles Girard stated that, as early as 1849, he had found the genus Arenicola amongst the Annelids of Chelsea beach. During one of his most recent rambles there, on the fifth of Sep-

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tember last, he again met with several specimens, about six inches long, being somewhat smaller than those with which he first became acquainted of that genus. They were greenish brown anteriorly, and brownish green posteriorly ; provided with thirteen pairs of branchial tufts, the anterior and posterior ones being less developed than those in the middle of the series. Six pairs of rudimentary podal appendages were to be observed in front of the foremost branchise ; the caudal region slender, and constituting about two fifths of the entire length, and composed of from forty-five to forty-seven rings, narrowest posteriorly ; its surface covered with roundish granules of a warty appearance, from near its origin to its lip. The body, properly so called, and the cephalic region, were smooth, the latter exhibiting an irreg- ular meshwork of lines, visible to the naked eye. Proboscis granular. Dorsal region marked by a conspicuous smooth line, which, upon the cephalic region, subdivides into a left and right branch, uniting again anteriorly. The name of Arenicola natalis is proposed to distinguish henceforth this species. Its affinities are with A. piscatorum, having the same number of podal append- ages and gills. The cephalic region, however, instead of being so decidedly club-shaped as in the latter, is rather tapering, as well as the caudal region. The reticulation of its anterior region, and the dorsal line alluded to above, will serve as specific fea- tures.

Mr. Girard said he had also found on Chelsea beach a speci- men* of Placohranchus, about a quarter of an inch long, rather stout, blunt anteriorly, and tapering posteriorly, and of a deep greenish hue. He regretted that, on being carried home, the animal died, and thus a more complete description of it he could not now furnish. He would affix to it the name of Placobranchus simplex, being the first species of the coast of the United States to which a name had been applied, and he would avail himself of another opportunity for a critical examination of its specific characters.

Mr. Girard further remarked that while at Cambridge, he came across a specimen of Storeria Dekayi, the abdominal region of which presented a hue very similar to that of Storeria occipito- maculata ; it was salmon-colored throughout, a little lighter under

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the throat and head. The sides of the body were reddish-brown, whilst the middle or dorsal region exhibited a dusky or grayish band, extending from the head to the tip of the tail, and mar- gined with a blackish-brown line, in the midst of which the first series of black spots ran, disappearing, however, upon the tail. The lateral series of spots was not conspicuous, and was only visible distinctly during the act of respiration.

Prof. Wyman remarked that it had probably been frequently noticed by members of the Society, that, at the present season of the year, the common housefly may be frequently seen hanging dead from the ceiling or attached to any surface on which it may be lying, by a filamentous white substance ; and that a white powder, in greater or less quantity, is frequently seen dotted over the neighboring surface. On examining this substance, he had found the insect to have fallen a victim to a parasitic plant grow- ing upon its surface. The white powder proved to be the spores of the parasite. The whole interior of the fly was found to be filled with a similar plant, and probably, from the diflerent way in which it develops itself, of a different species from that on the surface. The internal parasite starts from a spore, and grows by elongation from one or both sides of a sphere, this latter remaining in the middle or at one end. Prof. Wyman exhibited magnified drawings of these parasites, as they appear under the microscope, in their various stages of development.

Prof. Wyman also exhibited a dried preparation of the vocal apparatus of the Howling Monkey of South America. This apparatus has before been described, and consists, in the main, of the same parts as in man, with the addition of a new muscle, now for the first time mentioned, and a peculiar structure of the hyoid bone ; the whole apparatus being enormously magnified, and much larger than in man. The muscle not heretofore no- ticed is a Costo-thyroid, outside of the Slerno-thyroid muscle, and entirely distinct from it.

The President again called the attention of the Society to an inexplicable impression on the Sandstone slab, bearing ripple- marks, which he had exhibited at the previous meeting. He exhibited, in connection with it, several impressions of fossil fish,

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vegetables, &c., but no resemblance could be traced between them sufficient to account for the impression in question. He stated that he had recently received from the same locality, Turner's Falls, a large slab, bearing very distinct impressions of Coniferne.

The Committee appointed to nominate candidates for the vacant curatorships, reported — that it is inexpedient at present to fill those offices. The report was accepted.

October 18, 1854. The President in the Chair.

