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BeOwsuy ON: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY. TRUBNER & CO., 60 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. Eee 2. PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. T. T. Bouvet. Tuomas M. BREWER. SaAmMuEL LL. ABBOY. A. S. PACKARD, JR. Epw. BURGESS. PRESS OF A. A. KINGMAN. MUSEUM OF BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, BERKELEY STREET, PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. TAKEN FROM THE SOCIETY’S RECORDS. Wednesday, June 15, 1870. Vice President, Dr. C. T. Jackson, in the chair. Forty-eight persons present. Voted, on motion of Mr. C. J. Sprague, to suspend the rules and make the Report of the Nominating Committee first in the order of proceedings. Mr. Edward Pickering, in behalf of the Nominating Com- mittee, presented the following report :— The committee appointed at the last meeting of the Society to nominate a President, have attended to that duty, and beg leave to report. The name which first suggested itself to your Committee was that of our first Vice-President, Charles T. Jackson, one of the earliest, most constant and devoted of the friends of this Society. Upon his unwearying interest in its welfare, his liberal contributions to its treasures, his courtesy as a presiding officer, his well-known scientific attainments, it is not necessary, in the presence of this Society to enlarge. We are all witnesses. But the reception of the following letter has prevented the Committee from offering his name as a candidate tor the office. PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 1 JUNE, 1871. Pickering.] 2, [June 15, Boston, June 13, 1870. Epwarp PickerInG, Esq., Chairman of Committee. My Dear Sir: Having been informed that the Committee on Nomination of Pres- ident of the Boston Society of Natural History were disposed to offer my name as a candidate for that office, I beg leave through you to say to the Committee, that however highly I consider the proposed honor, I cannot consent to become a candidate, since my health, which is often impaired, especially in the winter months, might be inadequate to the very important duties and constant atten- tion required of the first officer of the Society. So far as my health and ability will permit, I shall always be happy to labor for the interests of the Society, and whatever influence I can exert will be in its favor. A younger man than myself, I believe, would be able to serve the Society as President much better than I can, and my personal preference would be in favor of the promotion of the second Vice- President, Mr. T. T. Bouvé, to the Presidency of the Society. Most cordially thanking the Committee for their favorable con- ’ sideration, I have the honor to be, Your Obt. Servt. Cuarues T. JACKSON. I am under these circumstances instructed by the Committee to propose for the office of President of this Society, the name of our second Vice-President, Thomas T. Bouvé. KE. PickERING, for the Committee. Boston, June 15, 1870. It was then moved by Dr. C. F. Winslow that the report be accepted, and that the Society proceed to ballot for the candidate presented by the Nominating Committee. Dr. J. B. 8. Jackson moved, as an amendment, that the ballot be postponed to a meeting to be held on Wednesday next, of which notice shall be given in the newspapers on the Monday and Tuesday preceding, and on Wednesday, the day of the meeting. Dr. D. H. Storer moved, as a second amendmcni, that the ballot be postponed to the first meeting in October. 1870.] 3 [Bliss. The amendments were rejected, and the motion of Dr. Winslow prevailed. The ballot was ordered. Dr. J. C. White and Mr. B. P. Mann were appointed scruteneers. They announced as the result that thirty-three votes had been cast, thirty-one of which were for Mr. Thomas T. Bouvé, and he was declared elected. The Secretary read a list of nominations for membership. The following communications were presented : — ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE ANTERIOR VERTEBR&H IN Doras NIGER, WITH A COMPARISON OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE Dorsat Fin in DorAs AND Battistes.! By Ricuarp Buiss, JR. In the preparation of the present paper I have limited myself to a discussion of the above mentioned subjects, in the hope of being able at some future day to prepare, with appropriate illustrations, a monographic work on the Osteology of the Doradide. Hence the consideration of the osteology of the head, shoulder-girdle, pelvis, etc., has here been omitted. The tendency of the anterior vertebre to coalesce, so peculiar to the cartilaginous Sturgeons and Plagiostomes, is also manifested in some of the osseus fishes, it being particularly noticeable in Fistularia, Dactylopterus, many Cyprinoids, the Siluroids and allied families. In Fistularia the four anterior centrums are greatly elongated and anchylosed, their parapophyses unite to form a continuous lateral ridge on each side of the centrums, and the neural spines form a similar ridge above them. In Dactylopterus the first four centrums are united into a tube sustaining a solid wall above, formed by the union of the neural and interneural spines. 1 Having been engaged in the study of fishes, under the direction of Professor Agassiz, at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for several years, I have had ample opportunity of studying the different modifications of fin-structure in the various genera of Siluroids and Doroids, the collection brought by Professor Agassiz from Brazil being exceedingly rich in the genera and species of these families, to which valuable material I have had free access during the preparation of this paper. Bliss.] 4 [June 15, t In the Cyprinoids the three anterior centrums are soldered to- gether. The parapophyses arising from them exhibit a modification _ of structure quite remarkable. The coalesced neural spines are much developed, but the interneurals are small, and exhibit no striking peculiarities. But it isin the Siluroid and its allied family, the Doradidz, that this enlargement of the centrums, and the modification of their apophy- ses and spines is carried to its greatest extent. In these groups the centrums are so firmly united that the sutures are almost obliterated. The neural and interneural spines are often so thoroughly united as to form a solid wall extending from the centrum to the nuchal plates, separating the right and left halves of that portion of the body above the vertebral column. ‘The parapophyses of these soldered vertebree present the most diverse forms, sometimes appearing as porous, rounded prominences, as in Doras niger, at other times uniting and forming a broad shield projecting from the sides of the coalesced centrums, as in Perinampus typus. Intimately connected with this extraordinary condition of the ver- tebral elements, are the modifications which we observe in the osseous rays of the dorsal fin of these fishes. The lateral apophyses of the interneural spine supporting the first fin rays, not only serve as articulating surfaces for the bases of the rays, as is ordinarily the case, but spread out into dermal plates, which unite together in a sincular manner to form a nuchal shield, to which Cuvier gave the name of “ bouclier.”1 In Doras niger the united anterior vertebrae are four in number, the first three exhibiting modified parapophyses; in the third is seen the first indication of a costal organization. The first centrum is quite small, and is closely united to the basilar bone by a serrated suture. Its small, thin, neural spine rests anteriorly against the prolonged occipital crest; posteriorly it is united to the first neural spine of the next vertebra, and there rising half way to the shield covering the neck, meets the point of the first interneural spine. 1 For a detailed description of the fin structure in the various families of fishes, I would refer to a series of papers by Dr. Rudolph Kner, ‘‘ Ueber den Flossenbau der Fische,’’ published in the Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, Vols. xi, pp. 807-824. 1860 ; x11, pp. 232-260, 1860; x1, pp. 128-152, 1861; xxiv, pp.49-80, 1861. 1870.] 5 | [Bliss, ‘ This interneural spine, which is small and thin, expands at its upper extremity into a thick, superiorly arched plate which forms a part of the nuchal shield. Anteriorly this plate is united by sutures to the supraoccipital and parietal bones. Posteriorly it is embraced by the two anterior branches of the dermal plate belonging to the second interneural spine. Cuvier, Meckel and others, have described this plate as a lateral expansion of the top of the first interneural spine, affirming that this spine had no corresponding fin ray. This seems to me, however, to be incorrect, for this plate, although in many species closely united to the interneural spine, appears to be, in reality, a modified dermoneural spine —the first spine of the dorsal fin,— thus altered from its normal form to constitute a part of the defensive armor of the neck. An examination of our common Amiurus catus tends to confirm this view; for in that species the homologue of this plate is not soldered to the upper end of the _interneural spine, but rests loosely upon it; showing that it is a dis- tinct bone. This plate, above described, exhibits every variety of form in the different members of the Doras and Siluroid families. In some it is very large, and forms a prominent bone in the nuchal shield. In others, as in Oxydoras, it is a slender, lozenge-shaped piece inter- calated between the supraoccipital and the large plate of the second interneural spine. In many Siluroids it is removed from the cranial bones, uniting only with the supraoccipital at its posterior extremity. This is the case in Perinampus typus. In Amiurus catus we find it reduced to its minimum of development, and hidden under the thick skin of the body. The second centrum is six times as long as the first, and carries an anterior and posterior pair of parapophyses, not united together at their bases, as is the case in many Siluroids. ‘The anterior pair of these apophyses consist of thin, vertically expanded plates, arising in common from the centrum and the neural spine above, and expand- ing at their extremities into porous spatulate discs, to which the anterior portion of the air bladder is attached. Ordinarily in the Siluroids the extremities of these apophyses are not thus modified, but unite by synarthrosis with the suprascapula. Between the cen- trum and the bases of these apophyses are found, on each side, three small curiously shaped bones united to one another and to the cen- trum by ligaments. Posteriorly these bones afford attachment toa portion of the investing sheath of the air bladder. ‘The anterior Bliss.] 6 [June 15, portion of the larger bone passes through an opening im the basi- occipital into the cavity of the cranium. These bones have received the name of “the bones of Weber,” in honor of Weber, who first described them, and who homologized them with the bones of the ear in mammals. Owen, in his “Anatomy of the Vertebrates ” (Vol. I, p. 844, et seq.), shows them to be a part of the auditory apparatus, connecting the acoustic labyrinth with the air bladder. Owen says Weber mistook the relation of analogy for one of homology when he named them malleus, incus, and stapes.? The posterior pair of parapophyses consist of small and thin trian gular plates rising outward and upward, for a short distance, from the centrum. In the first centrum of Doras niger the hemapophyses exist as downward prolongations of the centrum, forming a deep furrow in its inferior surface. In the second centrum the furrow is closed for nearly its entire leneth by the union of the hemapophyses. In the third and fourth centrums the hemapophyses form a furrow, as in the first, which exists also in the two following centrums, though much less distinctly marked. Hence the hemapophyses form a continuous furrow on the under surface of the coalesced centrums, but unite in the second so as to form a tube. The second centrum has not only two pairs of parapophyses, but also two neural spines. The first neural spine of this centrum (the second spine of the vertebral column) starts from the anterior por- tion of the centrum, above the anterior parapophyses, and rising upward and backward, meets the downward prolongation of the second interneural spine, to which it is firmly united. ‘This inter- neural spine has two outstanding lateral wings ; these expand supe- riorly, and uniting form a single broad and arched dermal plate, 1'This view of Weber was strongly opposed by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who consid- ered these bones to be the modified ribs of the first, second and third vertebrae. Meckel was inclined to agree with Weber in considering them the homologues of the bones of the ear. Saagmans Mulder described the bones as a part of the audi- tory apparatus; believing the air bladder to be identical with the tympanic mem- brane. Later, however, he came to the conclusion that the bones considered by Weber as malleus and incus, were but ribs; and the stapes as transverse apophyses of the first vertebra. Brechet believed them to belong to the auditory apparatus, and Valenciennes considered them as special bones. Baudelot reviews the subject at some length in ‘‘ Comptes Rendus”’ for 1868, pp. 330-334 and comes to the conclu sion that these bones represent the superior arches of the first and second vertebrz the inferior arch of the third, and the os intercrural parted in two. 1870.] 7 (Bliss. which covers the neck immediately in front of the dorsal fin. The anterior, posterior and lateral margins of this plate are concave, forming a pair of arm-like projections in front and behind. The anterior arms partially clasp the plate, which I consider to be the first dermoneural spine, and unite by suture with the two parictals and with the posterior angles of the suprascapular bones. The pos- terior arms embrace the second dermoneural spine, and are firmly united to the two lateral apophyses of the third interneural spine. Behind the plate just described rises the second dermoneural spine ; but so modified that its true nature as a fin-ray is not at first discernible. A smooth bony projection or keel rises from the top of the second interneural spine, behind and somewhat beneath the roof formed by the last described dermal plate. This keel, which is somewhat sharply ridged and rounded anteriorly, supports the second dermoneural spine. This spine is a short, triangular, forked bone, anteriorly convex and posteriorly concave. When in posi- tion it rides upon the keeled crest, and is hidden beneath the skin surrounding the fin. Its posterior edges give attachments to liga- ments connecting it with the third dermoneural spine, and a pair of muscles extend from the arms of the rider to the anterior edge of the articulating facet of the third interneural and to a portion of the dermal plate above. From the anterior face of the rider, just above the fork, arise two muscles which are attached to the inner surface of the dermal plate immediately in front of the spine. These two sets of muscles serve to move this spine up and down upon the keel, by which the large spine behind it is raised and lowered as will be described hereafter. The third neural spine rises above the second pair of para- pophyses belonging to the enlarged centrum, and meets, and is united to the interneural above, in the same manner as is the one before it. It is also united to the neural spines before and behind it. In fact, the neural and interneural spines of the second, third and fourth vertebra are so soldered together as to form a wall almost entirely dividing the space above the vertebre. The lateral ridges of the third interneural spine expand supe- riorly into two lateral apophyses modified into dermal plates. The anterior edges of these apophvses are united to the posterior arms of the plate in front of them ; posteriorly they extend downward and outwardly, and terminate in an obtuse point. On each side of the fin the top of this third interneural spine is Bliss.] 8 : [June 15, formed into an articulating facet, upon which rest the two lateral branches of the third dermoneural spine, and which are kept in position by a pair of muscles extending from the outer edges of the facet to the posterior edges of the arms of the spine. The bone between the facets is hollowed out for the reception of the down- ward projection of the middle portion of the spine. This spine, the third dermoneural, is very large and thick, and has on its ante- rior edge a row of stout conical teeth. The posterior edge of the spine is furrowed and likewise furnished with teeth, but smaller than those in front. The base of this spine is widened and perforated through its centre in an antero-posterior direction. The head of the interneural beneath is united without suture to the second interneural, and tothe basal portion of the second interneural crest, and projecting backward as a slender, bent rod, passes through the perforation in the base of the fin-spine, and uniting with the interneural again behind the spine, forms a kind of linked joint. I believe that this kind of joint is formed by the inward projection of the arms of the spine through the crest upon the head of the interneural, and not by an antero-posterior prolongation of the crest through the base of the spine. My reasons for this belief will be made evident in my descrip- tion of the first dorsal fin of Balistes, (see p. 10), where it will be seen that though the interneural crest is completely perforated, the arms of the spine do not pass entirely through it. ‘This peculiar mode of articulation is found in the fishing filaments upon the head of. Lophius piscatorius, in which species the spines of the dorsal fin are modified into long filaments to serve a special purpose;! and whose extreme mobility is secured by the kind of articulation I have’ just described. In the ordinary forms of fin spines, the prolongation of the head of the interneural, which passes through the base of the dermoneural spine behind it, does not unite with the mterneural be- longing to the spine through which it passes. But in the Siluroids, as well as in Lophius and Balistes, the use to which the spine is put necessitates this linked-joint mode of articulation. The mechanical operation of this complicated apparatus is as fol- lows: the enlarged spine of the fin being used as a weapon of of- fense, the union of the neural and interneural spines with each other 1 See, Description des filets pécheurs de la Baudroie, par M. Bailly, Annales des Sciences Naturelles, ler, Ser., Tom. 11, 1824, pp. 323-332; and also, Analogie des Filets Pécheurs, etc., par Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Mémoires du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Tom. x1, 1824, pp. 182-142. 1870.] 9 [Bliss. and with the dermal plates, serves to give the necessary support to ' the apparatus. When the fish would erect the spine of the fin, the muscles attached to the anterior face of the little forked bone or rider, contract, pulling the bone forward and downward on the rounded crest of its interneural. The articulating facet, upon which rest the arms of the large spine, acting as a fulerum, the ligaments which pass from the posterior edge of the rider to the base of the spine, cause it to rise with the forward and downward movement of the rider. When erect, the spine cannot be lowered by pressure upon it from above; any attempt to thus depress it serves only to pull the rider more closely against the crest which now stands be- tween it and the large spine. By this means the fish is enabled to inflict so severe a wound as to render him a formidable antagonist. In order to lower the spine, the muscles connecting the arms of the rider with the anterior edge of the articulating facet contract, pull- ing the rider up the crest, which, at the same time, allows the large spine to be lowered by appropriate muscles attached to the posterior edge of its arms. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in his paper on the analogy of the fishing filaments of Lophius piscatorius with the first rays of the dorsal fin in the Siluroids, published in the Mémoirs du Muséum d’ Histoire Na- turelle (Tom. x1, p. 132), gives a detailed account of this fin appa- ratus, and there shows for the first time, that the little forked bone, which had escaped the notice of former naturalists, is truly a spine of the dorsal fin. He describes it, however, as the first spine of the fin, while, as previously mentioned, I am led to regard it as the second; believing that the dermal plate supported by the first inter- neural is really the first spine. Cuvier, also, in his ‘ Anatomie Comparée” (Tom. 1, p. 126), al- ludes to this peculiar articulation of the large dorsal spine in the Siluroids ; and in his Valenciennes and * Histoire Naturelle des Pois- sons” (Tom. xiv, pp. 310-322), gives a very brief description of this fin structure in the diagnosis of the family of Siluroids. The third anchylosed centrum is quite short, not much larger than the first. Its neural spine is broad and short, and unites with the neural spines in front of and behind it, as well as with the inter- neural spine belonging to the first branched ray of the dorsal fin. The parapophyses of this centrum consist of large, porous, rounded excrescences, affording attachments to the posterior portion of the air-bladder. They are true apophyses, and near their bases afford Bliss.] 10 [June 15, support to a pair of very stout mbs. A long, and rather thick bone ~ extends from the extremity of each of these ribs to the posterior point of the dermal plate of the third interneural spine. This bone, which is serrated externally, forms one of the series of keeled der- mal scutes which run along the side of the body. It is much larger than the others, and its apparent office is to afford support to the scutes. In Ozydoras, the porous apophyses above described are wanting, though the large ribs are present. In Doras. the hemapophyses of the third vertebre are not closed beneath the centrum. The fourth anchylosed centrum is somewhat larger than the third, and differs from it in exhibiting normal parapophyses with ribs of the ordinary form. Its neural spine is united loosely to the neural in front, and to the interneural of the second branched ray. As in the third centrum, the hemapophyses do not unite. In the Doradide the different members of the coalesced vertebra, and the interneural spines of the dorsal fin are so soldered together and modified, that it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish them. A comparison of Doras with Perinampus typus, however, will aid in determining the relations of the neural and interneural spines in Doras. For in Perinampus the interneural plates are so separated from the bones of the cranium, and the spines themselves so slightly united, that it is quite easy to trace them. But in Perinampus the parapophyses of the coalesced vertebre differ widely from those of Doras, for they are not separate as in this latter species, but unite to form a broad, flat, scale-like bone, projecting laterally from the cen- trums, and bearing, as Meckel has said, a striking resemblance to the carapace of a chelonian. in connection with the structure of the dorsal fin in Doras, it will be of advantage to make a comparison with the fin apparatus of the first dorsal of Balistes, which, in some points of structure, resembles that of Doras. In £alistes the apparatus which supports the first dorsal fin con- sists of a number of bones, — the interneurals, — soldered together into a boat-shaped piece which is attached anteriorly by ligaments to the occiput, and supported posteriorly by a bony rod resting against the fourth neural, and the first interneural spine of the second dor- sal fin. This little boat has a deep keel, formed by the union of the two sides. An oval, longitudinal opening in the sides of the boat in its anterior part, affords exit for the two arms of the second spine of 1870.] 11 [Bliss. the fin. A prolongation of the upper anterior edge of the sides of the boat extends downward to the keel below the middle of the leneth of tae oval opening. The anterior portion of the keel is somewhat prolonged, and fits into an opening in the occiput, by which additional support is afforded to the apparatus. This naviculate bone bears three spines; two of them, one imme- diately succeeding the other, are peculiarly articulated with the bone which supports them. The third spine is placed at the hinder ex- tremity of the boat, on a bone, which, though soldered to the bone bearing the two anterior spines, is yet distinct from it, as is shown by the direction of its fibres. A tendon, the use of which will be described presently, extends from the upper part of this third spine to the base of the second. The first spine is stout and roughened on its anterior face with small, blunt teeth. The posterior face of the spine is deeply grooved, and the two edges of the groove somewhat approach each other to form a kind of shoulder, which, when the spine is erect, rests upon a * projection on the anterior face of the second spine. The portion of the first spine which rests upon the thickened prow of the boat ex- pands on each side, and the bases of these expansions are formed into articulating surfaces, and rest upon corresponding facets on the bone beneath. Between the articulating facets of the naviculate bone, rises a little crest, hollowed so deeply on each side as to form a complete perforation. Into these hollows project two inward prolon- gations of the lateral articulating arms of the spine. But these in- ward prolongations of the arms do not meet through the perforated crest. It is, as will be seen, an approach to the linked joint mode of articulation described in Doras. The second spine of the fin, which is smaller than the first, is forked at its base, and bestrides a small crest formed by an upward extension of the keel of the boat. The two arms of the spine are prolonged downwardly, as previously stated, through the oval open- ing in the sides of the boat, and are supported movably at the point where the bony rod from the anterior edge of the boat is joined to the keel, below the opening in the side of the boat. The anterior face of the spine is provided with a protuberance just above the fork, upon which rests the shoulder of the large spine in front. In Balistes, as in Doras, the large spine is used as a weapon, and like that of Doras cannot be lowered till the other spines are’ moved. When the spines are raised the second spine rides forward over its Bliss. ] 12 [June 15, crest and fits closely under the shoulder of the large spine in front of it. The third spine is also raised by the tendon connecting it with the second. When erect, any pressure upon the large spine forces its shoulder against the protuberance on the second, which is supported by its crest and by the extremities of its arms, so that a backward movement of either of the spines is impossible, and the large spine is rendered serviceable as a weapon. If now the third spine be pushed down, the tendon which connects it with the second causes this latter to rise and ride over its crest, which thus allows the first spine to be readily depressed by appropriate muscles attached to its base. The operation of this peculiar apparatus much resembles that of a lock of a gun, and has given to the fish its common name of “ trig- ger” or ‘* cock fish.”’ Thus it is seen that the principle of the working of this apparatus is the same as in Doras, though the means by which it is accom- plished are somewhat different. In Doras it is the third spine which is enlarged to serve as a weapon; while in Balistes it is the first. In Doras the large spine maintains its erect position by pulling the small spine in front of it against its crest. In Doras only two spines compose this weapon, the first of which must be moved before the second can be ; in Balistes three spines enter into the structure of the apparatus; the third to be moved before the position of the other two can be altered. Equal support is obtained in both ; but in the one case resistance results from a pulling movement from behind ; and in the other from a pushing movement from before.1 1 For further information regarding the fin structure of Balistes and allied fam- ilies see Hollard’s Monograph of the Balistide in Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Vol. xx, 38me Ser., p. 101, 1853 ; Meckel’s description of Balistes in his System der Vergleichenden Anatomie, Theil 11, pp. 239-242, 1824; Bruhl’s “ Osteologisches aus dem Pariser Pflanzengarten, p. 58, et seq. and L. Agassiz’ Poissons Fossiles, Tom. II, Pt. 2, p. 249. 1870.] 13 [Packard. EMBRYOLOGY oF IsoromA, A GENUS oF PopuURIDa&. By A. S. PACKARD, JR., M.D. *The egos were found laid singly or in masses on the damp under surface of the bark of an apple tree. They are spherical, white, with the chorion very transparent, and measure .0625 of an inch in diame- ter. On the 25th of April many of the young had hatched out; they continued to hatch until the 6th of May. In none of the eggs was I fortunate enough to observe the segment- ation of the yolk, nor the formation of the blastoderm. Numerous egos, however, were observed, in which the blastoderm had not yet been formed. In these, amid a mass of minute cells, floated four large fat cells, measuring about one-fourth the diameter of the egg itself, with numerous smaller cells measuring about one-fourth the diameter of the largest cells just mentioned. The earliest stage observed was that when the blastoderm has been resolved into the primitive band. (Fig. 1.) At this time the primitive band becomes infolded, indi- cating the cephalic lobes of the head. In a succeeding stage (Fig. 2) the antennal, mandibulary and 1st maxillary segments, and the three thoracic segments are indicated. The formation of the germ thus far closely resembles that of the Phryganeide, as described and figured by Zaddach. The next change is the closure of the body walls over the yolk, and the appearance of the rudiments of the appendages, and the ceph- alic lobes. At this time, also, the somewhat bilobate end of the abdomen is formed, and also the rudiments of the future ‘“ spring,” consisting of a pair of tubercles, larger at this period than the rudi- mentary antenne. This fact is interesting, as I have observed in other insects (Bombus, Vespa, Cicada, Aschna and Agrion) that these were sternal outgrowths, and not articulated, and therefore, as I supposed, not homologous with the legs and jointed appendages of the head. This spring, therefore, partially represents the ovipositor of the higher insects, the ovipositor originally consisting of three such pairs of tubercles. At this period the “amnion”? or ‘ parietal em- bryonal membrane,’’ appears as a tough membrane surrounding the embryo. In a succeeding stage the intestine is formed, and the rudiments of the antenne and legs have greatly increased in size. Still later the appendages begin to show traces of articulation, and the Packard.] 14 {June 15, tip of the abdomen is deeply cleft by the median furrow of the body. The rudimentary mandibles and 1st maxille are distinct; the ceph- alic lobes appear very distinct, and the antenne are nearly twice as large as the legs. I was unable, after careful and repeated en- deavors, to discover at this or any other period, any traces of the 2d maxille (labium) though they may be found on more careful examin- ation hereafter, as they are present in a very rudimentary form in the adults, and are large and well developed in the Lepismatide. A later period still (Fig. 3, 38a) is characterized by the differen- tiation of the head as a distinct region of the body; the posterior portion, including the mandibular and 1st maxillary segments, unit- ing with the cephalic lobes, in which the eyes (each now consisting ah eight ocelli) are situated. The antenne are now of much the same shape as in the larva, while the epicranium, clypeus and labrum are differentiated, and the “spring” is fully formed, con- sisting of a pair of finger-shaped, three jointed appendages, the basal joints consolidated into a single tubercle, from which the ex- tremities diverge. Another well marked stage, 7.e., just previous to the hatching of the embryo, is signalized by the mandibles and 1st maxille becoming acute, closely appressed to one another and to the under side of the head, and withdrawn within the head, so that the mouth is some- what tubular, as it appears in a front view of the head. At this period, also, the absence of any apparent traces of a labium is worthy of notice. The embryo throws off the chorion and amnion in a moment, and the larva is very active in its movements. The larva is white, be- coming after a second moult of a purplish hue, while the adults are snuff brown. The larva is much shorter and thicker than the adult, and the spring is very short and stout, while the head is much rounded, and the antenne are short, and thick, and very large. In fact the larva repeats the general form of Podura, Achorutes and Lipura, while the adult is more closely allied to Degeeria. The species, which is undescribed, is named Jsotoma Walkerii, and belongs to Nicolet’s first section of the genus, of which the European J. glacialis is a type. The development of this insect is throughout very similar to that of the Phryganeide; the germ, as in that neuropterous family, be- ing developed on the outside of the yolk. The parietal membrane — 1870.) 15 (Packard. was distinct, but the inner or visceral membrane, which exists in the Phryganeidz, was not observed. Explanation of the Figures. Fig. 1, egg with the primitive band lying on the outside of the yolk; ab, fold indicating the meeting of the cephalic and abdominal end of the germ; 2, large yolk cells. Fig. 2, the primitive band, with the rudiments of the cephalic (1, 2, 3) and thoracic (1, 11, 111) segments. Fig. 3, side, and 3a, front view of the embryo; al, antennz; md, mandibles; mz, maxille; sp, spring. Knight.] 16 [June 15, The Rev. C. F. Knight presented to the Society a collec- tion of shells and skulls of various turtles made by him in Florida, during the past winter, and offered some re- marks on the habits of the animals. He described the construction of the burrow which the Testudo polyphemus [Xerobates Carolinus Agass.] (Gopher) makes, digging a gallery often sixteen feet long, and sinking to the depth of twelve feet, with several chambers branching from it. These are not unfrequently occupied by a curious collection of probably unwel- come guests. On one occasion, a pair of opossums, a raccoon, a rattlesnake more than six feet long, and two other snakes, beside several of the native black rats of the district, were taken from one of these holes. Mr. Knight spoke of the enormous strength of this land tortoise, one of them carrying a full grown man on his back with apparent ease, and of their curious uneasiness if the slightest rain fell upon their thick shells. The Trionyx ferox [Platypeltis ferox Fitz.] is found in great num- bers in the lakes of middle Florida. It is remarkable as having a leathery integument upon its back and belly, which are only very partially covered with a bony structure, and feet which resemble more the flippers of the sea turtle than the limbs of those found in fresh waters. ‘The anus, in the female, is almost at the extremity of a wide and fleshy tail. The jaws, serrated, and of great strength, are covered with a pendulous upper lip. The nostril is greatly pro- longed, suggesting at first sight the proboscis of an elephant, and it was observed, while the creatures were living in captivity, that they always swam with only the extremity of this nostril exposed above the surface ; while most turtles lift the whole top of the upper shell above the water. This soft shelled creature being a favorite food both of man and various fish-hawks and eagles, it was conjectured that this formation of nostril enabled the creature to keep sub- merged beneath the turbid water and out of sight of its watchful enemies. Lhe Emys serrata [Trachemys scabra Agass.] in the early summer congregates in great numbers in the shallow parts of certain lakes, and the warm and still bayous near the mouths of those streams which empty into the Gulf. On one occasion the speaker, floating quietly down stream, came upon one of these gatherings where there seemed 1870.] » 17 [Knight. to be many thousands within the space of two or three acres, cov- ering every log and stump and hummock almost as thickly as shingles lie upon a roof. The Emys Floridana | Ptychemys concinna es is found in brackish waters near the Gulf. It has upon its fore feet three claws of ordinary length, and two of an enormous development; they being often found nearly three inches long. The reason of this elongation was not apparent, until by close observation from a boat at the mouth of the river Wakulla, the speaker saw two turtles of this species, thrusting these long claws into the holes made by some worm, with which the hard clay bottom of the stream was every- where perforated. The transfixed worms were probably the common food of this turtle. The Chelonia Mydas (common green turtle) is said by the turtle- fishers to enter the creeks which abound on that coast, and having eaten its fill of the sea-grass growing there, to roll together masses of it, of the size of a man’s head, which it cements with the clay on which the grass grows, and then when the turn of the tide takes it out to sea, follows it, feeding upon it. When, therefore, the fishermen find any of these balls floating down from a creek, they at once spread a strong net across the mouth and almost always secure a number of these turtles. After referring to the large size of the Loggerhead, Thalassochelys caouana Agass., Mr. Knight called attention to the shell of an exceed- ingly pretty little turtle which inhabits the deep, cold springs of upper Florida, Thyrosternum Pennsylvanicum. When inhabited by the living animal it is covered with a light green, hairy substance; but whether of an animal or vegetable character he could not decide. Mr. Knight closed his remarks BF saying that this part of Florida, near Tallahassee, with its high clay bluffs and its broad pine plains, was an exceedingly rich field both for the zoologist and the arche- ologist. Mr. Putnam remarked that Mr. Knight’s communication contained several important and interesting observations on the habits of the several species of turtles on the table, and much that had never been published. The habits of the young Gopher Cooke Carolinus), as described by Mr. K., were interesting, as showing a marked PROCEEDINGS B. 8S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 2 JUNE, 1871. Putnam.) 18 [October 5, difference between the habits of the young and old of the same species. The “green hair” fotieed by Mr. K. as found on the small water turtle (Thyrosternum Pennsylvanicum) was a con- fervoid growth common on the many species of fresh water turtles, -and especially on the members of the family Cinos- ternoidcee and other species living mostly in stagnant water. The observations on the use of the long nails of the feet of Piychemys he considered as a most important and inter- esting fact added to our knowledge of the habits of turtles, and as another most interesting example of the adaptation of structure to habits. Mr. B. P. Mann spoke of carbolic acid as a presen He had used two preparations successfully, viz.: Ist, 1 part carbolic acid to 150 parts water. 2d, 1 part canane acid to 57 parts water. Mr. Scudder had informed him that the stronger was the better preparation for the preservation of the larvee of insects. Prof. N.S. Shaler presented the following papers by title: “On the Progress of Life on the several Continents,” and “On the Geological Structure of the Wachusett Range.” October 5, 1870. The President, Mr. Thomas T. Bouvé, in the chair. Twenty- three persons present. Messrs. Samuel How, Frank D. Millet, Edward S. Shaw and Albert H. Tuttle of Cambridge, Caleb Cook and James H. Emerton of Salem, Daniel T. Letteney and Charles A. Walker of Chelsea, Rev. Caleb D. Bradlee, Prof. Alfred P. 1970.] 19 [Dwight. Rockwell, C. F. Lyman, Wm. Norton Bullard and Arthur W. Willard of Boston, were elected Resident Members. Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., exhibited some flexible dissections prepared by lim, and made the following remarks on the preservation of anatomical specimens : — It has always been a great objection to the dried dissections which abound in anatomical museums and are much used for instruction, that they give by no means a true idea of the parts. The branches of the arteries and nerves are there, but their relations to the neigh- boring parts are lost, and the muscles so shrunken as for the most part to be unrecognizable. In short, such preparations are carica- tures, not representations of nature. In May, 1869, I saw in the Musée Orfila, at Paris, some admirable preparations of extremities bearing the label “ Procédé de Brissaud et Lascowski,” in which the muscles, instead of being shrivelled cords, were of natural shape and size, flexible, and in some cases quite red. Motion in the joints was almost perfect, and the arteries and nerves bore their original rela- tions to the other structures. I declined Dr. Lascowski’s offer to sell me the secret by which they were prepared, and have endeavored to discover it. With the exception of the color, the results have been very satisfactory, as shown by many specimens, some over a yearold. One part of car- bolic acid to five of glycerine preserved the shape and flexibility admirably, but the color was very dark. Perhaps the best prepara- tion is one of a forearm and hand, dissected to show the muscles, arteries and nerves. This was preserved by a mixture made by throwing an excess of two parts chloride of sodium and one of ni- trate of potash, into six parts of glycerine and one of alcohol. This preparation has the disadvantage that there is danger of mould if the specimen be at all exposed to damp, which is not the case when carbolic acid has been used. Preserved specimens of this nature will probably be of great value in the study of Comparative Myology. In a paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Medi- eal Society, in 1870, I have given a more minute account of the process and of the various mixtures employed. Dr. J. B. 8. Jackson spoke of the importance, in an educa- tional point of view, of these flexible preparations, and Winslow:] 20 | [October 5, thought similar preparations of the internal organs might be made. He doubted if any of these solutions would preserve colors permanently, but if a preparation could be discovered which would preserve the form perfectly, he would be willing to dispense with color. The following papers were read : — LETTER FROM Dr. C. F. WINSLOW, CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION oF A Deep EXCAVATION IN THE VALLEY OF THE RHINE, NEAR THE MovuTH oF THE NECKAR, AND OF A MorrTAr- SHAPED PEBBLE FOUND TWENTY-FIVE FEET BELOW THE SURFACE. HEIDELBERG, BADEN, March 31, 1868. This afternoon I walked with my friend, Mr. William H. Wahl,! of Philadelphia, a scientific student at the University here, to show him a deep excavation or gravel pit in the flat valley of the Rhine, and give him some idea of the water action by which these valley deposits have been made. The spot which we explored is on the road to Schwetzengen, and is about one mile, or one and one-half miles from the base of the mountain south of the Neckar. The gravel pit is a short distance west of the railroad crossing, and on the. south side of the road, or common highway. The deposit consists of: 1. Silt, fine and dark yellow, with many helices irregularly inter- spersed, and some small pebbles rounded and angular, extending in irregular, horizontal lines or laminations, with two or three large, angular, or partially rounded stones, or boulders of granite and red sandstone, similar to the granite and red sandstone existing in the Neckar valley. (The silt is of the same character as that composing in many places the surface of the valley of the Rhine, and which crops out on the north banks of the Neckar, and which I have ob- served constituting banks of considerable thickness on the flanks of the hill, both north and south of the Neckar valley, and in the Neckar valley east of Heidelberg.) This deposit varies from two to 1 Mr. Wahl soon after graduated at Heidelberg with the first honors of that Uni- versity, and is now (Aug., 1870) a Professor in the Franklin Institute, and an Asso- ciate Editor of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. 1870.] 21 [ Winslow. six feet in thickness, according to the irregularity of the surface of the field. 2. Rounded pebbles and stones of all sizes, mixed with some angular ones, composed of granite, red sandstone, muschelkalk, etc., lying in lines or layers at irregular inclinations to each other, as if constantly cut out and disturbed and redeposited by tidal currents of different degrees of strength. Large angular boulders and fine sili- cious sand are here and there interspersed in this gravelly deposit. This varies also from ten to fifteen feet in thickness, with irregular edges of connection with the deposits above and below it. 3. A layer of fine silicious sand fit for mixing with mortar, con- taining few pebbles and presenting a front or outcrop which shows the sand to have been. constantly shifting by the action of wind or water (water without doubt as it appeared tome). ‘This is from one to two and one-half feet in thickness. 4, Another deposit of pebbles, stones, boulders, etc., as described in the second deposit. ‘The excavation reaches down no further than about thirty or thirty five feet from the surface. We found two German laborers (peasants), at work there in sift- ing this material for mortar sand and building purposes. Perceiving us interested in examining the place and in breaking the stones, they showed us what they called “a curious looking stone,”’ which they had just taken out where the deposit No. 3 joins No. 4. The stone was still saturated with moisture, and looking very dark, as wet red sandstone does look, and sand and small pebbles were still adhering to it as if loosely cemented to it by long contact. I-purchased it of them believing it to be an implement in the domestic economy of some extremely ancient representatives of the human race. The spot where this object was found was twenty five feet from the sur- face of the field as carefully examined and estimated by Mr. Wahl and myself. | The implement appears to be a red sandstone mortar (like our North American Indian mortars) 3 3-4 inches in diameter, and 1 1-2 in depth, and 3-4 of an inch in the thickness of the shell—or about these dimensions. The object is concave and convex, with rounded edges, smooth and evenly rubbed and worn on the inside like any mortar in long use, and roughish on the outside as if weather worn or knocked about by hard usage. The mark of the pick is visible on the convex part where it was struck when it was dislodged from the deposit in which it was embedded, The laborers informed us that Hyatt.] 22, [October 5, some months before they had found a large bone there about eighteen inches long which had been taken by some professor of the University. Mr. Bouvé thought this object was a natural production, in which opinion other members who examined it concurred. On REVERSIONS AMONG THE AMMONITES. By Pror. A. Hyart. In some remarks relating to the origin of characteristics among animals, Mr. Hyatt stated that he had recently discovered a series of reversionary characteristics among the Ammonites which might be considered worthy of exceptional consideration. These are the peculiar extensions of the pile (ribs so called) and of the intervening sulci, or lateral depressions, across the abdomen or external periphery of the shell, characteristics found especially in Microceras planicosta and laticosta. ‘The genus which was founded upon this peculiarity and the (“ Discoceratide)” Arietide, having been recently subjected to a revision, certain similarities of a very remarkable kind were observed. It was found, that among the Arietide, Coroniceras rotiforme, occurring in the ‘‘ Bucklandibett ’’ of ‘Oppel, Cor. nodosum, in the upper part of the same bed, Amm. Birchii, just above this in the “ Tuberculatusbett”’ and Asteroceras obtusum, still later in the “Obtu= susbett,” all exhibited toa greater or less degree the planicostan pile on the abdomen during some stage of growth in certain individuals. In Coroniceras nodosum this is especially remarkable, and the con- trast between the young in those individuals which show this stage, and the adults, with keel channels and septa all so typically arie- tian in character, is very great. In all these species the planicos- tan stage appears only in a limited number of individuals in each species, and is always succeeded in course of growth by the features just described of keel, channels and septa, peculiar to the family of the Arietide. In Ophioceras raricostatum, however, the latest occurring species of the lower Lias which has the typical septa of this family, the planicostan stage is superseded in course of growth only by a keel, this species having no channels. Of course, in trying to account for the presence of this transient characteristic, one follows the family back to its lowest representa- tives. These may be said to be two species, Caloceras torus and Arnioceras cuneiforme, the former closely allied to Psiloceras psilo- 1870.] 2a (Hyatt. notum in its septa, and the latter also in its external characteristics. None of the lower forms, however, display, so far as observed, the: planicostan stage, though they occur earlier than the species which do exhibit this peculiarity. The planicostan abdomen, therefore, must either be a new characteristic suddenly interpolated in the erowth of some individuals, or a reversion to certain ancestral char- acteristics which have been discontinued for a time in the lower members of the family. The lower forms of the Arietide, Caloceras torus and such species as Amm. nodotianum, with which this species is closely allied, have septa that. are similar to those of certain Triassic species, such as Amm. Brunnerit and Amm. Batteni Strachey, which also resemble Psiloceras psilonotum in their septa and forms, The affinity, therefore, is doubly proved through the latter species, which is a contemporaneous form, and by direct comparison. Besides these there are other species, such as Amm. levidorsatus Hauer, and Clydonites quadrangulus Hauer, which show us that the planicostan abdomen is by no means a new feature. Thus, though we cannot assert that the Arietide are directly traceable to species in the Trias having the planicostan abdomen, we can say that the family on its lower borders have affinities with Triassic species, and that the plam- costan abdomen is found in the Trias. It is probable, therefore, that the same modification, when it occurs in the higher Arietide, after a certain interval of time is a reversionary feature. The young of Coroniceras nodosum, Amm, Sauzeanus of D’Orbieny, is succeeded in the next bed, the “ Tuberculatusbett,” by a new form, Microderoceras Birchii, whose young are entirely distinct in their mode of development from any of the Arietide, They are at first very cylindrical and smooth, then two rows of tubercles are intro- duced; and sometimes, though rarely, a specimen occurs in which the planicostan abdomen is presented. The septa develop to a more complicated outline in a shorter time than any of the species which follow in the same series or any species among the Arietidx. Very similar to this in its adult ornaments and septa is Microceras biferum; in fact, I was disposed to think them members of the same genus, until I became aware that a representative species, “ MJicrod. Hebertu,” existed in the middle Lias. This establishes a distinct series for Birchu, and makes it necessary to employ a different name. 1 Haidinger’s Abhand., Bb. 8, p. 23, pl. v, figs. 7-9. Mem. Geol. Survey of India, Stol., vol. v, pl. i, p. 59; pl. v, figs. 2, 8. Hyatt.] 24 [October 5, The series which we are now considering, has three other ss allied species in the middle Lias. The first is Wicroceras laticosta,1 whose young are precisely similar in all respects to Microceras biferum, though the adults differ consider- ably, the planicostan abdomen being brought out more distinctly in the adult stage than in biferum. Associated with this species is Microce- ras crescens, whose septa in the young have the same characteristic outline and proportions as in the adult of Ophioceras raricostatum, though the whole form and external features identify it with MJicro- ceras laticosta. Then there is Microceras arcigerens, whose septa in the young are like those of the compressed form of raricostatum at an earlier age, just before the minor lobes and cells attain a decided prominence.” The whorls in this species are flattened dorso-abdom- inally. The dorsum is broader than the abdomen, and this, together with the flattened aspect of the whorls and the early development of the closely set pil, gives an umbilicus closely simulating that of raricostatum. The genus Androgynoceras returns to the peculiar pile and tuber- cles of JMicroderoceras Birchii in the adult, though retaining the adult characteristic of Microceras until a late stage of its growth. This is especially remarkable in Androgynoceras hybridum (D’Orb.), but becomes confined to an earlier stage in Androgynoceras appressum. The next genus of this same genetic series exhibits in Liparoceras indecisum the planicostan abdomen not later than the fourth whorl. In Liparoceras Henley this is apparent at an earlier stage only, and in Liparoceras Bechei it is absent altogether. The same mode of growth is here returned to, which was first ob- served in Microderoceras Birch; namely, a smooth, round whorl, suc- ceeded immediately by two lines of tubercles or spines, erected upon pile which do not cross the abdomen, except.as fine, distinct linear ridges. ‘The difference between the two species, in other respects, is very great, sufficient, in fact, to constitute very distinct genera. It will be observed that we have here a closed series, one in which the 1In the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, No.5, this species ap- pears under the names of Microceras sinuosum and Microceras maculatum, two species which I now regard as the compressed and gibbous forms of Mic. laticosta. * This compressed variety is the one figured by Sowerby, and can only be doubt- fully referred to the same species as O. raricostatus, which is much flatter on the abdomen, and altogether different in form as well as smaller, though precisely sim- ilar in the septa. 1870.] 