The President gave a brief history of the Zeuglodon, exhibited a specimen of the teeth, and monographs upon this subject by Koch, Carus, and Miiller. The first speci- men of Zeuglodon was brought before the public by Dr. Koch several years since, and exhibited under the name of Hydrarchos, in New York and Boston. This specimen was represented by Dr. Koch to be comparatively perfect, and to contain the bones of one animal only ; but Prof. Wyman detected falsifications or mistakes in several portions of the skeleton, and satisfied himself that the bones belonged to different individuals. This specimen was sold to the king of Prussia for a large sum, (in the neighborhood of fifteen or twenty thousand dollars,) and is now in his possession. Prof. Carus considered it a veritable specimen, and pub- lished his monograph upon it as such.

A second skeleton of the Zeuglodon is now in Boston, and belongs to the President of this Society. It is about seventy feet long, and numbers about forty vertebrae, many of them quite perfect. There is a good portion of the cranium and lower jaw, a perfect os humeri, etc.

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A third skeleton, the most remarkable of all, is repre- sented by Dr. Koch to have been the second found by him. This specimen, which measured one hundred and twenty feet, and had a very perfect head, was carried from this country to Dresden, and afterwards exhibited in Breslau and Vienna.

In connection with this subject, the President exhibited Pontoppidan's figure of the Sea-serpent, and observed that he believed in the existence of such an animal, that there were many well-authenticated facts in favor of its existence, and that very possibly the Zeuglodon and the Sea-serpent are anatomically similar.

Dr. C. T. Jackson communicated some chemical re- searches, which he had recently made on the composition of the scales of the Gar-pike.

He slated that he had discovered fluorine as one of their com- ponents, and had etched glass with the fluo-hydric acid, elimi- nated from the ashes of the scales by the action of sulphuric acid. The analysis was yet incomplete, but he would state that the scales contain 45.2 per cent, of animal matter, destructible by heat, and that the mineral matters consist of phosphate of lime, fluoride of calcium, and phosphate of magnesia, with some carbonate of lime. The proportion of lime, in 100 grains of the ashes, was 45.1 per cent., and of magnesia 8.8 per cent., while the phosphoric acid, already separated in this preliminary or qualitative analysis, was 29.96 per cent.

A complete analysis will soon be finished, and reported to this Society.

He remarked that the search for fluorine was suggested by an idea communicated to him by Mr. C. Girard, that the scales of fishes were "supposed to be anatomically homologous with the enamel of teeth," an idea that now is sustained by chemical analogy.

Dr. J. B. S. Jackson exhibited the leaves and pods of the

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Castor-oil plant, (Ricinus communis,) raised this season in Dorchester, from seeds brought from the West.

A letter was read from Mr. Charles Girard, asking ex- changes for Sir William Jardine, of specimens of Fossil Footprints of America, for those of Annandale, Scotland, figured in the work of Sir William, on the " Ichnology of Annandale." Referred to the former Committee on the Greenfield Fossils.

The Corresponding Secretary announced the reception of the following letters, viz : —

From Thure Kumlein of Wisconsin, Rev. A. C. Barry of Wisconsin, and Prof. L. P. Yandell of Louisville, ac- knowledging the reception of diplomas as Corresponding Members. From the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- delphia, Smithsonian Institution, and from L. A. H. Latour of Montreal, acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings of the Society. From the Regents of the University of New York, presenting the Octavo Geological Reports of that State, and acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings. From the California Academy of Natural Sciences, present- ing the Proceedings of that Society, and requesting an inter- change of publications. From the Natural History Society of Williams College, acknowledging a donation of books, &c., and from S. W. Woodhouse, presenting the Report of theZuni Expedition.

November 1, 1854. The President in the Chair.

Present also by invitation, T. S. Hunt, Esq., of the Geo- logical Commission of Canada.

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The Secretary read a letter from Dr. William O. Ayres, of San Francisco, to Dr. Storer, offering to the Society a description of Californian Fishes, the commencement of a series which he hopes to continue.

He remarked, that " a very large proportion of the fishes of California are, without doubt, as yet undescribed ; many of them present a singular grouping of characters, and a thorough examination will probably result in numerous mo- difications of what have been deemed established generic divisions, extending some and limiting others. My own researches are already sufficient to indicate this."