25 [Hyatt. genetic connection is traceable from species to species, and these species agreeing quite closely, even as regards the two most widely separable forms in the proportions and outline of their septa. The planicostan abdomen is a reversionary feature, occurring transiently and rarely in Microderoceras Birchii, but becoming characteristic of the adult in Microceras biferum, and the prominent peculiarity of the remaining forms of this genus. That this is not an artificial arrangement may be seen by consult- ing the geological succession of the groups. Microderoceras Birchu is found in the “ Tuberculatusbett” of Oppel. Microceras biferum and Microceras laticostat in the “ Oxynotusbett,” the latter, how- ever, lasting into the middle Lias. In this formation it overlaps Androgynoceras, which appears in the “ Jamesonibett,” followed, and perhaps associated, with Liparoceras Henleyi and Liparoceras Bechei. Ophioceras raricostatum, with its keel and septa, development and form, allying it closely with the Arietidz, and indicating that its true position is at the head of a series of this family, occupied geologically an earlier position in the “ Raricostatusbett” of the lower Lias, than the two species which resemble it in the middle Lias. These are, undoubtedly, part of the Amm. capricornus of Oppel, and are there- fore found in the “ Davoibett” of that formation. The planicostan abdomen which occurs occasionally in the young of raricostatum before the keel appears, leads to the conclusion, if we credit the hypothesis of evolution, that Microceras crescens and Mi- croceras arcigerens derived their peculiarities from the same source, and are either directly or indirectly the descendants of this or some other common ancestor. I am disposed to credit the latter supposi- tion. The septa examined were those of young specimens, and in the case of the last named it will be noticed that the resemblance is remarkable in the external features of the shell as well as the septa. No one, however, I am confident, without having subjected them to the closest scrutiny would suspect that they could be separated from Microceras laticosta, with which they are also associated geologically. Again, this species is genetically connected with Microceras biferum on the one side and with Androgynoceras hybridum on the other. According to Quenstedt, the former species is hardly separable in some of its varieties from Ophioceras raricostatum, but if the septa are examined closely they are found to differ, and the young are different. 1 Microceras laticosta here includes also the Amm. capricornus of Oppel and the two species alluded to in the note above, as M. maculatum and M. sinuosum. Hyatt.] 26 [October 5, The superior lateral lobes of Microceras biferum always, even in the young, seem to possess a median, minor cell which is absent in O. raricostatum. The latter species is much the largest, and the adult septa differ widely. No genetic connection is traceable in their de- velopment except in very general terms. On the other hand, the affinities of M. biferum in all respects point them out as degraded and dwarfed descendants of Microderoceras Birchii, which precedes them, also, in time. There are other forms, however, which render these questions still more puzzling. A series of single spined or armatus-like species be- gins with Deroceras planicostatum, Dudressiert and Deroceras ziphius in the “‘Obtususbett,” andis continued by Deroceras confusum in the “ Raricostatusbett.” The development of Deroceras armatum does not join it directly with any of these species, and since it occurs only in the lower bed of the middle Lias it need not be considered in this connection. Deroceras Dudressieri has the planicostan abdomen in the young, but in the adult possesses the abdomen of Microderoceras Birchii, and in fact differs from that species at this stage principally by the ab- | sence of the inner line of spines; the septa are very similar in both. Deroceras ziphius differs more widely from Microderoceras Birchi than Deroceras Dudressieri, but in features which it is not important to discuss here. Then we have Deroceras planicosia, which never parts with the typical planicostan abdomen, though in the adult it acquires a single row of spines, as in Deroceras Dudressieri; and lastly, Deroceras confusum (Amm. Lohbergensis Emerson), which differs somewhat from D. planicosta in the septa, but more in the slighter form of the whorl. If, now, we examine closely the development of the septa in Micro- deroceras Birchii, we find that it equally resembles the development of the septa in all of the members of the two series just described, which exhibit the planicostan abdomen largely in their growth. The septa of Microderoceras Birchii on the first quarter of the third whorl acquires three minor cells, and the superior lateral lobes become divided, first by the rise of minor cells from the sides of the superior lateral cells. During the same stage a very minute crenu- lation becomes developed from the side of the inferior lateral cell; this, however, does not increase as fast as its opposing cell, which eventually reaches a very large size, equally dividing the superior lateral lobes. 1870.] 27 (Hyatt. In Deroceras Dudressieri this process is repeated at about the same period, but the dividing cell does not reach a similar prominence, nor do the septa in general terms become quite as complicated as those of the adult Microderoceras Birchii until a much later period. Thus, while the lobes and cells of the former have become almost as com- plicated as in the adult, on the last quarter of the fourth whorl, those of Deroceras Dudressiert are a full volution later in reaching the same stage, and are never so deeply cut or foliaceous even in the adult as in the adult of Microderoceras Birchi. The first stage in the development of the latter corresponds to one which occurs in a precisely similar manner in Deroceras planicosta, but not until that species nearly reaches the completion of its fourth whorl. In Deroceras confusum there is no constancy in the de- velopment of the minor cells. Two opposing cells may be brought out unequally, as in the young Birchi, or symmetrically, or only one, invariably that from the side of the superior lateral cell. In other words, the adults have all the modes of division found in the different stages of growth of Birchii, according to the stage at which arrest of development has occurred. In neither Deroceras planicosta or Deroceras confusum do the septa reach a stage of complication com- parable with any but the youthful stages of Deroceras Dudressiert and Deroceras Birchi. D. ziphius was not examined, but the septa prob- ably accord with the growth of the external ornaments and pile which place it near D. Dudressieri. The condition of D. Dudressieri and D. ziphius in the adult stage corresponds in their single external line of spines and rounded abdomen to the early stage of M. Birchii, before the internal line of spines is brought out; that of the adults of Deroceras planicosta and D. confusum to the young of these two species when the spines are developed, and the abdomens still have the planicostan folds. This characteristic, it will be remembered, occurs also in some specimens of Microderoceras Birchii, but is only faintly expressed ; in Deroceras Dudressiert and Deroceras ziphius it is constantly expressed in the young, to a later period in the former than in the latter, and is of constant adult value in Deroceras plani- costa and Deroceras confusum. ‘The inference seems to be unavoid- able that the species of this series, which occur later in time and are all smaller than Microderoceras Birchit, are really dwarfed and de- graded descendants of this comprehensive species. Considering the septa in the next series, we have first Microce- ras biferum. ‘The superior lateral lobes in this species constantly Hyatt.] 28 [October 5, divided equally, as in the adult of Microderoceras Birchu; the supe- rior lateral cells are divided into two unequal portions by a large minor cell, and are very similar in outline to the young of Deroceras Dudressieri on the fifth whorl, and to the young of Microderoceras Birchii at an earlier period, while the cells are broader and less deeply cut than they were observed to be upon the latter part of the fourth whorl. The young of MV. laticosta are precisely similar to the young and adult of Microceras biferum, but the septa bring out equally the opposing median cells, and the superior lateral lobes thus become unequally divided. In the adults they reach a state of com- plication comparable to those of Microderoceras Birchit and Deroceras Dudressiert. With Microceras laticosta are associated the strongly reversionary species, which only need a keel to be classified with the Arietide. This is’ especially the case with Microceras arcigerens, whose septa, in one specimen, are remarkably similar in proportions and outline to those of Asteroceras obtusum, and what is still more remarkable in this same specimen, a slightly raised siphonal line is plainly apparent between the prominent planicostan folds. + In Androgynoceras hybridum an equally complicated state of the septa is reached at an early stage, and still earlier in the succeeding species of Liparoceras. Microceras biferum is of small size, about an inch in diameter, and at the latest stage assumes a double row of spines, or is smoother; the pila in all cases closely simulating those of the adult Microderoceras Birchvi at this period. Thus it may be said to play the same part that Deroceras Dudressieri does in the armatoid or single spined series in its external characteristics and form, while in its septa it corresponds to Deroceras planicosta. In the same way Deroceras laticosta may or may not have the double row of spines, but never has a single row,? and never in the adult returns to the rounded abdomen and peculiar pile and ornaments of Microderoceras Birchit. Androgynoceras, however, does return to this condition in the adult, but at the same time another tendency is developed both in 1A close comparison with Zieten Amm. Turneri, which I regard as a variety of Asteroceras obtusum, shows, however, that a discrepancy exists in the proportions of the abdominal lobe and in the remaining general characteristics of form, which do not permit any attempt to trace a direct genetic connection. 2 Microceras biferum occasionally has a broad projection on the pile which might be mistaken for a single spine, whereas it is really formed by the coalescing or arrested development of two rows. 1870.] 29 _ (Hyatt. the form and septa. One is a greater degree of involution, the outer whorls as they grow, beginning to spread laterally over the sides of the inner whorls, and the septa keeping pace with the increased breadth of the sides, adding to the number of the auxiliary or inner lobes and cells. This higher degree of complication is carried to its greatest development in Liparoceras ; which, however, in its highest species, Liparoceras Bechei, returns wholly to the mode of growth originally observed in Microderoceras Birchii. It proceeds directly from the young, smooth, round-abdomened stage, to produce the double row of tubercles, without the interpolation of the planicostan characteristics. It may be possible that the planicostan stage occurs in some individuals, but this would only complete the parallel with Birchui which sometimes faintly expresses this reversionary feature. The conclusion with reference to this series appears to be, that its members are also at first deeraded descendants of Birchii, but instead of steadily decreasing in size and ceasing to exist, they first decrease and then speedily increase in size again, adding new elements of complication to the mode of involution, and increasing the number of the lobes and cells. All my attempts to trace a direct connection with those members of the Psiloceratide and Arietidz, which approximate to these series, have signally failed. The planicostan abdomen and the similar septa and forms which are found in the adults of Psiloceras, Caloceras,} and Ophioceras, and in Microceras and Deroceras can be viewed merely as reversions, indicating, as in the different breeds of pigeons, only a common ancestry. It should be observed also, that where reversion is apparently piled upon reversion, as for instance, in the return of the Birchean characteristics in Androgynoceras, after an interval caused by the pre- potent development of the planicostan abdomen, and an interval of time also, that this is not a reversion at all. It is, in fact, the re- sumption of a normal tendency beneficial to the race, which for a time has been entirely suppressed by the prepotent influence of a true reversionary feature. This can be doubly proved. In the Deroceran series, where no tendency to increased complication or size is observable, the race becomes enfeebled and dies out almost immediately. In the Microce- ran series, where a constant effort is observable to retain the double 1 A new genus, of which Caloceras torus and tortilis are types. Hyatt.] 30 [October 5, row of spines, to complicate the septa and increase the size, the law of acceleration is brought into full play, and overcoming the tend- ency of the species to be arrested in development both of size and characteristics, counteracts this tendency and reproduces the usual or natural succession of forms and characteristics. This may be substantiated in any series of Ammonites. By com- paring the lower forms with the higher of the same series it will be found that in most instances, when the series is complete, the spe- cies, as in Androgynoceras and Liparoceras, increase the extent of the involution and the number of lobes. This is precisely what occurs in the Arietidz#, which are even more successful in suppress- ing the reversionary planicostan tendencies than the Microceran series. In this family the higher forms, Asteroceras stellare, Asteroceras ac- celeratum 1 and others, are much more involuted than any of the lower forms, and this is still more strongly expressed in their descendants, the Amaltheoide and Hildoceratide of the middle and upper Lias. It may be objected that Microceras biferum is a young form of which we do not yet know the adult. Its size, the limited number of the whorls and the likeness of the septa, in the full grown speci- men, to the young of Deroceras Dudressieri and Microderoceras Birchu might be considered as proof of this supposition. The development is just intermediate between that of laticosta and Birchiu; any larger forms could therefore only intensify this relation. Besides the negative evidence, however, that no large specimens have ever been found, there is something positive. The possession of prominent tubercles makes it probable that quite an advanced stage of life is reached, since at a corresponding age in laticosta no spines are yet developed. Similar doubts with regard to the size of planicosta and confusum in the Deroceran series are answered with more difficulty. The grad- ual decrease in size which the series makes from Microderoceras Birchit through D. Dudressieri, D. ziphius and D. planicosta to D. confusum, in all the dimensions of its whorls, when the full sized shells are considered, and the fact that these species, especially D. planicosta, have been very extensively collected, appear to make it probable that we now know the shells as they occurred in the localities and strata in which they are found. That they may be dwarfed speci- 1 New species, which has the abdomen like Aster obtusus, but is more involute than any other species of Arietes. errr se cer err 1870.] 3 [Hyatt. mens which did not develop beyond periods corresponding to the _ younger stages of lower species appears to be very probable. - Quite a strong confirmation of this tendency of Birchu to have dwarfish descendants is to be found in its own series, if we may so call the only species which succeeds it and inherits all of its peculiar characteristics. JZicroderoceras Hebertu Opp.1 of the middle Lias is precisely similar to M. Birchi in all its characteristics, except the smaller size of the spines and the shorter diameter of the full grown shell. The superior lateral lobes are not invariably equally divided by a median minor cell, as in D’Orbigny’s figure of this species, but sometimes are unequally divided, this cell being thrown to one side as in Hebert. We know that Muicroceras Hebertii is very much smaller than Mficroderoceras Birchi, because the shell enters upon the old age or senile period of growth before the latter has attained its fullest adult condition.2, The whorls themselves do not differ in size, so that the shell compares with Birchii in the same manner that bife- yum or Deroceras Dudressiert compares with it, and in the same manner that planicosta and D. confusum or laticosta compare with these two; they are as large as the young of the species which they resemble in many cases in their whorls, the only difference being that they do not have as many whorls, or attempt to develop the septa beyond a certain youthful or immature condition. They may be said to be arrested in development so far as size is concerned, and retro- gressive in development when the reversionary characteristics are considered. Darwin’s close and exhaustive work upon the reversionary charac- teristics of domesticated breeds is, to a certain extent, unsatisfactory, since, while it points to a probable ancestor, it cannot, from the na- ture of existing animals, show the preéxisting steps by which the change has been accomplished. The element of time, also, is com- paratively short, and the whole evidence is necessarily hypothetical. In the cases given above, however, it will be noticed that while the facts are not so numerous and conclusive as in the great pigeon argument, they possess the additional confirmation derived from the consideration of the manner of their introduction and their serial succession in geological time. 1 This is the Amm. brevispina D’Orbigny (not Sowerby). 2 Tt should have been mentioned that D. Dudressteri begins its old age period on the eighth whorl, while still very much smaller than the adult MW. Birchit. - Hyatt] 32 _ [October 5, It will be noticed that these reversionary species! all descend from one, to which they may be traced by all the evidences within the scope of observation, and that this single ancestor has occasionally in its own development, characteristics which do not occur in its own series in any of the faune of the lower Lias below its own level, and between it and the Trias. Ke The objection will naturally suggest itself, that perhaps Mdicrodero- ceras Birchii is a migratory species from India, or somewhere out of Eastern Europe, and that in its native haunts we shall probably find the missing links which connect it with the Trias, and farther find that these have the same reversionary features in their growths. But it must be remembered that the planicostan abdomen occurs in some individuals only, a fact very strongly in favor of the supposition that it is a reversion. Darwin’s observations seem to establish the fact, that reversions are transient characteristics, and peculiarities directly inherited are, on the other hand, more or less constant, ap- pearing in every individual of the species. Farther, the Arietes are a group native to Eastern Europe, during the Lias, and they most unquestionably revert just as the young of Microderoceras Birchii, and in precisely the same transient manner, to the planicostan abdo- men,—or rather, as it ought to be called, the Triassic abdomen, in allusion to the age from which it is derived. LIPAROCERATIDZ. MICRODEROCERAS. >) Microderoceras Birchii. Amm. Birchii Sow., Min. Conch., vol. m1, p. 121, pl. 267. This well known species has septa which are different from those of the so-called Amm. brevispina of D’Orbigny. A perfect specimen of the French brevispina possessed by the Museum is a much smaller shell than the M. Birchu, having fewer whorls and entering upon the old age period, whilst the typical Birchit is still in its prime. In the young the tubercles and pile of brevispina are just as prominent during the younger stages of growth as in Birchii, but in the adult the spines and pile are less prominent, though the latter are more closely set upon the sides of the whorls. The septa, according to 1 And I might add other species, which are not necessary to the present argu- ment. i 1870.] 33 {Hyatt. D’Orbieny’s figures, differ more from Birchii than they do from Amm. muticus, a true armatoid species, though I think this difference, per- haps, is less than it appears to be from D’Orbigny’s figures. MM. Birchu has two series of forms, as is usual among the Ammonites, one a thick gibbous form, and the other thinner. Brevispina is therefore a different species, a stunted or dwarf descendant of Birchi. The young of M. Birchi are round, smooth shells, like Thysanoce- ras fimbriatum, marked by prominent lines of growth which represent transient mouths and finally pile. They increase very gradually in size, and acquire a line of genicular tubercles on the fourth whorl, which augment rapidly in size and prominence. On the first quarter of the fifth or last of the fourth whorl an internal line of tubercles appears. ‘These increase very slowly in prominence, until they equal those of the outside line. Occasionally the pile become bifurcated, and sometimes they cross the abdomen, producing a very faint resem- blance to planicosta. This last, however, is very faintly and very seldom expressed, and then at a comparatively late period of the srowth, so that Birch cannot be said to closely resemble D. Du- dressier? in this respect. The septa on the first quarter of the third whorl acquire three mi- nor cells on superior lateral cells, and the superior lateral lobes be- come divided by the rise of a minor cell from the side of the superior lateral cell. On the last quarter of the fourth whorl these have al- ready become equally divided by the increase of this cell, and the lobes and cells possess much of the adult complication, though the lobes are no deeper than the abdominal lobe. From this it may be seen that the progress in complication is very rapid. Since on the third whorl even the septa have already become nearly as compli- cated as those of planicosta at a very much later period, and on the fourth whorl are very similar to those of D. Dudressiert on the sixth ‘whorl. And onthe early part of the fourth whorl, when the superior ANaterals become equally divided, they must be very similar to those of the adult M. biferum, and in fact cannot do otherwise than closely resemble them. Sometimes the young have broad tubercles with the pilz: split into two or three parts as in subarmatus, etc. Microderoceras Hebertii. Amm. brevispina D’ Orb., Terr. Jurass., Ceph. p. 272, pl. 79. ‘¢. Hebert Opp., der Jura, p. 278. | PROCEEDINGS B. 8S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 3 SJUNE, 1871. Hyatt.] a4 [October 5, The Amum. brevispina figured by Sowerby, appears to be a different species from this, one that shows more prominently the planicostan pile. In fact, Sowerby’s figure resembles closer what I have called Microceras sinuosum (laticosta Sow.) than anything else. These distinctions, and the geological gap which divides the two species, induced Oppel to give it a new name. MICROCERAS. Microceras biferum. Turrillites Valdani D’Orb., Terr. Jurass. Ceph., pl. 42, figs. 1, 3. Amm. bifer bispinosus Quenstedt, der Jura, p. 104, pl. 13, figs. 10, 11 and 13. : Amm. polymorphus miztus Quenstedt, der Jura, p. 128, pl. 15, fig. 12. M. biferum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 80. This species has septa very distinct from those of D. confusum, and they approximate more closely in their outlines perhaps to those of Psiloceras psilonotum than to Caloceras torus or Ophioceras raricos- tatum. ‘This is due to the presence of a median cell in the superior lateral lobes in both pstlonotum and confusum, and the outlines of the lobes and cells which are very similar also. The species is of small size and may be readily distinguished from ‘O. raricostatum, with which Quenstedt thinks it to be very closely allied. ‘The young are not so cylindrical as the young or adults of raricostatum, and above all they are never flattened dorso-abdominally with bulging sides, as in the typical O. raricostatum. In fact, the abdomen in the young is con- siderably more elevated, the whole shell being thicker and larger in the young as well as in the adult, than Ophioc. raricostatum at the same age or the representative species, D. confusum. Subsequently, in many individuals, a much closer external similarity is brought about, and this is especially remarkable when the planicostan variety of the young raricostatum is compared with the adult of biferum. When fully developed, the species may or may not have two rows of spines,as the pila may extend into one large, undivided projection which cannot be called a spine, but is only a prominent, truncated pilum, with or without very slight points or spines at either extremity. Quenstedt remarks that these tuberculated varieties, when unsym- metrical, correspond to D’Orbigny’s Turrillites Valdani. Another variety presents only smooth pile, and these when unsymmetrical are, according to Quenstedt, identical with Turr. Coynarti of D’ Orbigny. | | : | : | | : 1870.] 