NEW SPECIES OF CALIFORNIAN FISHES, BY WILLIAM O. AYEES, M. D.

In our markets, we find fishes constantly offered for sale, in great numbers, under the names of Rock Fish and Rock Cod. They bear always a high price, and constitute one very import- ant item in the sum total of our fisheries, and of course in the resources of the State. They are taken in rocky localities along the coast and in the Bay of San Francisco, and the title — Rock Fish — applies to them very well. One more inappro- priate, on the contrary, than that of Rock Cod, could scarcely have been selected, inasmuch as they are very widely removed from the family in which the Codfishes are classed. Four dis- tinct species of them we have already detected here, all belong- ing to the genus Sehastes ; three of these are believed to be new. We were not previously aware of the existence of more than one species of this genus {S. Norvegicus^Cuw.) in the United Slates — it is the Hemdurgan of the Massachusetts Bay fishermen. Two of our species are very closely allied to each other; a de- scription is accordingly given of the one which appears most nearly typical (S. nehulosus) ; and of the other (S. ruber), the points of specific distinction from nehulosus alone are needed.

Sebastes paucispinis, Ayres. Length five and a half inches ; depth one inch and one tenth ;

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length of head one inch and seven tenths, being a trifle less than one third the total length. Form elongated, much compressed.

Scales very small, covering all parts of the fish except the fins, the throat, and the space anterior to the eyes.

Spines of the head, not largely developed. The preoperculum has about five, distinct, flat, sharp ; the largest about a line in length. The operculum has two, distinct but small ; the mem- branous part projects slightly beyond them. The suborbital, on its anterior inferior border has three or four, quite small. The other parts of the head have none, except that a slender incon- spicuous ridge along the border of each parietal bone is free at its tip. A very small spine at the summit of the humeral cinc- ture.

, The loioer jaw is longer than the upper, and projects beyond it in such a manner that when the mouth is closed it prolongs the line of the dorsal aspect of the head. The line of closure of the mouth is very oblique upwards; the gape large, so that the point of the maxillary lies beyond the middle of the eye.

Teeth fine, crowded, and even, in the lower jaw, on the inter- maxillaries, the vomer, the palatine bones, and the pharyngeals; those on each superior pharyngeal are in three patches.

Lateral line following nearly the curve of the back.

The spinous part of the dorsal^ arising above the opercular angle, is an inch and a half in length ; the rays increase in height to the fourth, which measures eleven twentieths of an inch, as do the two succeeding, and thence the height decreases ; the last ray seems to constitute rather a part of the soft dorsal, it is higher than the one preceding. The soft portion of the dorsal is an inch in length, half an inch in height; height diminishing posteriorly.

Anal about coterminal with the dorsal, rounded, six tenths of an inch in length ; height equal to the length.

Pectorals rounded, one fourth of an inch in length, nine tenths in height, destitute of any thickened membrane, the four lower rays simple.

Ventrals even with the pectorals, three fourths of an inch in height.

Caudal somewhat concave, three fourths of an inch in height.

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D. 13-13; A. 3-7; V. 1-6; P. 15; C. 12.

Color plain reddish-brown above, lighter beneath.

Sebastes nebulosus, Ayres.

My description is drawn from a specimen thirteen inches in length, weighing two pounds and a half, which may be deemed about their average size.

Form compressed ; head large, four inches in length ; greatest depth an inch anterior to the opercular angle, being there equal to the length of the head ; body tapering thence to the tail ; width of the head two inches and three fourths, width decreasing poste- riorly.

Scales covering the body, operculum, preoperculum, suboper- culum, suborbitals, and top of the head to the anterior border of the orbit.

Head spinous ;^ a row of five spines forming a crest on each side of the head, viz : a nasal spine, one at the anterior superior border of the orbit, one on the summit of the orbit half an inch in length, one posterior to the orbit three tenths of an inch in length, one posterior to this and nearer the median line, eight tenths of an inch in length ; the last three are horizontal, and are merely strong ridges with a free spinous apex; the preoperculum is bordered with (commonly) five flat spines about two tenths of an inch in height ; the opercular bone ends in two flat, strong, free spines, the upper one being a fourth of an inch in length; the membranous operculum projects about four tenths of an inch beyond these ; the suboperculum term.inates posteriorly in a con- cealed spine; even the anterior suborbital shows on its inferior border an indication of spinous points ; the bones of the humeral cincture exhibit three well-marked spines.

Eyes an inch in longitudinal diameter.

Nostrils immediately anterior to the eyes, the anterior orifice having a membranous prolongation of its posterior border, two tenths of an inch in height.

Teeth fine, and crowded in the lower jaw, on the intermaxilla- ries, the vomer, the palatine bones, and the superior and inferior pharyngeals ; those on the superior pharyngeals are in three patches on each side.

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Lateral line nearly straight. . Dorsal fin arising a little anterior to the opercular angle ; the spinous .portion is four inches and a half in length, the spines stout and strong, increasing in length from the first, which is only six tenths of an inch, to the fourth, which is two inches high, the height diminishing thence posteriorly; the soft portion of the fin is two and a half inches in length, rounded, an inch and a half in height. The anterior portion of the spinous part of the fin presents a beautiful serrated appearance, from the fact that the membrane is attached to the anterior border of each spine at some distance from the summit.

The anal fin, terminating two inches from the caudal, is an inch and three fourths in length, which is not quite equal to the height of the soft rays.

Pectorals rounded, two inches and a half in height, three fourths of an inch in length ; the inferior rays are thickened, undivided, free at their tips.

Ventrals a little posterior to the pectorals, rounded, two and one fourth inches in height.

Caudal slightly rounded, an inch and a half in height, three inches wide when expanded.

Small scales extend far up on all the fins.

Branchial rays, seven.

D. 13-13; A. 3-8; V. 1-5; P. 7-10; C. 11.

In co?or, this fish is finely mottled with dusky yellow and dark brown ; on the fins the latter hue predominates, and the lighter mottlings have rather a bluish aspect.

Sebastes ruber, Ayres.

This species is very closely allied to S. nehulosus, but may be thus distinguished. S, ruber has the crests of the orbits scarcely elevated above the surface of the head ; in nehulosus they are very prominent, forming quite a deep furrow between them ; — ruber has a pair of small flat spines on the top of the head not found in ncbulosus ; they are before, and a little within the last pair mentioned in that species; — ruber has all the spines less strongly developed than nebulosus ; — in ruber the thickness and bulk of the head, as compared with the entire fish, are decidedly

proceedings B. S. N. H. vol. v. 7 FEBRUARY, 1855.

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less than in nehulosus ; — riiher has the anterior inferior border of the operculum serrated ; in nehulosus it is plain ; — ruber is of a bright red color, nearly uniform, except that it grows lighter beneath ; nehulosus is clouded, as described ; — ruber grows to a greater size, often weighing ten to twelve pounds ; nehulosus sel- dom exceeds four pounds.

Sebastes ruber, var. parvus, Ayres. This is distinguished from the typical form, by having the head more depressed, with the top more flattened, the spines of the head more slender, the lower jaw longer, the body more compressed, and the color dark brown ; it is also always of small size, seldom exceeding half a pound in weight.

This will probably yet require to be separated from ruber, as a distinct species. It is exceedingly abundant here.

S. ruber is closely allied to S. Norvegicus, Cuv. It is, how- ever, distinct by the proportions of the fins, the length of the lower jaw, the size of the head and development of its spines, and the form of the tail.

Sebastes variabilis, Cuv.

Under this name I place a species of Rock Fish, which is not uncommon in the markets, of a plain blackish-brown color, lighter beneath, with no spines on the top of the head, except occasionally a slight indication of a nasal spine, with the edge of the suborbitars nearly smooth, and having a weight of one to two pounds. Cuvier's specimens were derived from the Aleutian Islands, and the only transcript of his description in my posses- sion is so brief, as to render it a little uncertain whether our fish is identical with his ; it may yet prove distinct. The fin-ray for- mula agrees closely.

Of the Rock Fish which have been here described, S. ruber is the most abundant, and the most important commercially ; it is consumed in large quantities daily, and is, like the others, an excellent fish. S. nehulosus is less numerous, though still quite common. S. variabilis cannot be considered common, and of S. paucispinis I have seen but a few specimens.

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Centkarchus maculosus, Ayres.