35 [Hyatt. This unsymmetrical form is less common than in D. confusum, at least in the collection I have examined; and I have never found such specimens as are mentioned by Quenstedt, which, though unsymmetrical in the young, become symmetrical in course of growth. Most of the specimens that I have yet seen have this tendency to form a spiral, expressed on or towards the right side,—remembering that the external periphery is the abdomen and not the dorsum as is gen- erally supposed—on the same side, in fact, as the want of symmetry so frequent in the lobes of Psil. psilonotum. Though this species has been placed in the same genus as M. confusum, I think it can only be considered as one of a different series of planicostan forms, those with two lines of lateral tubercles. Variety mixtum. The two specimens of this so called species, if the label from the Museum of Stuttgard is reliable, agree very closely with the fig- ure of Amm. polymorphus quoted above, and in their septa with M. biferum of the same age, as well as with some of the other figures of Amm. Polymorphus given by Quenstedt. It may be a variety of that species. One specimen has the Turrillite deformity so often found in MW. biferum. Microceras laticosta. Microceras laticosta Sow., Min. Conch., vol. vi, p. 106, pl. 556, fig. 1. “¢ brevispina Sow., oy * Hh CF eh 2 “ sinuosum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoology, no. 5, p. 82. _ & maculatum Hyatt, Op. cit., p. 82. The young of this species resembles Microceras biferum so closely in all its characteristics, that 1¢ does not differ so much from it, as the different varieties of that species do among themselves. The form of the whorl in most individuals begins very soon to exhibit a flatness of the abdomen and sides and a sharp bending forward of the pile on the abdomen, which are the only distinctive characteristics. The septa are not precisely similar. The differences, however, increase with age as the septa become more complicated and the pile more prominent. Two rows of tubercles are acquired in some specimens during the adult stage. The abdomen is still deeply sinuous as in the typical MW. biferum. There are two forms of this species, one flatter and less robust than the other, which I have called MZ. maculatum. This has no spines, at least none are apparent upon the casts. In variety sinuosum, the age at which the tubercles are assumed Hyatt. ] 36 [October 5, varies exceedingly, as well as the size and prominence of these and the pile upon which they stand. There seems to be one constant difference between this species and M. biferum. The superior lateral lobes are unequally divided into three minor lobes instead of, as in M. biferum, being equally divided | into two. The young septa are precisely similar in development, and also similar to those of the adult and young of Deroceras plan- | icosta ; the superior lateral lobes being at first equally divided by a cell arising from the side of the superior lateral cell. This is sub- sequently met by a cell advancing from the other side and making | the usual threefold division of the lobe. Microceras crescens. M. crescens Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp.'Zoology, no. 5, p. 82. In this species we have a form which is intermediate between I. laticosta and Ophioceras raricostatum. It agrees with the latter in its septa, and with M. laticosta in its pile and general external char- teristics of form and growth. In one specimen from Rautenberg, © there is a Turrillite distortion, but the deviation of form is in this case very marked toward the left instead of the usual dextral twisting. The superior lateral cells are broad and very slightly indented by the minor, divided into two unequal portions, however, by one minor lobe slightly larger than the rest. The superior lateral lobes are equally divided, the inferior laterals very shallow. All the cells are very broad in comparison to the lobes. The superior lateral lobes are about two-thirds as long as the abdominal lobe, and the inferior not more than half as long as the superior lateral. Microceras arcigerens. Amm. arcigerens Phill., Geol. York, p. 163, pl. 13, fig. 9. M. arcigerens Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 82. In this species the septa are very peculiar. The outlines are remarkably simple. All the lobes are remarkably broad, the supe- rior laterals and abdominal nearly of the same height, and the infe- rior laterals fully two-thirds as long as the superior laterals. The whorl is compressed abdomino-dorsally, and much broader on the dorsal than abdominal side. This, and the prominence of the closely set pile in the young, gives the shell a very decided resemblance to O. raricostatum. It will be observed that in this ease the resemblances to O. raricostatum are in those very external characteristics in which none could be traced in M. crescens. 1870.] 37 (Hyatt. DEROCERAS. Deroceras Dudressieri. Amm. Dudressiert D’Orb., Terr. Jurass., Ceph., p. 325, pl. 103. From France, this species comes to us with the name of Amm. brevispina, and from England, as Amm. armatus or Birchii. With none of these except Amm. armatus has it any close affinities. From Amm. armatus it differs in the septa, besides having very different young. The shell is strongly pilated and tuberculated and has the planicostan abdomen very distinctly marked, whereas Deroceras armatus does not repeat this last feature so decidedly, being much more cylindrical and smoother. The pile are also closer together in Deroceras Dudressieri, the spines and pile also being filled with solid, shelly matter, instead of the spines alone, as in D. armatus. Oppel has stated that he found Amm. Dudressieri of D’Orbigny in the Eng- lish lower Lias, and this species is so closely similar in all respects to D’Orbigny’s figure of this species, that it seems to be the only one he could have seen. D.confusum comes so near to the young of this species that in external characteristics they seem to be nearly iden- tical. The young is smooth for the first four whorls; the pile begin on the fifth, but the tubercles are hardly visible until the last half of the sixth. Soon after the pile begin to appear, first as folds on the sides, they stretch across the abdomen and form the planicos- tan flexures. Though there are some slight differences between the young of this species, on the fifth and earlier half of the sixth whorl, and the typical planicosta, both in the shell and septa, they are hardly sufficient to distinguish the two forms separated from the adult whorls. On the seventh whorl the spines are very large but decrease in prominence on the eighth, the pila approximating more. The abdomen also becomes more elevated and rotund instead of rather flat- tish, and the whole form approaches closely to what it is in Birchit. The first three whorls have sides widely divergent ; these become rounded on the fourth, flattened on the fifth and sixth, divergent on the seventh, and rounded on the eighth. On the latter part of the tenth whorl the tubercles entirely disappear, the pile being reduced to mere folds. The period at which these characteristics may be obtained or 1 From this I of course exclude the form figured by Quenstedt as having a keel in _ the young. Hyatt.] 38 [October 5, parted with, is subject to considerable variation, sometimes an entire whorl earlier or later. Deroceras ziphius. Amm. ziphius Ziet. Verst. Wurt., p. 6, “sp 5, fiz. 2 D. ziphius Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 81. This species occupies a position precisely inten elite between | D. confusum, D. Dudressieri and the true armatoid, large, single- | spined species like the typical armatus. It has, in the young, an abdomen similar to the planicostan abdomen observed in the two first named species, and in the adult it drops this characteristic for an abdomen similar to that found in D. Dudressieri, assuming at the same time a row of large single tubercles. My observations were made upon a single specimen, but they are confirmed by Quenstedt | who takes a similar view of the relations of this species from more extended experience. Deroceras planicosta Hyatt. Amm. planicosta Sow., Min. Conch., vol. 1, p. 167, pl. 73. Microceras planicosta Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoology, no. 5, p- 80. For the first four whorls this species is smooth, and the wheels is remarkably broad, with gibbous sides. On the fifth whorl the pile are introduced as depressed folds, and gradually increase in size. Spines are never developed in the majority of the specimens, but in a few cases they may be noticed rising either on the cast or the shell, during the third quarter of the sixth volution and becoming quite prominent on the last quarter. The number of pile on a single whorl, the time at which they cross the abdomen, and the pres- ence or absence of tubercles, vary remarkably. The abdomens of some specimens may be crenulated by the first pile, or they may re- main smooth even throughout the fifth whorl, and the number of pile vary from twenty in some to twenty-six in others. The septa also in the young, instead of retaining the usual propor- tions of the superior lateral cells and lobes, almost obliterate these two which are represented, as in the adult of Coroniceras tenue, by a row of minor lobes and cells. It, however, still retains the peculiar median cells of the superior lateral lobes, which are so characteristic of the three series of planicostan forms. These begin to show them- selves as lateral expansions or crenulations of the superior lateral cells on the latter part of the fourth or early part of the fifth whorls. The subsequent division of the superior lateral cell into two unequal por- 1870.] 89 (Hyatt. tions by a pointed minor lobe, the depth of the superior lateral lobes about equal to the abdominal lobe, and the shallowness of the inferior lateral lobes, together with the great breadth of the cells and sim- plicity of outline of the cells, and absence of numerous minor lobes and cells, are all characteristics of the Arietide. They show that planicosta, and the series to which it belongs, come nearest to this family ; in fact, are precisely intermediate between the Microceran series and the Arietide. If, indeed, specimens of D. con- fusum sometimes have a keel as stated by Quenstedt, the evidence is still stronger. In the adult the triplicate division of the base of the superior lateral cells, and the outlines of the septa, remind us forcibly of Caloceras torus, the lowest of the Arietide, though the shallowness of the inferior lateral lobes still remains. This, however, is probably sometimes found in C. torus and in those specimens in which the development of the pile is retarded, an external similarity to the smooth abdomen and fold-like lateral pile of C. torus is also produced. Deroceras confusum. Amm. confusus Quenstedt, der Jura, p. 127, pl. 75, fig. 89. ‘¢ —_ planicosta Sow., (pars) Min. Conch., vol. rv, p. 149, pl. 406, not 73. Microceras confusum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoology, no. 5, p- 80. Amm. Lohbergensis Emerson, Die Liasmulde von Markoldendorf, pe Gli iple3) fig. 8. .\) In this species the first three and a half whorls are smooth and flattened ventrally, the sides bulging as in O. raricostatum. This resemblance is still further increased by the development of the pile. On the latter part of the fourth, fifth and sixth whorls the resemblance to raricostatum is very close, or rather to the earlier stages of that species before the keel appears. On the sixth whorl the tubercles begin to appear and the form changes ta a more laterally compressed and thinner whorl, and the tuberculated pile cross the abdomen as in the typical planicosta. The septa on the fifth whorl are quite like those of raricostatum in their outlines, though the inferior auxiliary lobes and cells slope inwardly and posteriorly. All the shells examined were small, hardly more than an inch in diameter. ‘The developmental resem- blance to Q. raricqstatum does not extend to the septa. These have a close similarity to those of Caloceras torus, differing however in one Hyatt.) 40 [October 5; essential point,—the presence of median minor cells which equally divide the superior lateral lobes. This characteristic, though it may be absent in many specimens, is so constant that it prevents the direct connection of the young of this species with the young of C. torus or O. raricostatum, which it otherwise so closely imitates. The resemblance to the young of JMJicroderoceras Birchii is not so close, however, in external features, though the septa are very closely allied. The Turrillite variety is quite common in this species, - whereas it is not so common in the true Amm. planicosta Sow. One of Quenstedt’s figures of this species represents a young shell decidedly keeled. This, I think, cannot be of the same species, and his accompanying descriptions do not justify its associations with his Amm. Bronnit. . The variations in the lobes are excessive. The median cells of the superior lateral lobes are usually largely developed, often, though not invariably, retaining the youthful or one-sided aspect which they have in the young of Deroceras planicosta and M. Birchii. In some specimens, however, they are very small, and the lobes are unequally divided by two very minute minor cells. These lobes, in other words, may be equally divided, or have all the gradations from this to a state of unequal division. The same lobes are either longer, equal to, or shorter than the abdominal lobe, but seem invariably to greatly ex- ceed the inferior lateral lobes. Deroceras densinodum. Amm. armatus densinodus Quenstedt, der Jura, p. 105, pl. 13,_ fies. 9, 10. D. densinodum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 84. This species does not apparently occur in the middle Lias as stated in my paper in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, but only in the lower Lias. The mistake resulted from an erroneous reading of the label on the specimen. It may be only a variety of D. confusum, but the young differ somewhat, the abdomen is nar- rower and the septa are invisible in the single specimen of D. densi- nodum in the possession of the Museum. According to Quenstedt’s figure this species is really an armatus in which the young is pilated or ribbed at a very early period, instead of being smooth as in armatus proper. Having only the young it is impossible to say much about the affinities of the shell ; it is, how- ever, evidently a member of the planicostan group or series of Deroceras. 1870.] | 41 [Hyatt. ANDROGYNOCERAS. From the specific descriptions it will be seen that we have here two groups or series, both developing from the first variety of one species, Androgynoceras hybridum. From this we have the series in which acceleration of development produces the flattened abdomens and broad whorls of the second variety of A. hybridum, and of Liparoceras indecisum, the more elevated, though still broad whorled adult of LZ. Henleyiy with young just like the adults of A. hybridum, second variety, and finally the high whorled Z. Bechei. The amount of involution is just proportionate to this progress, reaching to the first line of tubercles in the first three forms, to the second only in the adults of the fourth, and to the second in both the young and adults of the fifth. The second offshoot or series contains only one species, A. appressum, which is highly accelerated when compared with A. hybridum. 'This has remarkably flattened sides and the connection with the other is shown by the development of the young. Whether this ought to be set aside as a distinct genus, or not, will depend upon the discovery of other descendants. Androgynoceras hybridum. Amm. hybrida D’ Orb., Terr. Jurass. Ceph., p. 285, pl. 85. © And. hybridum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 83. For six volutions the shell is apparently inseparable from certain forms of M. laticosta. Upon the seventh whorl, instead of continuing the same degree of increase in size, a more rapid enlargement takes place, the lateral pile become less prominent and more crowded, sometimes coalescing near the umbilicus. The inner tubercles in the latter case, also, either partially or entirely coalesce. ‘The abdomen in the meantime has become more prominent, less furrowed, and more rounded, and the sides converge outwardly. The abdominal pile split up each into several minor ridges on the latter part of the seventh whorl, reducing these furrows to a minimum. A variety of this species from Schippenstadt and Semur completes the same stages of growth as have been described in A. hybri- dum, a full volution earlier. It has at the end of the sixth volution a whorl nearly as large and of the same form, but much broader in pro- portion to the length than in the first. The pile begin to take upon themselves similar characteristics. J am unable to state whether this or some intermediate form between this and the first variety is the Hyatt.] 42 [October 5, one described by D’Orbigny ; or with any certainty, whether the first variety is a distinct species, though it seems to be such. Androgynoceras appressum. And. appressum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 83. For perhaps the first four or five volutions the shell is similar to the young of thinner varieties of MJ. laticosta. The extent of envelopment, also, is slight ; soon however, on the last of the fifth or first of the sixth the planicostan pile split into several ridges united at either end by tubercles. The abdomen at this period, the inclina- tions of the sides, etc., closely resemble the characteristics of the adult of the first variety of A. hybridum. LIPAROCERAS. Liparoceras indecisum. Lip. indecisum Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, p. 8. This is evidently a very much more accelerated form than even the second variety of A. hybridum. It still preserves, however, the form of the adult of this species. The young, if I am correct in referring a young specimen from Rautenberg to this species, has plan- icostan pile certainly until after the completion of the fourth, and probably until near the end of the fifth volution. Liparoceras Henleyi. Amm. Henleyi Sow., Min. Conch., vol. 11, p. 161, pl. 172. Naut. striatus Rein, Naut. et argo., p. 85, pl. 8, figs. 65, 66. L. Henleyi Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5. p. 84. This species differs from the last in not repeating the planicostan abdomen at all, unless upon a volution preceding the last quarter of the third. This seems improbable, though it may occur in some speci- mens. At this period in the specimens examined all the adult char- acteristics were well developed, and it only remained for them to increase in size. ‘The form of the shell is also precisely that of the adult A. hybridum, second variety, or at least of that shell at. the end of the sixth volution. The L£. Henleyi differs from LZ. Bechet in having larger and more prominent tubercles, a broader whorl in proportion to the height, and in the slighter involution of the young. For the first four whorls the involution does not reach the internal line of tubercles, leaving a larger umbilicus than in Z. Bechet. In one specimen from Lyme Regis the only distinction from Bechei consists in this single 1870.] 43 [Hyatt. characteristic. Usually, however, the angular, prominent, ribbed tubercles of the younger whorls at once show great differences. While LZ. Henleyi thus seems to show variations advancing towards L. Bechei, the last never has a variety like L. Henleyi. Liparoceras Bechei. Amm. Bechei Sow., Min. Conch., v. 111, p. 143, pl. 280. Ke Ziet. Verst. Wurt., p. 37, pl. 28, fig. 4 Lip. Bechet Hyatt, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., no. 5, pl. 84. Fold-like lines of growth are prominent in the young, which are otherwise smooth and rounded. ‘These increase in number and sharpness until they become true pile. Two lines of tubercles are introduced, also, in the young, but appear either quite late or comparatively early on the third whorl. The septa on this volution precisely resemble the septa of the nearly adult JZ. laticosta. ‘They have very broad abdominal and superior lateral lobes; the latter unequally divided. The siphonal cells are very large. In one specimen a very decided resemblance to A. sternalis is produced by the angulation of the abdomen and the unusual development, for so young specimens, of the lateral pile with their tubercles on the last quarter of the third whorl. Section of Microscopy. October 12, 1870. Mr. E. Bicknell in the chair. Fifteen members present. Mr. C. Stodder exhibited a slide containing albumen coagu- lated with carbolic acid, which had been carefully sealed in July, 1869. With a high power, he showed that the particles were in continual vibration. He thought the appearance of this preparation was identical with what was represented in figures published by Dr: Lionel 8. Beale, in his germ-theory of disease. Dr. C. Ellis remarked, that all such particles from their mi- nuteness, appeared alike; and that any solid in a state of fine . subdivision exhibited this molecular motion. Their motion was no proof that they were alive. Bicknell. ] 44 [October 12, The following paper was presented :— A Mernuop oF PRODUCING VERY LOW POWERS FOR THE Microscorgs. By Epwin BICKNELL. I use a plano-convex “collecting,” or “ reducing” lens, in the draw tube of the microscope, about midway between the objective and eye- piece; it is achromatic, of four inches focal length and six-tenths of an inch in diameter. | A Placed about midway between the objective and eyepiece, its effect is to reduce: the magnifying power of any objective about one-half; at the same time shortening the “working distance” of the objective materially. Used with a 2-inch, 3-inch, or 4-inch objective it practi- cally makes them 4-inch, 6-inch, or 8-inch, respectively. Its effect is not good with high powers, where of course it is not needed. By using a similar lens as an objective, in connection with the reducing lens, I have a very low power of only five or six diameters and three and a half inches working distance. This power takes into the field of the lowest eyepiece an object, eighty-eight hundredths of an inch in diameter, with a depth of focus of nearly halfan inch. This lowest power I have found very useful in viewing whole flowers, large sections, Zoophytes in glass troughs, etc., as all their parts, both breadth and depth, were brought into view at once. i do not bring this forward as an “ optically ” perfect instrument, but as a conven- ient method of producing very low powers for certain purposes. Below I give a table of diameters with the different eyepieces. Lowest 38-inch. power. objective. Eyepiece Al 2) ro) diameters: 10 diameters. ee Bist teaes SeonO & 18 ee s Coote ce 1S Ge 32 Tt will be seen that the lowest power gives only the magnifying power of the eyepieces used, and the 3-inch only about double the power. ue 1870.} 45 [Hunt, Wednesday, October 19, 1870. The President in the chair. Forty-two persons present. The following papers were presented : — On THE GEOLOGY OF THE VICINITY OF Boston. By Dr. T. STERRY Hunt. During the past week I have made several geological excursions in the neighborhood of Boston, in some of which I was accompanied by Prof. N. 8. Shaler, and in the others by Prof. Alpheus Hyatt; the familiarity of these gentlemen with the local geology has greatly facilitated my examinations. ‘The rocks which we have seen may be considered in three classes. A, the crystalline stratified rocks; B, the eruptive granites; C, the unaltered slates, sandstones and conglomerates. The former of these may be separated lithologically into two divisions; the first being the quartzo-feldspathic rocks. Among these are included the felsite-porphyrites of Lynn, Saugus and Marblehead, with their associated non-porphyritic and jasper-like varieties, the compact feldspar of Hitchcock, who has well described these rocks in the Geology of Massachusetts, pages 664, 667. Asso- ciated with them is a granular quartzo-feldspathic rock which is often itself porphyritic, with feldspar crystals, and sometimes appears as a fine grained syenitic or gneissoid rock, often distinctly stratified. This has been described by Hitchcock as intermediate between por- phyry and syenite; his syenites with “a nearly or quite compact feld- spar base”? and some of his porphyritic syenites (Geol. Mass., pp. 668, 669) will probably be found to belong to these granular eurites, which I connect with the porphyries. ‘These rocks are seen inti- mately associated with the porphyry on Marblehead Neck, also in Marblehead, and underlying the argillites of Braintree and Weymouth. The second division of the rocks of class A includes a series of dioritic and ‘chloritic rocks, generally greenish in color, sometimes schistose, and frequently amygdaloidal. ‘They often contain epidote, quartz, and calcite, and occasionally actinolite, amianthus, scaly chlorite, and copper pyrites. ‘This series holds a bed of dolomite at Stoneham, and serpentine in Lynnfield, where bedded serpentines, dipping at a high angle to the N. W., occur apparently in the strike of these dioritic and epidotic rocks, which include the greenstones of Hunt.] 46 [October 19, Dr. Hitchcock, described by him as occasionally schistose and pass- ing into hornblende slate, (Geol. Mass., pp. 548, 647) ; and also his varioloid wacke, under which name he describes the green and choc- olate-colored amygdaloidal epidotic and chloritic rocks of Brighton, and the somewhat similar rocks of Saugus, which are seen within a few hundred feet to the northwest of the limit of the red jaspery pe- trosilex. This series of magnesian rocks is apparently identical with that which occurs with dolomite and massive dark colored serpen- tines in the city of Newport, R. I., where the beds have also a high dip to the northwest. A similar series of strata is largely displayed on the islands and along the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay. ‘The dioritic and chloritic beds towards their base are there interstratified with red felsite-porphyries like those of this vicinity, which, asso- ciated with granular eurites, form great masses in that region. I regard these two types of rocks as forming parts of one ancient crys- talline series, which is largely developed in the vicinity of Boston, and may be traced at intervals from Newport to the Bay of Fundy, and beyond. ‘To this same series I refer the great range of gneissic and dioritic rocks with serpentines, chloritic, taleose and epidotic schists which stretches through western New England. These ancient rocks are in various places penetrated by intrusive granites, which are generally more or less hornblendic—the syenites of Hitchcock and others. They often contain true feldspars, as in the well-marked granite of Newport, which there cuts the greenish dio- ritic and sometimes amygdaloidal rocks. In this vicinity, besides the granites of Cape Ann and of Quincy, which probably belong to this class, examples of intrusive granites (or syenites) are well seen in Stoneham and in Marblehead, where they cut the greenish chloritic rocks, and on Marblehead Neck, where they are erupted among the felsite-porphyries. In all of these places the phenomena of disrup- tion and enclosure of fragments of the broken rock in the granite are well seen, the lines of contact being always sharp and well-defined. Considerable varieties in the colors and the constitution of these erupted rocks are observed in different localities, and sometimes even in portions of the same mass. ‘This is well seen on Marblehead Neck, where the aspect is such as might result from the simultaneous gushing forth of two somewhat different varieties of granite, as if from contiguous beds of an older granitic gneiss beneath. In one case at Marblehead the eruptive granite is traversed by segregated or endo- genous veins of red orthoclase with quartz and epidote. 