This species is very common in our markets, where it is sold under the name of Perch, as are also several of the viviparous fishes. It is brought from the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, and is one of our most esteemed fishes. The spe- cimen from which my description is taken is of about the average size ; it is eight and three quarters inches in length.

Form oval, compressed ; greatest height two inches and nine tenths, just behind the pectorals. Back arched ; forehead slightly concave ; length of the head equal to the height of the body.

Scales large and firm, covering all parts except the fins, the top of the head, the throat, and the space anterior to the eyes.

The posterior angle of the operculum is rounded and furrowed, presenting the appearance somewhat of a large scale ; the edges of the preoperculum, interoperculum, suboperculum, scapular bone, and anterior suborbital are also finely denticulated.

Lateral line nearly concurrent with the back ; number of scales in its course about forty-two.

Teeth fine, even, and crowded in the lower jaw, on the inter- maxillaries, the vomer, palatine bones, and pharyngeals.

The dorsal fin arises a very little posterior to the opercular angle. The spinous portion is two inches and one fourth in length, arched, highest at about the eighth ray, (three fourths of an inch,) the first rays very short ; the last spinous ray seems to constitute rather a part of the succeeding soft portion of the fin, and is higher than the rays preceding it. The soft part of the dorsal is rounded, one inch and one eighth in both length and height.

The anal is coterminal with the dorsal. The spinous portion is eight tenths of an inch in length, the spines increasing in length to the last, which is nine tenths of an inch high. The soft part of the fin is an inch in length, the height being a little greater. The spines of both anal and dorsal are stout and strong, those of the anal especially.

Pectorals rounded, an inch and a half in height.

Ventrals fan-shaped, an inch and one tenth in height.

Caudal slightly concave, an inch and three tenths high.

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D. 13-1] ; A. 6-10; V. 1-5; P. 15; C. 16.

Color, when dead, dark grayish brown on the upper parts, be- coming lighter beneath, with large, irregular, dark blotches on the sides, extending both above and below the lateral line. The fins resemble in color the part of the body on which they are situated ; the living fish I have not had an opportunity of seeing.

The only Centrarclius with which this need be compared is the ceneus, Le S. The resemblance here is indeed close, and 9nacu- losus may without doubt be considered the representative in our Pacific region of ceneus in the Eastern. The Californian fish may be distinguished by the more arched dorsal outline, (that of the forehead being, on the contrary, concave,) by the greater height of the spinous portion of the dorsal fin, as compared with the soft rays of the same fin, by the difference in position of the origin of the anal fin, by the form of the opercular angle, and by the colors.

In one or two points this species fails to comply with the defi- nitions of the genus Centrarclius, as hitherto given. And we may here remark that our researches have already proceeded far enough to show that a complete investigation of Californian ichthyology will probably result in numerous modifications of established genera, extending perhaps the limits of some, while those of others will be narrowed.

MoRRHUA Californica, Ayrcs.

The Tomcod, as this species is called by our fishermen, is without doubt closely allied to Morrhua pruinosa, Mitch., the Tomcod and Frostfish of our Atlantic coasts, and may be deemed its representative here. It differs from it, however, in form, in the relative proportions of the head, in the position and size of the fins, &c. A description, touching the points in which it is distinguished from pruinosa is therefore all that is needed.

The specimen employed is seven inches in length ; about their average size.

The length of the head is one fourth of the total length ; in pruinosa it is only about one sixth.

The protrusion of the abdomen is much less, as compared with

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the bulk of the body posterior to it, the vertical diameter at the origin of the third dorsal being two thirds of the greatest depth, while in pruinosa it is only one half.

The first dorsal is one inch in height, three fourths of an inch in length, acutely triangular, the first ray longest.

The second dorsal^ separated from the first by an interval of one fourth of an inch, is one inch in length, seven tenths of an inch in height.

The third dorsal, distant half an inch from the second, is nine tenths of an inch in length, three fourths of an inch in height.

The first anal,, originating opposite the termination of the first dorsal, is one inch and a half in length, which is just double the hpight.

The second anal^ one fourth of an inch from the first, equals the last dorsal in length, and is coterminal with it ; it is half an inch high.

The pectorals are more pointed than in pruinosa.

The ventrals^ corresponding in situation, are nine tenths of an inch in height, first and second rays free at tip, second longest.

Caudal nearly even.

The lateral line, arching somewhat above the pectoral, does not assume a straight course till nearly opposite the end of the second dorsal.

Color commonly plain greenish-brown above, lighter on the sides, silvery beneath ; irides silvery.

D. 12-16-18; A. 23- 20; P. 20 ; V. 6; C. 26, with about eleven short ones.

M. Californica is abundant in the Bay of San Francisco, and along the coast.

Labrus pulcher, Ayres.

This species, one of the finest of our fishes, makes its appear- ance in the markets about the first of August, and continues in season till near the close of February. They are sold by the fishermen, under the name of Blackfish, and are also not unfre- quently called Sheepshead. Specimens are often seen weighing eight to ten pounds. My description is taken from one sixteen and a half inches in length, weighing two pounds and a half.

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Form very similar to that of Tautoga Americana. Greatest depth one fourth the total length. Length of the head, five inches and one fourth. Forehead protuberant, especially in large indi* viduals, from an accumulation of fat immediately above the eyes.

Lips thick, loose, and fleshy.

Teeth on the intermaxillaries and in the lower jaw alike, con- sisting externally of a single row, stout and conical, of which the two anterior pairs are much larger than the others, and project forward ; within this external row is a band of blunt, rounded teeth, not arranged in regular rows, scarcely projecting above the membranes. No teeth on the palatine bones or the vomer. Teeth on the pharyngeals, merely flat tessellated tubercles ; on the inferior pharyngeal, a few of the anterior ones are distinct, conical.

Edges of the operculum and preoperculum destitute of spines or serrations. Scales deeply imbedded, not conspicuous, elong- ated, subquadrangular, covering the body, the operculum, the preoperculum, and the suboperculum ; extending but slightly on the vertical fins.

The rays of all the fins are enveloped in a thickened, partially opaque, membrane.

The spinous portion of the dorsal fin is four inches and four tenths in length ; the spines are stout and strong, and each one is continued by a fleshy prolongation, one to two fifths of an inch in extent, thus making the height of this portion of the fin about an inch and a fourth. The membranous portion is two inches and one fourth in length, rounded, two inches and one fourih in height of the central rays.

The anal fin, coterminal with the dorsal, is two and three fourths inches in length, two and a half inches in height.

The pectorals are nine tenths of an inch in length, two inches and three fourths in height.

The ventrals, a little posterior to the pectorals, are four tenths of an inch in length, two inches and one fourth in height.

The caudal^ slightly concave, is two inches and a half in height of the external rays, four inches in breadth when ex- panded.

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D. 12-10; A. 3-12; P. 18; V. 1-5; C. 14.

In color^ this fish is commonly of a dark blackish-brown, fighter beneath, with the chin nearly white. In many specimens, a broad vertical red band encircles the body, from the angle of the operculum half way to the caudal fin ; this character, how- ever, is not constant.

Lahrus pulcher is not taken in our immediate vicinity. Those sold in our markets are brought chiefly from near San Diego, and I am not able to learn that the species is found north of Point Concepcion. Indeed, there is reason to believe that that Cape will be shown, by future observation, to indicate a sort of barrier in our maritime Fauna, separating *he north from the south.

This species is somewhat closely allied to Tautoga Americana, (of which it may perhaps be deemed the Pacific representative,) though the arrangement of the teeth, and the scaly surface of the operculum and preoperculum, will not allow it to be included in the same genus. It is distinguished from Laclinolaiinus by the structure of the pharyngeal teeth, and from Cossyphus by the scaling of the fins, and the smoothness of the preoperculum.

The following communication from Dr. Ayres, on the American Hydras, was also presented.

At the first November meeting of the Society, in 1850, (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist,, Vol. iii, page 354,) Prof. Agassiz gave spe- cific names to two species of Hydra found in the vicinity of Boston. He accompanied the names, however, with no descrip- tions, basing them simply on the assumption that but two Ameri- can species existed, one brown and one green, corresponding to two European types. In California,! have found another brown Hydra, quite distinct from the one so common in New England. The name carnea, proposed by Prof. Agassiz, has therefore no means of identification, except our local knowledge of the animal for which it was intended. But rather than introduce new names, we will retain those mentioned by him, through restricting their application. Our American Hydras, therefore, as at present dis- covered, are three.