1870.] AT [Hunt. The evidences of the eruptive origin of the granites of our vicinity were well described by Hitchcock, though, as before remarked, he includes with them, under the common name of syenite, many rocks belonging to class A. The coarse white granites on Marblehead Neck are seen in one place intersecting thin bedded and somewhat contorted quartzites, which hold dark micaceous layers, and resemble rather a fine grained gneiss.1_ These beds, which occupy but a small area, are not unlike the strata which at Biddeford, Maine, and in some parts of Nova Scotia, are cut by granites, and probably belong to a newer series than the rocks of class A, as above described. All of these rocks, the granites included, are on Marblehead Neck trav- ersed by dykes of intrusive greenstone, which are sometimes very similar in aspect to certain of the bedded diorites of A. Of the rocks of class C, the unaltered argillites of Braintree, hold- ing a primordial fauna, were observed by Prof. Shaler and myself to rest directly upon a hard porphyritic felsite of the ancient series. The line of demarkation between this and the soft argillite is very distinct. A more detailed examination than we were able to make during a violent rain-storm, will be required to show whether the contact here observed is due to original deposition or to a subsequent dislocation. Reddish granulites directly underlie the black argillites of Weymouth, and the quartzites with conglomerates and argillites of Chestnut Hill Reservoir, and of Brighton near by, are in several places observed in contact with the old dioritic and epidotic rocks already noticed. The Roxbury conglomerate was observed to contain pebbles of the felsite-porphyries, diorites and intrusive gran- ites of the older series, besides, as already remarked by Hitchcock, fragments of argillaceous slate. In this connection may be noticed a remarkable recomposed rock long since correctly described by the same careful observer, as an aggregate of broken-up and recemented felsite-porphyry, (Geol. Mass., pp. 547, 665). He observed it at Hingham and Cohasset, and Mr. Hyatt has since found it on Mar- blehead Neck, resting directly on the parent rock, and very firmly cemented. The unequal weathering of the surface, however, clearly shows both its conglomerate character and the inferior hardness of the cement. Such conglomerates may of course be of very different ages, a remarkable example of a similar reconstructed telsite-por- 1 These micaceous and gneissic rocks have since been found by Mr. Hyatt to be largely exposed at Naugus Head in Marblehead, where they run to the west of north and are nearly vertical. Hunt. 48 [October 19, phyry adjoining the old porphyries of Passamaquoddy Bay, is inter- stratified with fossiliferous sandstones which show it to be of Silurian age. The same thing is observed in Cobscook Bay, near to Eastport, in Maine; while elsewhere similar conglomerates are met with of Lower Carboniferous age. The fact that the primordial strata of Braintree have suffered no metamorphism is the more significant, since the beds of similar age in New Brunswick and Newfoundland ! rest uncomformably on erys- talline strata supposed to’ belong to the same ancient series that underlies the Braintree beds, and are, like these, unaltered sand and mud rocks. The alteration in the paleozoic strata along our north- eastern coast is apparently confined to the proximity of intrusive rocks. Thus the so-called flinty slates at Nahant, containing patches and bands of epidotic matter, are, as long since pointed out by Hitchcock, penetrated by great masses of eruptive greenstone, and I have found that at distances of a few yards from this they appear as argillites but little indurated. The Upper Silurian beds about Passamaquoddy Bay are, in like manner, altered in the immediate vicinity of eruptive greenstones, becoming hard, greenish and epi- dotic, but the same beds a few feet distant are eee and earthy in their aspect. 7 The difficulties which have attended the study of the geology of this region have arisen in part from great lithological diversities, which led our early observers to separate into different classes rocks of the same geological series; while on the other hand, rocks geog- nostically very unlike were brought together. These points are shown in what we have cited from Hitchcock with regard to the syenite and greenstone, under both of which heads he has placed with true eruptive rocks others which are doubtless stratified. The indigenous greenstones or diorites were at the same time separated from the amygdaloids and serpentines (which were correctly looked . | upon as stratified rocks), a misconception which could only lead to confusion. I have ventured in these remarks to state briefly the conclusions to which a few days of observation have led me with regard to the relations of some of the rocks of this vicinity. ‘They will be found, I think, to show a greater simplicity than has hitherto been supposed in the geological structure of the region, and are pre- 1 Mr. Billings informs me that he regards the Paradoxides Bennetti (Salter) from Newfoundland as identical with the Paradoxides Harlani (Greene) from Braintree. ” 1870.) 49 [Dall. sented, imperfect as they must needs be, in the hope that they may lead some of the members of this Society to give more attention to this very interesting subject of study. PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF A NATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE OrpER DocoGciossa. By W. H. DAL. The following is a preliminary sketch of a more natural arrange- ment of the mollusca, contained in the Orders Cervicobranchiata and Cyclobranchiata of Gray, taken from the results of investigations now in preparation for publication in a more extended form. These in- vestigations having shown that no line can be drawn between the two orders of Gray above mentioned, it follows that they must be consol- idated; and for the group in question, the Order Docoglossa Troschel (minus the Polyplacophora and Solenoconche), has been restricted and adopted. As the denominations previously applied, all imply an erroneous idea of the structure of the animals, this course has been determined upon in preference to using prior, but incorrect, ordinal names. - The order, as here restricted, was first recognized by me in ‘ A Revision of the Mollusca of Massachusetts ”’ (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., x11, p. 245, March, 1870) at which time only the characters of the suborder Abranchiata had been fully worked out. Since that time I have investigated the characters of the suborder Proteobranchi- ata, as here restricted ; and in a paper read before the American Association for the advancement of Science, at Troy, September, 1870, of which a synopsis was published in the American Naturalist, (November, 1870, p. 561,) I restricted the order Docoglossa within its present limits, from the researches above mentioned. Among the fruits of these investigations was the definite exclusion of the Gadin- tide from the order. (See Am. Journ. Conch., Weis Ooty MUS 0)c . / 1h is proper to state that Prof. Theodore Gill had, upon general con- siderations, adopted the same limits for the order in his unpublished -Imanuscript, although the conclusions to which I have been led were « the result of independent anatomical investigations upon my part, which, so far as I am aware, are the only ones, including the whole order, which have been made. I am indebted to Prof. Gill for sug- gesting the very appropriate names by which I have designated the suborders as restricted. PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 4 JUNE, 1871. Dall.] 50 [October 19, Clas GASTEROPODA. Order DOCOGLOSSA Dall ex Trosch. 1870. Suborder ABRANCHIATA (Gill) Dall. 1870. Radula furnished with a rhachidian tooth and two aaeaae Ani- mal destitute of eyes, branchiz, and lateral teeth on the area. Family LEPETID# (Gray) Dall. 1869. Shell patelliform; apex erect, or anteriorly directed. Muzzle of the animal with an entire edge; furnished with a tentacular append- age below on each side. Formula of the radula, = Genus Lepeta Dall ex Gray. 1869. A. Lepeta Dall. Rhachidian tooth tricuspid, concave in front; central cusp simple, much the largest; lateral cusps small, emarginate, base very broad; uncini with simple cusps. Type Lepeta ceca (Gray) Dall, Am. Journ. Conch., v, p. 141, 1869. B. Cryptobranchia Dall ex Midd. 1869. Rhachidian tooth with three short cusps, equal and parallel before and behind; not pointed. Base moderately broad, more or less ornate behind; uncini with simple cusps. Type Cr untobranenes concentrica (Midd.) Dall, Am. Sine. Conch., V, p- 143, 1869. C. Pilidium Dall ex Forbes. 1869. Rhachidian tooth tricuspid, central cusp much the largest, convex in front; lateral cusps simply pointed; base narrow. Uneini with cusps obliquely twisted. Type Pilidium fuluum (Forbes) Dall, Am. Journ. Conch., y, p. 146, 1869. 1870.] 51 (Dall. Suborder PROTEOBRANCHIATA Dall. 1870. Animal provided with three lateral teeth, with eyes and with ex- ternal branchiz. Jhachidian tooth usually wanting. Uncini pres- ent or absent. ' Family ACM z1D Carpenter. Shell patelliform; animal provided with a free cervical branchia, issuing from the left side of the body, above the head; muzzle sur- rounded with a frill of integument. Radula without a rhachidian tooth and with three lateral teeth on each side; with or without ac- cessory uncini. A. Destitute of a branchial cordon. Acmea. 1. Acmea Eschscholtz, 1828. Syn., Tectwre Cuvier, 1830; Tec- tura Gray, 1847. Teeth subequal, parallel in both axes; uncini absent; muzzle frill produced into two lappets. 0 Formula, W210i 0210" Type A. mitra Esch., Zool. Atlas, v, p. 18, no. 1. 1833. Philippi. Zeit. f. mal., p. 106, 1846. 2. Collisella! Dall, n. sube. (a). Third lateral smaller than, and opposed to, the second. First laterals anterior. Muzzle frill without lappets. A single minute uncinus on the pleura. Formula, pel Type Acmea pelta Esch., 1. c. no. 5. 1838. (b). Provided with two minute uncini on the pleura. (? Col- lisellina). Formula, yc Type Patella saccharina Lin., Gmel., 8. N., p. 3695, no. 19. 1792. B. Cordon present; interrupted in front. Lottia. 1, Lottia (Gray) Cpr., 1863. Without muzzle lappets. Teeth as in Collisella (a). 6 Formula, Tecticpr 1 From Collis, a mound, in allusion to their shape. Dall.) 52 —_ 19, Type L. gigantea (Gray) Cpr., Am. Journ. Conch., m1, p. 342. 1866. C. Cordon present; complete, uninterrupted. Scurria. 1. Scurria Gray, 1847. No muzzle lappets. Teeth as in the last. 0 Formula, 1 @=ar=eyan Types S. scurra (Lesson) Gray, P. L. S., 1847, p. 158. S. mesoleuca (Mke.) Cpr., Maz. Cat., p. 208, no. 263 (as Acmea). 1857. Family PATELLID# H. & A. Adams. Animal without a cervical gill or muzzle frill. Rhachidian tooth rarely present; uncini three in number. A more or less complete cordon of branchize between the mantle edge and foot. A. Branchial cordon complete. a. Provided with a rhachidian tooth. Ancistromesus.1 1. Ancistromesus Dall, n.¢. Two inner laterals on each side anterior to the third, which is larger and denticulate. Branchial lamellae produced, arborescent. Sides of foot smooth. 1 Formula, SLPS" Type Ancistromesus mexicanus Dall ex Brod. & Sby. (as Pa- tella) Zool. Journ., tv, p. 369. Rve. Conch. Ic., Patella, pl. 1, nol.) 1855. 6. Without a rhachidian tooth. Patella. ld. Patella Lin., 1757. Lateral teeth and foot essentially as in the : last. Branchial lamelle linguiform, short, subequal all around. 0 Formula, SacpILys" Type Patella vulgata Lin., Syst. Nat., Ed. 12, p. 1258, no. (doen Gil 1From Ayk.oteov, a hook or tooth, and weoos, median or middle. 1870.] 53 , [Dall. 2. Patinella? Dall, n. subg. First inner lateral on each side an- terior to the other two. Second laterals largest, denticu- late. Foot with a scalloped frill, interrupted only in front. Branchiez as in Patella. 0 Formula ; 3@-11-2)3 ° Type Patinella magellanica Gmel. (as Patella) Syst. Nat. 1, p. 37038, no. 52. 1792. 3. WNacella Schum,, 1817. Shell thin, pellucid, apex anterior. Foot frilled, as in Patinella. Teeth bidentate, arranged as’ in the last. Branchial lamelle very small in front, but not interrupted. Formula, 8(g-44-2)3° Type Nacella mytilina Gmel., Syst., Nat., vol. 1, p. 3698, no. 28, 1792 (as Patella) = Nacella mytiloides Schum., 1817, and Patella cymbularia Lam., 1819. B. Branchial cordon interrupted in front. Helcion. 1.. Helcion Montf, 1810. Shell solid, capuloid, with pectinated ribs. Teeth? Type Helcion pectinatus (as Patella pectinata) Lin., Gmel., Syst. Nat., p. ovl0, no, 93. 1792. _ 2. Helcioniscus? Dall, n. subg. prov. Shell depressed, solid, with a subcentral apex. Teeth arranged as in Patinella. Sides of foot smooth. ? = Type Helcioniscus rota (Chemn.) Rve. (as Patella) Conch. ieon. pl. x vit, fis. 39, a, b, c. 3. Patina (Leach) Gray, 1840. Shell very thin, pellucid. Sides of foot smooth. Third pair of laterals posterior, largest, denticulated. Formula 0 2-13 Type Paiina pellucida Lin., Syst. Nat., X11, 1260, no. 770 (as Patella). 1767. Formula, Te DES 1 From patina, a dish. 2 Diminutive of Helcion. Dall.] o4 [October 19, Soft parts? 1 Metoptoma Phillips, 1836. Shell ovate, triangular, apex sub- . central; posterior end truncated, or deeply, broadly emar- ginated. Type Metoptoma pileus Phil. Geol. Yorkshire, II, p. 223, 1836. Fossil in the carboniferous formation of Great Britain. Many of the species referred to this genus by Billings and other palzontologists, clearly do not belong to it. : The above sections, with the exception of Helcion, are well defined and will probably include the greater portion of the known species, . though some may prove distinct from any yet examined. Extensive study of the soft parts has shown, beyond dispute, that generic dis- tinctions founded on the shells alone, are wholly valueless, as the lat- ter cannot be depended upon for diagnostic characters, and many so-called genera and subgenera founded upon the shells, will fall as synonyms, or retain their places solely as the result of accident. Scutellina, as far as known, is equivalent to Acmcea. Olana, Scutel- lastra, Cellana, etc., are founded upon characters of hardly specific. value. The results of extended researches on this order are now in press, which will include a thorough revision of the synonymy in full, with a definite reference of many species to their proper position, as determined by the sum of all their characters. Voted: To amend Article VI. of the Constitution as proposed at the meeting of May 18th. Section of Entomology. October 26, 1870. Mr. Edward Burgess in the chair. Ten members present. Mr. Philip 8. Sprague exhibited specimens of an Aleochara which he had discovered to be parasitic on Anthomyia cepa- rum, or an allied species, attacking the cabbage ; and of sweet corn attacked by Sitophilus oryze. He also read a letter from Mr. E. C. Rye, of London, giving the information that 1870.] ye [Minot. * the types of Kirby, described in the Fauna Boreali Americana, as well as in his Monographia Apum Angliz, are still in ex- istence, in the British Museum. The following paper was read: — Notes ON THE Fuicut or N. E. Butrerrurs. By CHARLES S. Minor, In the course of the past summer I spent a good deal of time investigating the flight and some of the habits of the imagines of our common New England butterflies. Though my studies on this sub- ject are far from complete, yet afew remarks may not be uninter- esting. ; My experiments and observations have not as yet extended to the mechanical principles, but merely to the character, of the flight, and the influence of certain structural differences upon it. J find that, according to their flight, the New England butterflies may be divided into three large divisions, each of which may be again divided into two or three sections, which may be further di- vided into groups, each of which will contain usually a single genus and all the species of that genus. I give an example quoting the three main divisions. I. Flight sweeping, long, sailing. A. Not turning often. a Strong and steady. 1. Prolonged, swift. Papilio. II. Flight not sailing, shorter than in I, more or less undulating. Ill. Flight jerky, generally short. The terms which I have used above will be understood only by those who have watched the butterflies out of doors. There is another division, more artificial but equally possible, which has no immediate connection with the flight, which I give below. Genera, the individuals of which, if disturbed, return after a short interval to the same spot. I. Usually; as Thecla, Grapta, Hesperia, etc. II. Seldom ; as Melitza, Pieris, ete. I will speak only of one or two of the other facts that I have noticed. A large thorax which allows room for powerful muscles, with a stiff crust, which gives a firm point from which the muscles can act, Minot.] 56 . : [October 26, indicate that the flight of the insect will be powerful and zig-zag. The shape of the wing also exerts great influence; e.g., a shoul- dered costa adds strength to the wings and therefore to the flight;* or again, if the wings are very broad, the insect finds difficulty in moving them, and the flight becomes slow and unsteady. The abdo- men is used as arudder. It is by means of this that dragon-flies can turn so quickly. It may be well to mention here that all insects turn, during flight, in one of two ways: first, as in the case of the butterflies, by making a decided angle, the result being a zig-zag course ; second, as in the dragon-flies, by making a curve, the course through the air becoming a series of curves, each of which is tangent to the preceding one. Numerous examples in confirmation of my views might be adduced. The position of butterflies when at rest, I have studied in some detail, and have arrived at some interesting results. A great variety is found in their postures by day, but they are all different from those which are assumed by night, which are almost exactly the same for every individual of the same species. _ Having often been asked where insects spend the night, I selected two of our commonest species, Colias Philodice Godt, and Pieris rape Schrank, and watched them for a great many evenings. A little be- fore sundown they begin to alight in the grass very frequently ; as it grows later they become more and more inactive, until finally they will allow themselves to be trodden upon, pinned, and handled in any way.- Before the twilight is ended they creep down, or descend in some manner, I know not how, to the very roots of the stalk or blade of grass they have selected for their resting place. They always choose a perpendicular stalk. ‘The wings are raised over the back, with the outer edges pressed together. The antenne are kept nearly perpendicular to the axis of the body and are almost concealed be- tween the front edges of the fore-wings. Mr. F. G. Sanborn exhibited specimens of Lepidoptera from California and Neuroptera and Geometride, presented by Dr. G. F. Waters; also insects purchased of G.,W. Belfrage, of Texas, and a collection made by Prof. A. 8. Bickmore, in Southern Asia. 1 Wallace, Contrib. Nat. Selec., p. 179, also has noticed this fact. 1870.] Si | (Shaler. Wednesday, November 2, 1870. The President in the chair. Thirty-nine persons present. Prof. N. S. Shaler made a verbal communication on the changes which have taken place on the Atlantic Coast; and especially on the denuding action of ice. Mr. E. Bicknell referred to the flexible, muscular prepara- tions exhibited by Dr. Dwight, at a previous meeting, and called the attention of the Society to some specimens of human muscle, and that of a turtle, (the glistening character of the latter still preserved) which he had prepared with equal parts of alcohol, glycerine and water. These preparations he had found useful for microscopical examination and dissec- tion. - Second and final action was taken on the proposed amend- | ment of Article VI. of the Constitution, and it was Voted: That Article VI. of the Constitution, be amended by in: serting the words ‘‘ after having been nominated at a preceding meet- ine” ; so that the article shall read, officers shall be chosen by ballot, after having been nominated at a preceding meeting, and a majority of votes shall be sufficient for a choice. Section of Microscopy. November 9, 1870. Mr. E. Bicknell in the chair. Seventeen members present. Calvin Ellis, M. D., Thomas Dwight, Jr., M. D., Alpheus Hyatt, G. F. Marden, C. 8. Minot, and J. A. Swan, were elec- ted members of the Section. Bicknell.] 58 [November 16, | Mr. Bicknell remarked that he had found great numbers of Tsthmia nervosa on the fronds of a species of Callitham- nion, off Portland harbor, yet the mud dredged from the | same place contained none of their frustules; he could ac_ count for their total disappearance only by supposing them to have been absorbed by the water. Prof. A. Hyatt referred to some points in the embryology of the fossil Nautiloids, discovered by a microscopic examina- tion of the umbilici of some fossil specimens. He showed that the embryos of the same age are quite variable in their mode of development. ' Mr. A. Tuttle described a form of Paramecium, from Fresh Pond, Cambridge, differing from the common species in having a much smaller vestibule, occupying only one-fifth of the length and one-eighth of the breadth of the animal. Mr. Bicknell described the structure of whalebone. He said the lamella were composed of a single row of: hairs set closely together and united into a plate at the base by a horny sheathing, while their ends were free. These hairs are hollow throughout their entire length, and he thought each one probably contained a nerve-fibre. * Wednesday, November 16, 1870. The President in the Chair. Fifty persons present. Count Pourtales made some remarks on the constitution of the bottom of the ocean off the east coast of the United States, south of Cape Hatteras, as developed by the sound- ings and dredgings of the U, 8. Coast Survey, 1870.] 59 [Pourtales. The chief constituent is silicious sand from the coast line to about the one hundred fathoms line, a limit which also coincides nearly with the inner edge of the Gulf stream for a great portion of its course. Outside of this line the whitish calcareous mud, also called Globige- rina mud, prevails and extends probably under the greater part of the ocean. The silicious sand is replaced to the southward of the Vine- yard Islands and off the eastern end of Long Island by a greenish or bluish mud, known by the navigators as the Block Island Soundings. Similar mud is found off Sandy Hook, in a range of depressions known as the mud-holes, which form a leading mark to find the entrance of New York in thick weather. In the neighborhood of New York a few rocky patches are found, which require investigation. Near Cape Fear, also, rocky bottom is sparingly found, affording a foothold to some Corals, Gorgonians, and Sponges. Otherwise the sand is pretty uniform in constitution, varying only in the size of the grain. A remarkable deposit of green sand is found on the inner edge of the Gulf stream off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. The bottom consists here chiefly of living or dead Foraminifera, the cham- bers of the latter becoming filled with a silicate which injects even the finest ramifications of the canals of the shell. At first: yellow, it gradually turns green, at the same time the shell proper decays and breaks off, leaving a cast, which by attrition or conglomeration with others often losés the characteristic form of a cast. Sometimes black pebbles are found, of which a section shows plainly the origin, due to an agglomeration of casts of Foraminifera. The dredgings made by the Coast Survey in the Straits of Florida, have revealed the existence of a large bank of deep sea plateau off the Florida reef, consisting of _ a highly fossiliferous limestone, still in process of formation from the ‘numerous shells, Echinoderms and corals, mostly new to science, which live on it at a depth of from one hundred to three hundred fathoms. Between this plateau and the reef, the bottom consists of the detritus of the reef, more or less finely comminuted, and not rich in animal life. In depths beyond the three hundred fathoms line, but with considerable variation in its limits, we find again the Globigerina mud, which also fills the greater part of the Gulf of Mexico in deep water. The Coast Survey intends to prosecute these researches next year with increased means, Packard.] 60 fat ovember 16, Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., gave an account of the devel- | opment of Limulus Polyphemus, the Horse-Shoe crab. The eggs are laid near high tide mark, loose in the sand, late in | the spring and during June and July. The larva hatches in about | six weeks. Previous to hatching it bears a striking resemblance to | the Trilobites, and may also be compared with the fossil Carbonifer- | ous King Crab, Bellinurus. It passes through a very slight metamor- | phosis, consisting of the addition of three pairs of abdominal lamelli- form feet, and is remarkably similar to the larval trilobite. For this and other reasons he considered the Peeciloptera, or King Crabs and — their allies, the Eurypterus, Pterygotus, etc., to be a subdivision of | the Branchiopoda, which also includes the true Phyllopads and | Cladocera. He considered this order as having flourished most in Paleozoic | times, the living representatives being the remnants of an extensive. | group, the missing links of which are to be sought among the Silu- rian, Devonian, and Carboniferous strata. He regarded the known | forms as generalized types, which preceded in time and in process of evolution the Decapod Crustacea. The Branchiopoda pass jhrough, either in the egg or in the larval state, a nauplius form; and to such a form, probably living in the Laurentian seas, he would trace the ancestry of the group, the order of descent being by per- haps three or more parallel lines. Huxley has compared Pterygotus tio the zoéa of a crab. The speaker extended this apt comparison to the higher Branchiopoda, and the comparison does not apparently fail when applied to Limulus, the larva of which is nearer a zoéa than a nauplius; there being a pair of compound eyes, and a distinct | abdomen, bearing three pair of legs, while the cephalothoracic appendages are comparable to the feet of the zoéa of the Decapods, which become by subsequent moults, mouth-organs, the true thoracic feet being added at the first moult. He likened the Neuroptera and Orthoptera, and, among Lepidoptera, the family Bombycide to the Branchiopoda, the generic forms often widely differmg among them- selves, being in fact generalized types, the links connecting them having probably perished in past geological periods. Dr. Packard also announced the recent discovery at Salem of a new species of Pauropus, which he named Pauropus Lubbockii, in honor of the discoverer of this most remarkable type of Myriapods, which, as Lubbock has remarked, combines the characters of the 1870.] 61 [Morse. Myriapods with other insects, while its antenne are bifid, a crusta- cean character. 3 Speculating on the probable ancestry of insects (including the Arachnids anJ Myriapods) he would trace their descent from a form resembling in some respects the hexapodous larva of Pauropus, which seems reproduced in larval Myriapods (Julus); in larval Arachnides (mites) ; and larval and degraded forms of many insects (such as the flea, louse, bat-tick, Braula, Chionea, female Anisopteryx, Ciceti- cus, the Thysanura, etc., etc.,) all showing a strong tendency to assume a hexapodous Podura-like form, which may be compared with the Nauplius form through which Fritz Miller, Dr. Dohrn, and Haeckel consider all crustaceans to pass. For this ancestral form he had proposed the term Leptus, from the fact that like Nauplius, which was first supposed to’ be an adult Entomostracan, the larval form of Trombidium had been described as a genus of mites under the name of Leptus, and was supposed to be an adult. The Leptus was hexapodous, and bore a general resemblance to the Podure, and the young of Pauropus, though the body (especially the abdominal portion) was not segmented. He thought there were several parallel lines of descent, diverging from some forms such as the Tardigrades or Linguatule, or both, and probably others, which again might- have descended from some terrestrial worm like Peripatus, and other generalized types of worms. Prof. Edward 8. Morse made a few remarks on the struc- ture of the common sipunculoid worm of the coast, Phas- — colosoma. It occurs in the greatest abundance at Eastport, Me., living in the shells of Dentalium principally, though found in other species. The worm takes possession of the empty shell, and partially plugging it with hardened mud, forms a constricted aperture. Owing to the translucence of the animal, the internal organization can be studied to advantage. He referred to certain features in its structure, and in the character of its earlier stages, as throwing additional light on the affinities of the Brachiopods with the Vermes. Dr. Samuel Kneeland gave an account of a visit made by him during the past summer, to the country lying about the upper Mississippi. He described the beauty and attractive- Perry.] 