1. H. gracilis, Agass. Very small, of a bright green, closely

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allied to H. viridis, but much more extensible. Found in the eastern part of Massachusetts, probably in other parts of the East- ern States. •

2. H. carnea.) Agass. Larger than the gracilis^ of a light reddish brown color, allied to H.fusca, but having the tentacula shorter. Found in Massachusetts and Connecticut very abund- antly ; much more common than the last.

3. H. tenuis, Ayres. About the size of the carnea, which it resembles in color, and to which it is allied, but from which it differs in the same point and to about the same degree as carnea differs i^romfusca ; the tentacula are much less developed, hav- ing not more than about half the size of those of carnea. In micro- scopic structure it resembles carnea as closely as that does^wsca. It is found very abundantly near San Francisco, Cal.

Whether we shall yet detect, on the Pacific side of the moun- tains, a green species to represent H. gracilis, or perhaps others entirely distinct, is left for future research.

Dr. Durkee exhibited, under the microscope, the rostrum or sting of the common Mosquito, (Culex pipiens.)

Dr. Durkee remarked that one of the most remarkable features in the anatomy of the mosquito is, that the parts which consti- tute the mouth are elongated so as to form a beak extendino; hori- zontally like that of some birds. The beak or sting is about half the length of the body, and to the unassisted eye appears to be very simple in its structure. When examined with the micro- scope, however, it is found to be composed of seven different parts, which are comparatively stout on one edge. These parts vary in length, and can be separated from each other without much difficulty. They are broad at the upper part, where they are united to the head, and they gradually taper to a point. One of the parts is a tubular canal or groove, in which the others are lodged when the proboscis is not in use. Dr. Durkee stated that he had not been able to find any appearance of teeth, except on the two longest pieces ; in these he had found them near the tip. The two longest pieces, also, are marked by transverse lines, extending from one edge to the other, throughout their whole length.

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Mr. T. S. Hunt, upon being introduced to the Society by Dr. Bacon, made some remarks upon the continuation of the metamorphic rocks of the New England Stales, into Canada East ; upon the composition of Dolomites, the differ- ent theories of their formation, &c., and gave his own theory of their production.

The President, from the Committee appointed to consider the proposal of exchange of geological specimens, with Sir William Jardine, of Scotland, reported, that after consulta- tion with Mr. Bouve, they had concluded that it was inex- dedient to make such exchange at present.

The President remarked that some time since he had stated that, though a matter of great doubt, he thought it probable that, at some time, the impressions of insects and their tracks would be found in solid rock. Since making that observation, he had received several small slabs, upon which are tracks, apparently, if not really made by insects, 'which resemble the tracks of the cricket, cockroach, or beetle. Upon several specimens, these tracks are of the same width and general appearance ; and the individual foot prints, if they may be so considered, are alike in all the specimens. These specimens were from the banks of the Connecticut. One of the slabs likewise presented an im- pression very much like that of a spider's body and extremi- ties.

Mr. Bouve said that he had seen tracks of the cricket upon the sand of the sea shore, of similar appearance to the impressions in question.

Messrs. Samuel S. Wilson and George H. Marden were elected Resident Members.

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November 18, 1854.

The President in the Chair.

Dr. Diirkee read a paper on the structure and habits of the Culex pipiens, or Mosquito. Speaking of the mandibu- lar apparatus, he remarked :

" Upon the two mandibles, as described by Westwood, I have succeeded in bringing out the teeth at the tip. There are ten on each mandible or jaw. The jaws have also transverse lines, ex- tending from one edge to the other, throughout their who'le length. These markings are extremely delicate, and look not unlike the teeth of a sickle, and are not found on any of the other pieces, which appear to be perfectly smooth, and terminate in an ex- tremely sharp point. The two flat, button-like bodies, at the extremity of the lower lip, are united to the latter by means of a joint."

Dr. Durkee had verified the observation of Cuvier and other naturalists, that the male Mosquito does not suck blood, not being furnished with an apparatus for the pur- pose. He had also followed out the process of reproduc- tion in these insects, in all its details, confirming the obser- vations heretofore made. The unusual abundance of these insects in the city of Boston, during the past summer, and their unusual scarcity in the surrounding country, he ascribed to the better opportunity afforded in the city for their multi- plication, in the numerous wells and cisterns in disuse from the supply of Cochituate water, while