62 December 7, ness of the scenery and healthfulness of the climate. He also exhibited and presented to the Society valuable speci- mens of minerals collected during his visit, and referred to this section of the country as one possessing peculiar attrac- tions for the students of Natural History. Rey. R. C. Waterston, by invitation, spoke briefly of his recent visit to California, and was requested to make a more extended statement at a future meeting. December 7, 1870. Prof. A. Hyatt in the chair. Forty-four persons present. _ The following is a brief abstract of a paper which will appear in full in the future pages of these Proceedings: — __ ON THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN NEw ENGLAND. By Rev. J. B. Prrry: Mr. Perry introduced his communication with the remark that it contained the main results of his studies in this direction during the past fifteen years. Proceeding at the outset to give a brief account of the indications of ice-agency, he first enumerated those furnished by the underlying rock-masses. These are erosion, as of lake-beds, and the like ; plan- | ation, as almost every newly-bared surface indicates ; also striation, as witnessed by the countless scratches and furrows on the rocky floor of the country. Next were brought into view the facts indicative of ice-agency from the overlying material. These are such as the composition of — typical drift, it being generally different from that of the subjacent rocks; its derivation, it having been for the most part brought a short distance from the north; as well as its condition, it invariably being a heterogeneous jumble. Indications from incidental phenomena were likewise noticed ; such as the accumulation of travelled matter, moraines being an instance}; 1870.] 63 [Perry. the location of perched rocks, they being often found in extraordi- nary abundance on isolated summits; and the position of certain old beaches, as that of the shore-remains at Ripton, Vermont. _ These, and other kindred facts, having been advanced as decisive proof of glacial agency, Mr. Perry proceeded to enquire, under what form, according to the evidence, the ice must have acted? ' Were the phenomena in question produced by icebergs, as supposed by Sir Charles Lyell and the geologists of his school, in connection with a general depression of the country? The several cited effects of gla- cial agency having been passed in review and subjected to close scrutiny, it was found that the larger proportion of them could never have been produced by icebergs; that the remainder may be better explained in another way ; that for the most part the theory of depression is entirely unsupported by facts, and therefore to be discarded. The iceberg hypothesis having been considered, Mr. Perry next in- quired whether the results were produced in connection with a gen- eral elevation of the country, at the close of the Tertiary Era, as held by Professor Dana. It was shown that the theory of elevation is also a mere supposition, wholly unauthorized by positive evidence ; that the facts relied on for its support, as change of climate, the existence of pot-holes, of fiords, and of aérial deposits now lying beneath the level of the sea, can all be more satisfactorily explained in the light of an- other view; and that instead of an elevation of the land there was perhaps far more probably a depression of the ocean. Having discussed the inadequacy of the theory of elevation, Mr. Perry finally noticed the theory of glaciation substantially as proposed and defended by Professor Agassiz. He inquired whether all the main facts passed in review be not just what we must suppose they would have been in case the country had been covered by an im- mense sheet of ice moving slowly southward. In the light of this view, he indicated how’ the several classes of effects indicative of ice- agency receive a simple and easy explanation, and especially that the more difficult phenomena, as perched rocks, elevated pot-holes, the Ripton Beach, tlie Berkshire boulder trains, and other kindred points, are not anomalies, but special instances and illustrations of the work- ing of the great agency characteristic of the glacial times. Farlow.] 64 [December 7, Dr. W. G. Farlow exhibited a collection of Marine Alge, of the eastern coast of the United States, and remarked on their geographical distribution. The coast may be divided into three regions in which the alge present a marked difference. In the first division, extending from Cape Cod north, the Melanosperms predominate and are the dis- tinguishing mark. Of these, although the Fuci are more numerous, the Laminariacee are the most striking. The Laminaria longicruris, not rarely eighty feet long, is very abundant. It has never been found south of Cape Cod. In Europe it is found sometimes on the north of Scotland and on the coast of Norway. The Agarum Turner, the sea-colander, another of the Laminariacez, is peculiar to the coast of America north of Cape Cod. Its only other habitat is Alaska. Of the Rhodosperms the Euthora cristata is very abundant, much more so than in any other part of the world. The beautiful Piilota serrata may almost be said to be peculiar to our coast. Its only other habitat is Norway, where it sometimes occurs. The Halos- accion is found north of Rye Beach in abundance, but as its fruit has never been seen, its scientific position is still doubtful. The Chlorosperms, although rich in species, are limited to few genera, the Cladophore outnumbering all the others. The beautiful Siphonacee, the highest of all the Chlorosperms, are represented only by Bryopsis plumosa. The marine flora of New England resembles very strongly that of the north of Scotland and } Norwar The moment we pass south of Cape Cod we have a vegetation most strikingly like that of the Adriatic in the neighborhood of Venice. Dasya elegans, Solieria chardalis, and Polysiphonia variegata are dis- tinguishing algz of both Long Island Sound and Venice. Besides these we find the extremely beautiful Grinnellia Americana, perhaps our most beautiful alga, and only found in Long Island Sound. The Chlorosperms of this region are few in number and uninteresting in character. The Melon caperme are by no means as numerous, eith- er in species or individuals, as north of Cape Cod. But in Greenport harbor we first find in a growing state a representative of the tropical genus Sargassum, Montaguci, while south of Nantucket large masses of Sargassum bacciferum, the common gulf-weed, are found floating, probably brought from the Gulf of Mexico by the GulfStream. The % 1870.] 65 [Farlow. Long Island alge, it will be seen, are distinguished by the predomi- nance of Rhodosperms. The coast, from New Jersey to South Carolina, is a desert as far as alow are concerned. In Charleston harbor we find a few alga, principally Grateloupia Gibbesii and Delesseria hypoglossum, but when we reach Key West we find a subtropical flora forming the third region into which our shore is usually divided by algologists. Here the Fuci are wanting, and the Melanosperms are represented by Sargassum and several genera of Dictyotace. The Rhodosperms are very numerous and interesting, but it is in the number and high- ly organized character of the Chlorosperms that this region surpasses the two previously mentioned. The Siphonacee are numerous and extremely beautiful, forming large green patches near the shore, and resembling Lycopods and the larger mosses. They even have a creeping subterranean stem, as the Lycopods, by which they are able to remain fixed in the sand where very few alge can grow. Dr. Farlow closed by showing specimens and explaining the struc- ture of the calcareous Chlorosperms of this region called corallines. The genus Udotea and Penicillus seem to be badly limited by Harvey. In Udotea flabellata we have the type of that genus. The filaments here branch at their end into root-like expansions, forming the surface of the frond, and the calcareous coating is uniform. In Udotea conglutinata the filaments are undivided at the end, but in the stipe give off lateral root-like processes and their calcareous coat- ing is cribriform. In Penicillus capitatus we have a precisely similar structure, except that the calcareous coating surrounds each filament, while in Udotea we have it uniting the filaments into a flat frond. But in Penicillus Pheniz we have the connecting link where the filaments are united into plates by threes. Dr. Farlow showed a new species of Udotea from Cuba nearly related to Udotea conglutinata. December 21, 1870. The President in the chair. Twenty-six persons present. GLACIER THEORY OF DriFrt. By Dr. C. T. Jackson. Dr. C. T. Jackson made a few remarks on the conditions required for the formation of glaciers, and explained why he had not been able to adopt the glacier theory of drift phenomena. PROCEEDINGS B. 8. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 5 JULY, 1871. Jackson.] 66 [December 21, He would welcome any reasonable theory to account for the origin and distribution of drift, since there were serious objections to all theories that had thus far been proposed. The conditions absolutely necessary for the formation and move- ment of glaciers had not been proved to have ever existed in this region, or anywhere, except in mountainous countries situated in a temperate climate. We require, first, that there should be a suffi- ciently elevated temperature to provide for abundant evaporation of water; secondly, that there should be high mountains reaching the regions of perpetual snow, and such variations of temperature as would secure alternate freezing and thawing, so that neve or half melted snow, from which glaciers are formed, should be produced. Warm valleys and high mountains were then absolutely necessary for the production of glaciers. A general cooling of the globe to a tem- perature below freezing could not result in the formation of any glaciers, even if such a general reduction of temperature took place. If the earth was ever cooled to so low a temperature we must naturally inquire how it ever became again heated. Astronomy does not justify any such hypothesis, and geological facts seem also to disprove it. We can understand the theory of Fourrier, of a slowly cooling globe, and his results are that the earth is losing but a small fraction of a degree of heat per century, owing to the imperfect conduction of heat by the thick crust of rocks. It is also shown that in the epoch immediately preceding the drift (the tertiary), that a tropical temperature pervaded the now temperate regions of the earth. The fossil remains of monkeys, tigers, and other inter- tropical animals in the north prove this fact beyond question. If the earth, in our now temperate regions, was at the tertiary period heated to a tropical temperature, as all the facts of geology prove, how could it have been suddenly cooled to so low a degree as to allow the formation of three or four thousand feet thickness of ice in New England and other temperate countries? No facts or principles in astronomy point to any cause for such a marvelous change. Physical principles give such an assumption no support, and it derives none from paleontology and fossil botany, which indi- cate a higher, but not a lower, temperature than now exists in tem- perate and even polar regions. Witness the abundant remains of elephants in the northern Siberian soil; Mylodons in the soil of Ore- gon ; monkeys, tigers and other tropical animals in the tertiary of Iingland and other northern countries. These all indicate a warmer ) 1870.] 67 ) [Jackson, climate at the north ages ago. Now what physical, cosmical, geolog- ical or astronomical causes can be cited to explain a cooling below zero of the earth in those regions ? Suppose it could be proved that the whole earth was reduced in temperature to that low degree, what would follow? There would be no evaporation of water adequate to the formation of snow thou- sands of feet deep, and hence no glaciers could be produced even were the other conditions also existent. Furthermore, it has been shown by recent experiments in France, that if the rocky crust of the globe should be cooled universally below freezing, all the water now existing on the earth’s surface would be absorbed by the pores of the rocks, for the water of our globe is kept _ at the surface only by the internal heat of the globe, and cannot pen- etrate beyond a depth of two miles without being returned as steam, which condenses into water again. Indeed, it has been proved that if the interior of the earth consists of rocks, and the temperature of the whole earth was reduced to the freezing point, that five times the quantity of water now existing, as oceans, lakes and rivers, would be absorbed by the rocks, and every trace of humidity of the earth’s surface would disappear; and fur- thermore, that the porosity of the rocky strata would be equal to the absorption, also, of the entire atmosphere, so that the earth would be in the condition of the moon, without either water or air. This would hardly be a state of things favorable to the formation of glaciers. We need not go so far as this to render improbable the exist- ence of ancient glaciers in New England; for the considerations be- fore advanced are suflicient to create at least serious doubts, since the requisite conditions for their formation are wanting. Glaciers form from partially melted snow on high mountains. In Switzerland their lower limit, or line of perpetual snow, is nine thou- sand feet elevation above the sea. A continuous supply of snow, from evaporated water in warmer regions, is required to keep up the supply in the elevated portions of the mountain. The movement of glaciers is determined by the slopes of the mountains, the ice moving, as proved by Forbes, like a soft solid in a trough. It is evident, also, that glaciers descend from mountains qua-qua versal, that is, go in all directions as allowed by the mountain slopes and gorges, and make their grooves and scratches in the rocky Perry.] 68 [December 21, bed or channel and carry their debris in all the directions pursued by the moving glacier. This does not correspond with the facts observed in drift scratches and drift deposits, for they are invariably from north to south, deviating a little from that general course, the | most common direction of dvrift-scratches being from north-west to | south-east in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, while in Rhode Island they run due north and south. Neither the drift scratches nor the drifted materials bear any such relations to the hills and mountains as to indicate a glacial origin or | movement. American geologists are more inclined to adopt the theory of ice floes, as a drift agency, and the two or more sets of drift scratches, in the ledges, seem to be accounted for by the changing course of tidal currents, moving the grounded ice and gravel on the bottom. It should be remembered that eight-ninths of all floating ice is below — the surface of the water, and that ice frequently grounds at the pres- ent time on the Grand Banks, the bottom there being undoubtedly grooved in the same manner as the rocks were in the drift epoch. Dr. Jackson observed that the highest geological authorities rejected the glacial theory of drift, and he need but name De Luc, the veteran geologist of the Alps, Leopold Von Buch of Berlin, L. Elie De Beaumont of Paris, the most eminent geologists the world has ever seen, as stern opponents of this theory. In response to the invitation of the President, Mr. Perry discussed at some length the objections urged by Dr. Jack- son. As to the assertion that the glacier theory is a mere hypothesis, and that the various forms of this theory have been one after another demolished, he would frankly admit that this explanation, in a certain sense, is an hypothesis; it cannot be proved true by a | mathematical demonstration; no more can it be sustained by one kind of evidence alone. But that it is a mere hypothesis, he was not so ready to grant. There is a great variety of considerations bearing on the subject; the argument js cumulative. So, too, if we find, upon examination, that the main effects to be explained are substan- tilaly what we must suppose they would have been in case the coun- try were once covered by an immense blanket of ice; that there are also facts indicating the prevalence of agencies capable of forming such | 1870.] 69 [Perry, a wintry mass ; and that the so-called counter-facts are equally sus- ceptible of explanation according to the glacier theory, we surely have the best kind of demonstration possible in the nature of the case. Should this prove to be the fact, though he could only just touch the points now, the glacier theory must be regarded as far more than an empty hypothesis, and the various forms of its so-called demo- _lition may be counted for nought. Another objection claiming notice is the alleged weight of author- ity against the glacier explanation. Von Buch, the greatest geolo- gist of the age, it is urged, entirely discarded this hypothesis. The same is-true of other eminent and able investigators. This argument might be good, if eminent men had never done foolish things. The opinions of distinguished savants have presumptive evidence in their favor, so long as there is nothing against them, and they are to be received not as their dicta, but because they are reasonable. While we are to have due respect for their legitimate decisions, we are also to remember that in some cases their judgments are not worth a straw ; that we are to recognize only the weight of their evidence as authority. In given points and under certain circumstances the ablest investigators have made the grandest mistakes. Most people, after passing a given age, cling tenaciously to the theories they adopted when they were younger. Early manhood is the period of inspiration. It is because young men are constantly coming upon the stage that the world moves. When a little older, these same persons, with rare exceptions, stand in the way of progress, and it must be confessed that in so doing they sometimes exert a whole- some influence, and sometimes—not. Now Von Buch (for whom he had a high veneration) was already somewhat advanced in years, and had his predilections fixed, when the youthful Agassiz first advanced the glacier theory in explanation of the drift phenomena. It is not therefore surprising that he, and other eminent geologists similarly situated, rejected, and have continued to reject it, outright. Several other objections urged have respect to the conditions sup- posed to be necessary to the existence and action of glaciers. These are evaporation, congelation, and inclination. As these favorable conditions occur in Switzerland, so do ice-streams as their result. And the implication is that these favorable conditions have not existed in New England, and consequently that the theory of an extensive ice-sheet moving over the region is a myth. Now he would not say that the same conditions existed here in the past as are now Perry.] 70 [December 21, found amongst the Alps; he would simply ask whether there were conditions capable of producing the effects in question. On the one hand, then, are there any facts indicative of conditions favorable to a sufficient supply of moisture? In order to the forma- tion of extensive ice-sheets, the water must have come mainly from the ocean. Strange to say, there is the best proof that volcanic agency was very active for some time, about the close of the ter- tiary period. The extensive masses of erupted matter on the Pacific coast and in Central France are, at once, instances and evidence. In connection with these disturbances, submarine volcanoes were no doubt prevalent. These must have heated the waters in the great oceanic basins, and their action being for a long time continued, the evaporation would be immense and continuous, furnishing a supply ef moisture fully equal to the demand. On the other hand, it may be asked whether there be any facts indicative of cold at the period in question. It must be admitted that there is no positive evidence of an elevation of the northern part of North America at that time, and that thus the condition of con- gelation now existing in Switzerland did not probably prevail in this region. But there are cosmical facts suggestive of a degree of cold equal to that required in the production of the effects demanding an explanation. Without dwelling on the supposition that the earth may have been passing through a colder region of space, or on the probability that the sun is a variable body, affording sometimes. more and sometimes less heat, he mentioned three points :— 1st. Variation in the obliquity of the earth’s axis to the plane of the ecliptic. 2d. Variation caused by the absence of the perihelion in connec- tion with the precession of the equinoxes ; and 3d. Variation in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit. While no one of these variations alone may be sufficient to account for the cold of the ice period, we should remember that they occur in cycles, which may be represented in round numbers by 10,500, 26,000 and 234,000 years each, and that in the course of many revolutions all the tendencies suited to produce cold must have coincided, and that thus, by the combination of intensities, there would result a great winter of the ages. Now let evaporation take place at the same time, and for a long while (and I have evidence bearing on both these points), also let the vapors from the heated basins of the ocean be borne over the cooling regions lying to the ncrth, we have just the 1870.] 71 [Perry. conditions suggested by facts, and needful to the glaciation of the country. Whatever theory, in short, we may adopt, in regard to the ice period, the facts of astronomy compel us to admit changes of temperature—great onian summers and winters—in the progress of the globe. And geology tells the same story ; for instance, the earboniferous period followed by the permian, the miocene tertiary by the period of drift. Again, however, it is said that, even if ice were formed, its motion would be impossible; there being no great elevation of the conti- nent, an inclined surface like that of Switzerland must haye been wanting, and thus the necessary condition of motion. Let us sup- pose North America a level plane, and that, vapors condensing, a vast amount of moisture is deposited upon it. What would be the result ? This accumulation of water cannot remain heaped up, even on a dead level, to say nothing of an inclined surface ; it must flow off. The case is not different, even if it be congealed. Ice, as influenced by gravity, would have the same tendency to motion as water. If, now, the cold on the extreme north be greater than elsewhere, there would be a barrier to motion in that direction. If melting take place to some extent on the upper surface and the southern side, wf moisture from the snows melting at midday percolate the ice which beneath the surface was much below the point of freezing, if gravita- tion does its legitimate work on a mass five or six, not to say ten thousand feet in thickness, surely some elements of motion are fur- nished, in case the ice-sheet were resting on a plane, and still more, if there were, as was no doubt the case, on the whole a gentle inclina- tion toward the Gulf of Mexico. Indeed, under such conditions, motion southward would be inevitable. But it is also objected that, such cold prevailing, the rocks would absorb all moisture, and the surface of the earth be left, like that of the moon, without air or water. It should be remembered that the cold of the glacial period was not necessarily so intense as has been sometimes asserted, very extreme cold not being the condition most favorable, all things considered, to the production of glaciers. So it should be borne in mind, that as soon as snows and ice began to man- tle large tracts of land, they would be largely proof against external cold. Meantime, the internal heat being as intense as ever, the tem- perature of the water that penetrated the rocks would be raised, and thus an extreme absorption of moisture prevented. Again it is asked, by way of objection, how, in case intense cold Perry.] 12 [December 21 prevailed during the glacial period, a return of warmth was secured? If the astronomie agencies already referred to be sufficient, when taken in combination at their concurring points of greatest intensity, to occasion a winter of the ages, the same agencies would be sure to bring, in the natural course of things, an alternating sonian sum- mer. This might be a long while in coming, and the glacial period was probably of considerable duration; still it must finally appear, even as summer invariably succeeds to winter. -Once more it is objected, that an ice-sheet moving southward | could not have produced the variations observable in the direction of the striz. It seems to be forgotten by many that the glacial mass must have varied in thickness during the different portions of the ice-period. When it was at its acme, the direction, as a rule, must have been north-southward. In the closing portion of the period, as the thickness gradually diminished, the direction would be more largely influenced by the inequalities of the country. Local glaciers finally becoming predominant, their direction must be down the existing valleys; thus in a great variety of directions, as in the Green Mountains, predominantly east-west and west-east, leaving furrows and grooves to correspond. Accordingly an ice-sheet, varying in thickness at different stages, would produce just the variations referred to, while they are hardly to be explained by resort to any other known agency. The principal objections urged by Dr. Jackson having been con- sidered, and, as it is thought, fairly met, the hypothesis proposed in place of the glacier theory may be briefly noticed. And, first, some geologists have maintained that the effects, referred to the agency of ice, were produced by the action of flowing water. In respect to this hypothesis, it may be simply remarked that, so far as we know, flowing water never produces, and is in no wise able to produce, some of the most characteristic features of the glacial times. In many cases the effects of its action are just the opposite of those requiring an explanation. For instance, flowing water tends to efface, not to produce, the polished surfaces met with all over the country, whenever the underlying solid rock is freshly laid bare. Again, and this is said to be the prevailing view, icebergs and ice- floes are invoked as the all-sufficient cause of the phenomena. As to the argument involved in ‘the prevailing view,” he would simply quote, ‘‘Broad is the way of’ delusion, and the many find it.” To the 1870.] 73 [Perry. hypothesis itself he could only devote a word. That bergs from an. arctic continent did not bring the drift, is evident from the fact that it was to a large extent derived from rocks lying only a short distance to the north of the respective places in which it is now found. It is equally clear that the great mass of typical drift was not formed by local glaciers, since it spreads in one continuous sheet, having com- mon glacial characteristics, over the whole region, while it is itself in places uncomformably overlaid by the debris of local ice-streams. That it was not dropped by slowly-thawing icebergs, either as stranded or in motion, is also apparent, since matter thus disengaged would fall particle by particle and be regularly arranged or semi- stratified, and not left in a jumble. So it is manifest that icebergs did not erode, polish and striate almost the whole rocky floor of the country, since the drift markings are made obliquely across meridional ridges, ordinarily without the slightest reference to differences of level. Indeed, for icebergs to make continuous furrows over high hills and through deep intervening valleys, irrespective of the ever- varying inequalities of surface, would be a far greater marvel than the wonders to be explained. Having thus discussed some of the objections to the glacier theory and having briefly shown why he had never been able to adopt the iceberg hypothesis, he desired to bear witness to the great number and accuracy of Dr. Jackson’s observations of drift phenomena, and to assure him of his kindest personal regard. After Rev. Mr. Perry’s answer, Dr. Jackson said that Mr. Perry had made an excellent defence of the glacial theory, but had not removed his objections. -He did not see how volcanoes, in distant countries, could furnish the moisture required for the production of thousands of feet of ice in New England, nor could he understand how a glacier could rise from the bottom of Lake Superior, which is more than six hundred feet below,the sea level, or how glaciers could exist in Brazil. To the additional objections suggested by Dr. Jackson, Mr. Perry briefly replied. As to the statement that, however effective volcanic agency may have been elsewhere, at the close of the tertiary period, it could have had little influence in New England, since there were no volcanoes Perry.] 14 [December 21, here, he would say that there was evidence of a great disturbance, even in this neighborhood, at the time in question. The tertiary beds of Martha’s Vineyard are tilted up at a high angle, and there are facts indicating that the uplifting took place not far from the begin- ning of the ice period. The strike of the beds suggests that the agency was also submarine; that thus the waves of the Atlantic were probably greatly heated, and the conditions furnished for immense evaporation. The question raised in regard to the evidence of glacial agency in Brazil, requires a moment’s notice. As to the statement that the extension of the glacier hypothesis to that region is one of the great- est objections to it, he would merely say, that whether the extension be justifiable or not, it in no wise militates against the existence of ice agency in New England. As he had never visited the region, he was not prepared to discuss features which can be adequately under- stood only after the closest examination. The presumption, of course, is that Professor Agassiz has only spoken after due considera- tion, and that he is abundantly able to defend his view of the matter. The former occurrence of ice agency in the basin of the Amazons being granted, it may be asked whether it were synchronous with the existence of drift agency in North America. After all he could learn on the subject, the observations thus far made seemed to him insufhi- cient for the decision of the question whether the drift agency of the northern hemisphere was simultaneous with that of the southern, or subsequent to it. For that reason, while he might sometimes speak of one set of cosmical agencies, and sometimes of another, he was indisposed to say, because he did not know, just which prevailed ; only that, under given circumstances, they were abundantly sufficient for the production of the facts requiring an explanation. In respect to the assertion that, tlie bottom of Lake Superior being lower than the surface of the ocean, ice could not have moved from that basin seaward, he would say that the implied objection seems to rest on a misapprehension of the condition of things during the ice period. Let us remember that the ice, for instance, on the north shore of the lake was probably from five to ten thousand feet in thickness; that it was pressed by a portion equally thick, if not thicker, adjoining it on the north, and this by another and another ; that the basin, which was probably far more shallow at the beginning of the ice period, would be filled with ice, and greatly deepened, because of the immense force pressing from 1870.) 15 [Pickering. above and from the north ; that thus the ice at one time in the basin must slowly pass over the southern shore, as it gradually gave way to the irresistible vis a tergo incessantly at work on the northern shore of the lake. With a caution against the indiscriminate application to ice of the conditions peculiar to the motion of water, he would illustrate the matter by a familiar instance. Water passes from Lake Superior into Lake Huron, and yet the bottom of the former is far lower than either the surface or the bottom of the latter. If there be no valid objection to this statement, he failed to see any reasonable difficulty in the supposition that ice, during the glacial period, passed from the basin of the great lake southward toward the Gulf of Mex- ico; indeed, some of the very channels which it probably eroded are visible to-day. Dr. Charles Pickering said he found it difficult to adopt the view of Dr. Jackson, as it supposed the boulders to have been brought from a great distance. In the localities most familiar to him, he had found the boulders not far removed from their original position—a few miles only. He thought land and water might be so distributed as to make an equal temperature on the surface of the globe. New Zealand is in a somewhat high latitude, yet produces tree ferns. At Cape Horn it is difficult to determine whether the climate is perpetual summer or perpetual winter; snow falls at intervals throughout the year, but quickly disappears, leaving the country always green; vegetation con- _tinues uninterrupted, and the natives go without clothing. Great geographical changes have taken place since the earlier geological periods, for the crest of the Andes was once the bottom of the ocean. Section of Entomology. December 28, 1870. Mr. J. H. Emerton in the chair. Nine members present. Mr. Edward Burgess exhibited a drawing of peculiar cu- taneous muscles intersecting the nerve centre of the larva of Darapsa myron, and crossing just before the third thoracic ganglion, and causing an expansion or spreading of the gan- Dwight.] 76 [January 4, glionic commissure at that point. He had seen a drawing of the same muscle (numbered 18) in another species of larva in a paper by Lubbock. January 4, 1871. The President in the chair. Thirty-six persons present. John P. Payson of Chelsea, John D. Billings of Jamaica Plain, G. Brown Good of Cambridge, Charles M. Sumner, M. D., Samuel Henshaw, John S. White, John Prince Knight, S. Gardner Lewis, Edward Wigglesworth, Jr., M. D., and Thomas C. Chandler of Boston, were elected Resident Members. Mr. Henry E. Dresser of London, Josiah Curtis, M. D., of Knoxville, Tenn., and Thomas F, Perley of Bridgeton, Me., were elected Corresponding Members. The following paper was presented:— On Two Fowts WITH SUPERNUMERARY LEGS. By Tomas Dwicut, Jr., M. D. Two specimens of three-legged fowls were received by the Society on December 28th, 1870, and on January 2d, 1871, respectively. Each had a third misshapen leg, which did not reach the ground, suspended between the other two; but the anatomy of the malforma- tion was entirely different in the two specimens. The one first received (Catalogue; No. 1208) was loaded with fat. The third leg was suspended by a rounded mass of fat, in the median line below the highest caudal vertebra, and contained no bone for the first inch. A rudimentary ligament (the upper end of which was perhaps slightly muscular) descended from the ischial spine of either side, each to be inserted into one of the two spines by which the limb began. Otherwise the pedicle was 1871.] Te [Dwight. merely fat and skin. The bony structure is as follows: (Figure 1). First come two slender spicule of bone, the left (a) nearly three- quarters of an inch in length, the right (a) somewhat shorter, con- nected by a narrow trans- verse piece. These are con- tinuous with a single irreg- ularly cylindrical bone (d) an inch and a quarter long, having at either end a pro- tuberance directed forward. To this, another bone (c), seven-eighths of an inch long, is anchylosed at a right angle so as to point forward. At the proximal end this has a small process jutting out on either side, and below it shows a com- mencing bifurcation. Next come the phalanges. On the right there are two (d?). On the left the proximal phalanx (d) may be said either to bifurcate or else Fig. 1. to have an outgrowth from its right side; each of these subdivisions has a small terminal phalanx which is not so well developed as that of the right toe. The proximal phalanx has also a slight knob on its outer and lower side opposite to its bifurcation. This extremity was covered with fat and skin, having ’ no other tissue. There is considerable difficulty in naming the various parts. .To begin with the phalanges ; d’ from its number of segments is evidently the hallux, the sole representative of the right foot. If we hold that d bifurcates we have two left halluces, which is absurd; but if we consider the median toe to be an outgrowth from d we shall have a left Hallux and a second toe. C evidently represents a double metatarsus and has at its lower end somewhat the appearance of being inverted. There were remains of joints between this bone and the phalanges, but above, all the segments are codssified. The segments a, a}, and 0 are the most difficult to identify. It might be argued that 6 represents the two Dwight.] 78 [January 4, tibize, and a and a! the two femora, which would account for all of the. various segments; but while it is not uncommon to have a single limb become double towards its extremity, it is perhaps unheard of to have the single limb with a double origin; still more so to have it single in the middle, as at 6, and double at each end. I think it more natural to consider 6 a fusion of the two tibiz while a, and a! are prolongations of the fibula upward. , The other specimen (No. 1209) before dissection was “not very unlike the first. ‘The supernumerary leg was longer, thinner and separated by a greater interval from the body. ‘There were but two- | toes, which were of an equal number of segments and of nearly equal — size. ‘The pelvis, after removal of the soft parts, was found to be very peculiar. The sacrum is deflected to the right and the caudal verte- bre very markedly so. (Fig. 2). Between the renal portion of the 1871.] 79 [Dwight. left illum and the left ischium on one side, and the extremity of the sacrum and caudal vertebre on the other, two plates of bone are inserted, uniting with one another at a right angle by a transverse line of union (1, 2, 3,4). The upper, nearly horizontal (1, 2, 3), plate and the deflected vertebra close the space between the two iliac bones almost completely, while the lower vertical plate (2, 3, 4) shuts off about two-thirds of the opening behind. The transverse line of union of the two plates (1-3) is an inch and a half long, with a well marked process at each end. The outer sur- face of the horizontal plate presents little to be described. The ver- tical plate has a ridge (5-4) dividing it into a right and a left por- tion, each of which is roughly triangular. There is an oval foramen (6) at the outer superior angle of the left portion, and a smaller one (7) at the left upper angle of the right portion. Viewed from within we find the upper part of the interposed bone to be divided by a framework into two fosse, of which that to the right is much the larger, and into each of which one of the lately described fora- mina opens. A careful comparison with the normal pelvic bones will show very strikingly that the upper plate of the abnormal bone cor- responds to the renal portion of the ilium, and the lower to the ischium. And what is more interesting is that the ridge on the outer side of the latter and the framework on the inner side of the former, together with the general lateral symmetry of the two halves, make it probable that they represent the fused supernumerary bones of the two sides. The viscera had been removed before the impor- tance of these homologies was evident, but the well marked addi- tional renal cavities make it very probable that there was at least one additional kidney. A muscular bundle, having a circular attachment about half an inch in diameter, arose from the outer aspect of the vertical plate, and at a distance of an inch and five-eighths from its origin, was inserted into the summit of the third leg. (Fig.3). The chief bone (a) is two and a half inches long, compressed laterally above so as to be very slender, but expanding below to a breadth of a third of an inch; its lower end is bent forward and has a groove on the anterior surface, the posterior being plane. The lower extremity is bifid. On the anterior aspect, near the lower end, there is a small elevation shaped like a compressed V inverted. The superior end of the bone is sur- mounted by a delicate process which, turning suddenly to the right, ends in a knob. The bone appears to represent the metatarsus of Dwight.] 80 ot [January 4, | the two legs turned on its long axis so that the posterior surface is in front. From each of its two inferior terminations arises a toe (0) consisting of four phalanges, the right one being a trifle the longer, and each with the plantar side above. These, therefore, are the fourth digits of different feet. Although the muscu- lar fibres ceased at the upper end of the bone, tendons were continued down the limb, and the flexor tendons going to the last phalanges were very dis- tinct; on the dorsal aspect the arrange- ment was not so clear. As these ten- dons were more or less united to the periosteum of the long bone (@), the muscle can have had little action ex- cept to raise the whole limb at once. There were several good-sized blood vessels, and the whole limb had the appearance of a much higher degree of organization than that of the other specimen. These are examples of what Vrolik calls inferior lateral duplicity. As anomalies of this class are by no means fully understood, and as it is ee = b Vv very rare to find two cases which re- WZ semble one another, I have thought it Fig. 3. more for the good of science to describe the appearances accurately than to in- dulge in speculations which, in the present state of knowledge, must rest on imperfect data. SoME INTERESTING PHENOMENA OBSERVED IN QUARRYING. By W. H. Nixes. In working a quarry at Monson, Mass., some phenomena have been observed, which I trust will prove to be of scientific interest. For a few years, Mr. W. N. Flynt, proprietor of the quarry, and his fore- men, have observed spontaneous fractures, movements and expan- sions of the rock. Mr. Flynt called the attention of some persons interested in science to these phenomena, yet no one made them a ‘ 1871.] | 81 [Niles. subject of special study. In November, 1870, he first called my at- tention to them by quite a full account of what had been observed. To me the facts were both new and interesting, and I have since made visits to the locality, that I might personally observe and study them. With the consent of Mr. Flynt and his foremen, I shall, in the present paper, give some account of the facts they have nar- rated to me, as well as of my own observations, in order that the subject may be more fully elucidated. The quarry is located in the belt of gneiss, which lies east of the red sandstone of the Connecticut Valley. From the city of Springfield, Mass., the quarry lies east about 4° north, and at a dis- tance of about twelve miles and a half in a direct line. In going towards the quarry from Springfield, at a distance of about seven miles and a quarter in a direct course and in the town of Wilbraham, we come to the eastern edge of the red sandstone, and the base of the first range of hills forming the eastern boundary of the Connecti- cut Valley. ‘These hills of metamorphic rock reach about six hun- dred feet in height. Crossing the range to the eastward, we descend into the valley in which the village of Monson is situated. The quarry is located on a low foot-hill at the eastern base of this first range. It extends from near the crest of the hill, over quite an area upon its southern end and western side, and where the surface is only gently inclined. ' The rock at the quarry is chiefly gneiss. It is of fine, even-grained texture, quite free from impurities, and valuable for architectural purposes. The strike is north 10° east,2 and the dip is west 10° north, at an angle of 80°. The rock is not divided by planes of stratification, but a set of parallel joints, cutting transversely to the stratification, divides it into regular beds, that at a distance, might be mistaken for strata. These beds incline only about 10° from a horizontal position, and are nearly parallel to the general sur- face of the hill. They vary in thickness from a*few inches to several feet. In quarrying, the beds are first broken at the lower or western side of the quarry. ‘The stone is then obtained by first drilling small holes in rows, parallel to the strike of the stratification, and upon the upper surface, of the beds. Into these holes wedges are driven, _1 Since this paper was read, it has been so enlarged as to include the observations made up to the time of publication. * Magnetic. PROCEEDINGS B. 8. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 8 AuGuBT, 187]. Niles.] 82 [January 4, thus breaking the rock into slabs of regular form. The beds are so free from seams, and the rock is so homogeneous in structure, that pieces of great length may be obtained in this manner. Jn working from the lower side of the quarry towards the upper, the edges of those portions of the beds which are still in position, rise above each other like successive steps. The edges of these steps form nearly straight lines, parallel to the strike of the strata. When these por- tions of the beds remain sometime without being worked, cracks frequently appear along these edges. If still allowed to remain undisturbed, the fractures become more extensive, and frequently break up large quantities of the excellent stock of the bed. It has been found by experience that when these cracks first appear their extension may be prevented, and the stock preserved from fur- ther injury, by making an opening in the bed, trending in easterly and westerly directions, thus cutting it across the strike, and at right angles to the ordinary working lines. It is evident that such an east and west opening could counteract only a force which is exerted in nearly north and south directions. ‘That the force works in the direction of the strike of the strata, is still further evident upon the examination of some of these fissures. A single example may be sufficient for illustration. When at the quarry, April 29th, 1871, I observed an irregular fracture in a bed three feet and nine inches in thickness. The frac- ture was about sixty-one feet long. ‘The northern portion of thirty- eicht feet was nearly parallel to the strike, and the southern part of twenty-three feet curved to the eastward, and was accompanied by secondary fractures near it. Commencing at the northern end of the fracture and going southward, it would be noticed that at a few places it turned suddenly to the east, and immediately to the south again, thus making two right angles in its course. At these places the very short portions of the fracture trending eastward were wider than the long ones running southward, thus showing that the great- est movement had been from the north towards the south. At that time, April 29th, the southward movement had amounted to three-sixteenths of an inch; but when I visited the quarry July 7th, it had amounted to five-eighths of an inch, though at the time, the greatest width of the crack, at any place where it followed its general north and south course, was only one-fourth of an inch. ‘Therefore the force which fractured the rock, had, moved the relieved portion southward, more by three-eighths of an inch than it had been moved westward. 1871.) 83 [Niles Spontaneous fractures, similar to the one described above, have been visible at the quarry whenever I have visited it. Sometimes they are quite large. I measured one, July 7th, which was full four inches wide. Another series of phenomena is exhibited at the quarry, in the spontaneous elevation of the beds and the formation of miniature anticlinals. These elevations are common, and affect beds differing in thickness. In April I observed two anticlinals which had been recently formed. In one instance, a bed one foot eight inches thick had been elevated one inch and a half. The curvature of the upper surface of this bed was most distinctly visible. From the crest of this anticlinal to the base of the northern slope, the distance was twenty-three feet. The base of the southern slope could not be de- termined on account of the debris which had accumulated there. At one end of the crest there was a crack three-sixteenths of an inch wide, trending with the fold nearly east and west, but at the other end no fracture could be seen. In the other instance the bed was three inches thick, and at the centre had been elevated one inch. A fracture extended the entire length of the crest, which trended nearly east and west, as in the preceding instance. On the afternoon of July 7th, a little anticlinal was formed while I was at the quarry. The bed was only two inches and three-fourths in thickness. The span of the arch from north to south was five feet five inches and a half. The length of the crest was five feet and a half, and a fracture extended the entire length of it. During the’ afternoon, the portion of the bed forming the crest was elevated three inches and a quarter. The situation showed that the force which caused the elevation, was not an artificial one used in working the quarry. According to the testimony of the persons occupied at the quarry, explosions sometimes attend the fracturing and elevation of the beds. | Mr. A. T. Wing, superintendent at the yard, says that cracking ‘sounds are very frequently heard, especially after the work of the day, and the noise attending it has ceased. Though these sounds are more frequent in warm weather, yet they are heard in winter. These explosions sometimes throw dust into the air, and he has seen stones, weighing a few pounds, thrown several feet high by them. The sound of these explosions is sometimes as loud as the blasting of rock, and in a few instances it has been even louder. At one time, after the workmen. had left the quarry, so loud a report was % Niles.] 84 [January 4, heard that they supposed the powder magazine had exploded. On hastening to the spot they found that it was not the powder, but the rock, which had exploded. <A portion of a bed of nearly circular outline, and more than thirty feet in diameter and one foot in thick- ness, had been thrown up and broken. When they reached it, a portion at the centre was three feet above the surface from which it was broken, and the rock was still cracking and falling. Another very interesting phenomenon is the expansion of the rock, as it is being quarried. The most remarkable instance of this was observed in the autumn of 1869. By the use of more than twelve hundred wedges, a bed was split three hundred and fifty-four feet in leneth, in a line along the strike of the rock. The fracture extended from the northern and upper portion of the quarry southward, for the distance men- tioned, but could be traced no further; so that this slab, which for three hundred and fifty-four feet had been fractured from the rock, was at its lower end, still attached to the bed, apparently as firmly as ever. The stone thus partly loosened, was eleven feet wide and three feet thick. At the upper portion of the fracture it was soon noticed, that the halves of the drill holes upon the freshly broken edge of the slab were not directly opposite their corresponding halves on the edge of the parent rock, but that they had been moved fur- ther up the hill, toward the north. At the extreme lower end, the wedges were still firmly held in the rock, and there was no percepti- ble evidence of any movement. But in passing from the lower end to the upper, the first evidence of expansion was shown in only a slightly oblique position of the corresponding halves of the drill holes. Passing on, the amount of unconformability of position inereased regularly, until at the upper end it amounted to an inch and a half. Thus from the lowest wedge to the upper end, the stone was an inch anda half longer than that portion of the bed from which it had been broken. ‘There is an abundance of testimony to this instance of expansion from those engaged at the quarry, and from those who came to the locality to see the curiosity. The stone was allowed to remain in the position above described for more than two months, and during that time it was exposed to warm and cold, and to wet and dry weather; but these changes of temperature and moisture produced no perceptible difference in the amount of the expansion. As the expansion was from the lower end to the upper, gravity could. not have been a cause of the phenomenon. 1871.] 85 [Niles. In three instances, I have had the opportunity of observing the rock, when it has been split at shorter lengths in the manner de- scribed above. In each case the expansion was suflicient to admit of measurement. Near the upper end of the quarry, four hundred holes had been drilled into a bed, making a row one hundred and twenty-eight feet long. When the wedges had been driven sufficiently to merely frac- ture the rock, and while most of them were still firmly held, the ex- pansion amounted to one-sixteenth of an inch. The stone which had so expanded, was eleven feet wide, and three feet thick at the lower end, and five feet thick at the upper. In this example the upper end was the one attached, and the extension was southward. Near the southern end of the quarry, a split thirty-three feet and a half long had been made. Here the slab was firmly attached to the bed at the lower end. Its width was six feet and nine inches, and its thickness one foot and eight inches. Iwas permitted to take out the wedges, when I found the expansion amounted to one eighth of inch at the upper end. I could distinctly see that it increased reg- 4 ularly in amount, from the lower end to the upper. The other instance was in the working of a bed, the western edge of which extended in a direct line along the strike, without having been anywhere cut or fractured transversely. A row of wedges fifty- eight feet long was driven into holes upon the upper surface of the bed, and seven feet from its edge, thereby splitting the bed only along the line of the wedges. It was then necessary to cut from the western edge of the bed eastward to this fracture. The workmen attempted to do this by taking out a piece in the form of a triangle, the base of which was upon the edge of the bed, and the apex reached the upper end of the fracture. They found this a somewhat difficult task. The piece appeared to be held by something more than the tenacity of the rock, and it was necessary to break it into small pieces before it could be removed. When considerable stone had been cut away, cracking sounds were heard, and the remaining portion of the triangular mass was quickly fractured and easily re- moved. Fortwo hours I had been watching the corresponding halves of the drill holes, at the upper end of the fracture first made by the wedges, to observe at what period of the work, the expansion, if any, should take place. The halves of the holes remained perfectly conformable in position, up to the time of the cracking sounds and the loosening of the stone, but immediately upon this taking place, Niles. ] 86 [January 4, those upon the edge of the slab were one-fourth of an inch further to the north, than those of the parent rock. Prof. Johnston, of Middletown, Ct., has described! “some sponta- neous movements occasionally observed in the sandstone strata in oné of the quarries at Portland, Ct.” The movements there observed, he says, are the sliding of one stratum upon another. ‘These occur whenever a stratum at the bottom of the quarry is first broken by excavating a channel in it, which trends in easterly and westerly di- rections. When such a channel has been cut only partly through the thickness of the stratum, the stone remaining at the bottom is crushed with a loud report, and the edge of the northern side moves southward about three-fourths of an inch. ‘“ These facts,” he thinks, ‘plainly show that the strata of sandstone at this place are not, at the present time, perfectly at ease in their ancient bed,” but he does not attempt to determine the cause. Jam not aware that any other scientific man has observed and recorded facts similar to those given by Prof. Johnston. Probably such phenomena are to be observed at comparatively few localities. At many quarries the rock is so divided by loose joints, that it would quietly yield to a force, which at Monson would cause the phenomena described. From some statements made to me by persons interested in. quarrying extensive and comparatively unbroken strata, I am inclined to believe that facts of a similar character might be collected. > When I visited Portland, the condition of the quarries gave me no opportunity for observing phenomena of the kind described by Prof. Johnston. I found, however, that the facts were well known to those who had been engaged there for a long time, through whom I was able to determine that the movements were from east of north towards west of south, or very nearly parallel to the directions of the movements at Monson. The force causing the phenomena at the two localities may be identical, for the manner of working the quarries at Portland gives no opportunity for observing fractures, elevations and expansions, like those so well shown at Monson. Certain features in the structure of rocks, as cleavage, for example, have been considered, by eminent geologists, as evidences of severe compression; also, polished and striated surfaces have been regarded 1Proc. Am. Association for the Advancement of Science. Eighth Meeting. 1854. p. 283. | National Magazine. Vol. 11, No.4. Oct., 1858. p. 862. eee 1871.] 87 [Niles. as proof of a sliding and slipping of parts. These features, however, afford no evidence of present action. The phenomena observed seem to me to establish the following facts concerning the rocks at Monson: — 1. That they are compressed at the present time with great force. 2. That there is a lateral pressure exerted in northerly and south- erly directions, but no indications of any acting in an easterly and westerly course. 3. That beds of very compact rock may be flexed and broken by Jateral pressure, as seen in the actual formation of anticlinals. 4, ‘That continued pressure does occasionally culminate in explo- sions and movements of the rock. 5. That even compact gneiss is, to a certain extent, compressible and elastic. 6. That whether lateral pressure originally brought the rock to its present compressed state or not, it now keeps it in that’ condition, excepting, of course, where it has been artificially removed; then the rock expands. I believe that these and similar phenomena, will throw important light upon the more extensive folding, fracturing, and movement of rocks, and the elevation of mountains; but the discussion of these important relations is reserved with the hope of illustrating them by further observations, in a future paper. Dr. C. T. Jackson and Rev. J. B. Perry mentioned in- stances of similar expansion of solid rock masses which they ascribed to changes of temperature. Dr. P. P. Carpenter, of McGill College, Montreal, made a communication on the family of Chitons. January 18, 1871. The President in the chair. Forty-four persons present. The following paper was presented :— EXPERIMENT WITH THE PoIsOoN OF THE COBRA DE CAPELLO or Inpia (Naja tripudians). By Georcr Sceva. Jan. 8,1871. One quarter of a grain of the dried poison, which had been kept a little more than seven months, was dissolved in Sceva.] 88 [January 18, twenty drops of water, and the liquid reduced by evaporation at a temperature of 85° Fahr. to four drops. This was exposed to the air at a temperature of 22° and completely frozen in four minutes (the | warmth of the porcelain vessel retarding the process slightly). The | poison was allowed to remain in the frozen state sixteen hours, dur- | ing which time the temperature fell to 8°—or 24° below the freezing point. On the following day, Jan. 9th, the poison was thawed and | diluted with three or four drops of water, and two drops of the liquid | injected with a fine pointed syringe into the pectoral muscle of a | pigeon about half an inch from the keel of the sternum, the point of the syringe penetrating the muscle about one-eighth of an inch. This part of the pigeon’s body was selected in order to avoid wound- — ing any of the viscera or large blood vessels. The poison was in- jected at 4.32! p.m. 4,34’. A motion of the bowels. Although this almost invariably occurs as the first symptom of the action of the poison in the lower animals, it cannot be fully relied on in the case of birds, as it very frequently occurs from fright. 5.10°.. Another motion of the bowels, followed by slight tremors and convulsive movements clearly indicating the action of the poison. Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., who was present, thought he observed in the general appearance of the bird the action of the poison a few minutes earlier. At 5.15’, no further symptoms were shown. At this time I left the room for about two hours and on returning a few minutes past seven found the pigeon dead, its death having occurred in less than two and a half hours from the time of being poisoned. Since making this experiment I have found that a similar one has been made on the venom of the rattlesnake by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia. Dr. Mitchell found that neither boiling nor a putre- factive change destroyed its poisonous action. These experiments have also been made with the venom of the Cobra de Capello with like results. Mr. Sceva, after reading the report of his experiment, made some general remarks on the habits of the cobra and on the action of its poison. He said he had been much surprised, on looking over some of the works on natural history, at the erroneous statements which some of them contain respecting this subject. Fle thought these errors might be attributed in a great measure to the general dread — and aversion which people feel for all poisonous reptiles. This ,. cae 89 [Sceva. seemed to account, when combined with the usual credulity shown in such matters, for the many strange stories and absurd reports that had been published concerning the poisonous snakes of distant coun- tries, such as India; and in many instances he had found that men holding high positions in the government civil service, and physicians residing in that country, had published statements which had been accepted here and in Europe as facts—well established by their per- sonal observations and careful investigations,—whereas they were founded merely on the stories told by the jugglers, snake-charmers, and other ignorant people. In some popular works on natural his- tory recently published, which on. many subjects appeared to be care- fully written, there seemed in this matter a great want of careful discrimination. In J. G. Wood’s natural history of reptiles, several pages were devoted to accounts of antidotes, such as the leaves and root of the Aristolochia Indica, the ‘‘snake-stone,” etc. These, with a great many other reputed antidotes had been found by recent in- vestigations to be utterly worthless. Mr. Sceva during the past three years, while attached to the Indian Museum at Calcutta, had assisted Dr. Fayrer, (the Professor of Surgery in the Medical College there) in his numerous experi- ments with the venom of poisonous snakes. Among those made to test the value of local applications, was that of the use of the actual cautery by plunging pointed red-hot irons deeply into the flesh in the places where the fangs had entered, but this failed to destroy the poi- son. This result, however, would not surprise one who fully under- stood the rapidity with which the blood passes through the soft tissues of the body and the instantaneous action of the poison upon it. To show the rapid effect of the poison on the blood, Mr. S. read one of Dr. Fayrer’s experiments that he had witnessed, in which the inguinal fold of the skin of a dog was held by two pairs of long- bladed forceps in such manner as to include a triangular piece of about three inches on a side. The cobra’s fangs were applied to the middle of the free edge and with a sharp scalpel held in readiness the piece of the fold of the skin was at once cut out, and yet the dog died from the effects of the poison in fifty-nine minutes. Dr. Fayrer in his report made the following comments. ‘This was a very interesting and instructive experiment, most clearly demonstrating the deadly nature of the virus and the awful rapidity with which it passes into the circulation. ‘Ihe bitten part was not merely excised as we speak of excising the parts around the Sceva.] 90 [January 18, ° spot which the fang had penetrated, but the fold of skin into which the fangs had injected the poison was removed within a second after the bite, for the knife had entered almost before the fangs had left. In fact it could not have been done more rapidly, and yet within one hour the animal was dead from the effects of the poison. The infinitesimal portion of time during which the cobra’s fangs were inserted into the tissues was sufficient to have sent the poison through the circulation beyond the reach of incision ; and yet how very al must that quantity have been.” Mr. Sceva exhibited on the president’s table a living specimen of the cobra which he had brought with him from India. It was about five feet in length and of the variety known in India as the “ Keuteah.” It had eaten nothing while it had been in his pos- session, since the 8th of June last, a period of seven months and ten days . He had also kept others in India for over five months without food. He said that the common belief that the cobra would seek to exer- cise its deadly power by biting any person who should come within its reach was quite erroneous; on the contrary it avoided using its fangs as much as possible except when securing its food. When two cobras were placed together in a cage, they would sometimes strike at each other for hours with their noses, and would blow their venom and saliva from their mouths, but he had never seen one bite another, al- though he had kept a large number of them in cages convenient for observation. Of the great number of deaths (some thousands) occurring annu- ally in India from cobras, the bites were almost always received when people stepped upon them. Until very recently it was almost universally supposed that the poison of the cobra had no effect on the mongoose, an animal re- sembling the weasel. It was well known that the mongoose would attack and kill the cobra and would sometimes eat a large part of the body; but in these encounters the mongoose by his great agility could easily avoid being bitten, and Mr. S. had found on examining a cobra after being killed by a mongoose that all the wounds had been inflicted back of the head. When, however, the mongoose was se- cured and a cobra was compelled to bite its leg by having it put into the snake’s mouth, the mongoose died in a very short time. 1871.] 91 [Pickering. Dr. Charles Pickering made a verbal communication on the “drift” and especially the examples of it, which he had carefully studied in Salem. These he explained by diagrams on the blackboard. He said Prof. Agassiz’s idea of a great mass of overlying ice seemed at first to account for the movement of the boulders near Salem, but there are circumstances that hardly correspond. Once enveloped in ice, fragments of rock, whether large or small, would be all treated alike, whereas the largest of the Salem boulders are pretty recularly left near their source; water, as suegested by Dr. Jackson, would make this discrimination, but there is more resemblance to the probable effect of a slight check of the earth’s rotation, sending loose material eastward. The source of supply is clearly defined, a bed of syenite extending along the west side of Tapley’s brook from Danvers to Saugus; the derived boulders are scattered over a bed of greenstone-trap, from Tapley’s brook eastward to the sea; and the exact amount of force expended in transporting each boulder to its present position can be mathematically demonstrated. Neither beyond nor around Salem had he ever met with a frag- ment of conglomerate, even in the finer “ drift.” Eight miles farther south, on the edge of Little Nahant, he had found a large boulder of porphyry-conglomerate, that came, in all probability, from the hills between East Boston and the sea, and therefore nearly due east. These boulders having been transported by some cause that has ceased to operate, a question arises as to the date. Was it anterior to the advent of the existing species of animals and plants on the surface of the earth? Mr. Hyatt stated that he had recently explored the region referred to by Dr. Pickering, and could confirm the statements of that gen- tleman, so far as they related to the limited distribution of boulders. The geology of that vicinity was of great interest, and had been the object of several of his excursions during the past summer. He then described the valley which leads southward from Peabody to Swampscott, as having been at one time filled by a vast body of eruptive syenite. Remnants of this are still to be found capping the summits or forming the south-western face of the ridge on the eastern side, while on the western side they project in numerous, Hyatt. 92 [January 18, round-topped hills, which continue until they abut against, or change into, the flesh-colored syenite that les in contact with the Lynn por- phyries. To the east of this a great thickness of a very remarkable granitic rock had been observed, which presents in various localities | a gneissic structure with perceptible strike generally to the east of — north, which had led him to think it the broken and much altered | remains of a sedimentary rock. Salem township, Swampscott and | part of Peabody are underlaid by this formation. The whole mass to an unknown depth has been uplifted and shattered by internal | forces, which at the same time have injected the cracks and crevices | with fleshy or white feldspar, more or less homogeneous or mixed | with quartz, and in some instances mica or horneblende, according to | the locality. The cliffs along the Marblehead shore admirably illustrate this. point. One large cliff especially, near the line between Marblehead and Swampscott, would make a solid mass if all the injected rock were removed from the seams. Richard Bliss, Jr., called attention to some of the peculiar | markings which distinguish the young from adult fishes. In examining some specimens recently received at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, from India, which had a double band on the side of the body, or rather a single line starting from the gill-covers, running to the tail and then returning to the gill-covers, he found this to be the young state, and — this the manner in which a dark, solid band was formed, and | became perfect as the fish reached the adult state. Another | species forms a band which entirely disappears leaving only — a spot at the head and another at the tail. A third species | begins with a band, which is at length resolved into cross bands. These examples, he said, show the Ge: of studying fishes in all stages of their growth. Capt. N. EH. Atwood made a few remarks on the habits of the Blue-fish, Temnodon saliator Cuv. It was not found north of Cape Cod until the year 1847. Since that time it has been abundant in Eastern waters, appearing annually about the fifth of June, but in his opinion is now gradually disappearing. He also referred to other species, viz.: the & 1871.) 93 ((nler. Weak-fish, Otolithus regalis Cuv., the Spanish mackerel, Scomber Decayi Storer, and the Halibut, Lippoglossus vulga- ris Cuy., as gradually occupying the waters of a higher latitude. February 1, 1871. The President in the chair. Forty persons present. The following papers were presented : — NOTICES OF SOME HETEROPTERA IN THE COLLECTION OF DR. T. W. Harris. By P. R. UBLER. Fam. PACHYCORIDA. AULACOSTETHUS. Nov. Gen. Head about two-thirds as long as the width across the eyes, much shorter than the pronotum ; bluntly curving to the tylus.. Tylus longer than the lateral lobes, cylindrically elevated above tke plane of the adjoining surface. Ocelli near the base and not far from the eyes. Inferior lobes blunt, convexly thick, the buccule very slender; rostrum extending almost to the end of the second ventral segment ; the second joint subequal to the third and fourth united ; the third and fourth equal. Pronotum almost twice as broad as long, subhexag- onal, the lateral and posterior angles bluntly rounded ; the anterior aspect steeply convex, the humeri elevated into a rounded knob, bounded inwardly by a distinct depression ; the lateral edge narrow, raised, the submargin longitudinally impressed. Sternal raised flaps short, broadly rounded, not quite reaching to the base of the antenne. Lateral margin of the sternal groove feebly elevated between, the anterior and intermediate cox, but thick and much elevated between the intermediate and posterior coxw. Femora stout ; exterior face of tibiz obsoletely carinate, the exterior edges acutely carinate. Odoriterous duct long, rather straight, running from the coxa almost to the exterior margin of the plate on which it lies, the osteole placed at the inner end of the groove, the groove deep and occupying more than one half the length of the duct. Scutellum a little humped at base, a little inclining from the base to the middle and then obliquely declining to the tip; the sides broadly rounding towards the tip; edge of connexivum acute. Uhler.] 94 ) [February 1, | A. marmoratus. Tetyra marmorata Say. Heteroptera, New Harmony. p. 2, no. 1. No. 112. Harris Collection. ‘North Carolina, April. Mr. Nuttall.” , Mr. Say’s specimens were obtained in New Jersey. A male from Maryland, in my own collection, is much smaller than the specimen of Dr. Harris ; but it agrees, in all other respects, with his type. The | description of Mr. Say is too short to limit the species precisely, but it is likely that the present type was determined, as were many others, by Mr. Say himself. Fam. STIRETRIDA. Popisus Stal. P. serieventris, n. sp. Similar to P. modestus Dallas, but of a more blackish grey color. Pronotum, sides less deeply sinuated, the humeral angles not so prom- inent, obtusely triangular, blackish ; the surface less regularly punc- tured, those each side anteriorly and in the corners finer, confluent, presenting the appearance of four blackish spots, the middle surface somewhat bald, yellow. Scapus and basal joint of the antenne blackish outwardly. Scutellum punctured with black, the punctures at base aggregated in a large patch, the basal angles with a large, smooth, whitish spot, the tip smooth, white. Pectus remotely punc- tured with fuscous, the impressed portion of the propleura, the middle of the mesopleura, and exterior part of the metapleura with a large patch of black, confluent punctures, the exterior margin smooth ; exterior end of the osteolar duct black, the suleus broad, not reaching to the tip. Legs pale orange-yellow, the femora pointed with black, the dots more or less aggregated beyond the middle. Corium less coarsely punctured, the punctures fuscous or rufous; those of the costal area coarser, the finer ones aggregated in smali patches; the surface adjoining the inner surface and tip of the median suture smooth, with a more or less embrowned spot before the tip ; embolium yellow, . with a fuscous spot at base; the membrane tinged with brown, the basal margin, nervures basally, and a broad, longitudinal streak run- ning to tip blackish. ‘Tergum with large clouded spots each side and behind ; connexivum bright yellow above, with a quadrangular black spot at the base and apex of each segment, on the under side having 1871.] 95 [Uhler, a corresponding series of spots which are sometimes reduced to mere dots. Venter punctured with rufous and black, the latter arranged each side in a longitudinal series of patches; interior to these is a row of black spots, and upon the middle line four round spots, with the largest one at the posterior end. Length to tip of abdomen, 93 millims. Humeral width, 5 millims. No. 40. Harris Collection. $. “ Cambridge, Mass., April 20th, eat.” The specimens vary very much in depth of color and in the size and distinctness of the markings. In my own collection are specimens from Maine and Minnesota. A female from Massachusetts is twelve millims. in length. Fam. HALYDIDA. BROCHYMENA Am. et Serv. B. Harrisii, n. sp. Similar to B. annulata Fab., but broader and shorter. Head elon- gate-subquadrate, much shorter than in B. annulata, the lateral mar- gins straight, parallel; the tylus a little shorter than the lateral lobes, the anterior prolongations of these lobes not much longer than the lateral projections, the exterior corner of the latter almost toothed. Pronotum short and broad, the anterior lobe having the lateral teeth direct and sub-equal in size; humeral angles obliquely rounded, elevated, having a few short, oblique, ill-defined teeth, the surface behind the humeri obliquely impressed. Connexivum with a transverse, black, subdepressed spot. before and behind each incisure. Membrane, hardly reaching beyond the abdomen, charged with fuscous ramifications as in B. annulata. Venter very convex, the longitudinal groove continued distinctly to the penulti- mate segment. Femora mottled with brown, having a yellow, mac- ular ring before the tip ; tibiee brownish, with a yellow ring upon the middle. Length, 163-18 millims. Humeral width, 9} millims. Hab. South Carolina. In Dr. Harris’s Collection, without a num- ber. A female in my own collection was taken in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania, from a tree, in the month of May. ~ Uhler.] 96 [February 1, TRICHOPEPLA Stal. T. semivittata. Pentatoma semivittata Say. Heteropt. p. 9, no. 21. P. semivittatum H. Schf. Wanz. Ins., fig. 766. P. pilipes Dallas, Brit. Mus. Catal. Hemipt., p. 247, no. 37. Trichopepla pilipes Stal, Ofv. 1867. p. 528. No. 89. Harris Collection. ‘“ North Carolina, Prof. Hentz.’’ Fam. PENTATOMIDA. Euscuistus Dallas. E. fissilis, n. sp. Form and general appearance of EF. servus Say. Pale yellow, finely aciculatedly punctured with fuscous or black, the punctures more or less grauped together, and appearing very dense near the lateral margins of the pronotum.. Head appearing split in front, caused by the prolongation of the lateral lobes beyond the tylus. Basal joint of antennz not reaching to the tip of the head, the sec- ond joint a little shorter than the third. Surface of the pronotum depressed each side in front of the humeral angles, humeral angles prominent, rounded, alike in both sexes. Corium more or less, and membrane distinctly, dotted with fuscous. ‘The whole inferior sur- face minutely sprinkled with red, the specks on the pectus larger; underside of the head and pectus coarsely punctured. Venter pol- ished, finely punctured. | Length 12-13 millims. Humeral width 8-8) millims. No. 2. Harris Collection. Dr. Harris refers this species to EL. punctipes Say, making it synon- ymous with HE. serva Say; but it differs from both in distinet char- acters which seem to be permanent. NEottTiaLossa Kirby. N. undata. Pentatoma undata Say. Heteropt. p. 18, no. 17. Neoitiglossa trilineata Kirby. Fauna Bor. Amer. p. 276, 3; pl. vi, fig. 6. Alia trilineata Dallas. Brit. Mus. Catal. Hemipt, p. 224, 6. No. 83. Harris Collection. ‘Ipswich. Mr. Oakes.” 1871.] OT [Uhler. The European congener of this species has been referred by Dr. Fieber to a new genus Platysolen, which he established for it. The - generic name here adopted has priority over that of Dr. Fieber, and should be adopted in its stead. LIODERMA. Nov. Gen. General characters of Pentatoma Fieber. Body longer in propor- tion to its width than in that genus; pronotum, together with the head, forming a long triangle. Rostrum reaching at least to the mid- dle of the first ventral segment, the first joint much shorter than the head ; buccule not reaching quite to the base of the head, very slen- der, dilated at the anterior end. Antenne as long as the corium, the tooth at base of scapus long. Scutellum long, rather narrow, fully two-thirds as long as the abdomen. Osteolar canal closed, sub- cylindrical, the orifice of the osteole opening beneath a projection at tip of the canal. Corium a little produced at the outer extremity. 1. L. saucia. Pentatoma saucia Say. Heteropt. p. 6, no. 12. No. 47. Harris Collection. 2. L. senilis. Pentatoma senilis Say. Heteropt. p. 5, no. 8. Pentatoma grisea Dallas. Brit. Mus. Cat. Hemipt. p. 246, 33. No. 38. Harris Collection. g9. “June 30th, 1826. May 10th, 1835.” AtTomosira. Nov. Gen. Oval, the sides subparallel, not dilated posteriorly. Head short, rounded in front, the sides sinuated before the eyes; eyes large, sub- truncated behind. Antenne longer than the head and thorax united. Rostrum reaching beyond the first ventral segment; buccule slender, waved, not reaching the base of the head. Thorax hexagonal, con- vex, transverse, the lateral margins thickened, almost straight, posterior margin concavely arcuated; mesosternum with a feeble carina which becomes. enlarged and produced at its anterior end. Scutellum long, suddenly narrowed before the tip. Corium curved on the posterior margin, the exterior angle a little produced. Ven- ter convex, the basal spine rudimentary. Osteole situated at the outer end of a short, closed duct, the groove running from it out- wardly very slender and long. Uhler.]) ) 98 [February 1, A. sordida, n. sp. Brownish, or greenish-yellow, polished, the upper surface punc- tured with fuscous or black. Face finely, closely punctured, each side of tylus, and some spots near the occiput and eyes impunctured; basal and second joints of antenne green, the other joints reddish, excepting their greenish bases; rostrum green, paler at base, the apical joint piceous. Pronotum coarsely, deeply punctured in trans- verse, wavy, interrupted lines, the lateral submargins impressed, more densely and finely punctured, the lateral margins and some spots behind the head, and also upon the anterior margin, smooth, yellow; humeri rounded. Sides of the antepectus densely punctured near the anterior corners, the rest of the surface more coarsely, remotely — punctured; medio and post-pectus each with a spot of dense black | punctures upon the pleura. Legs green, the upper side of last tarsal joint and the apex of the nails piceous. Scutellum punctured in transverse, wavy, interrupted rows, the punctures finer towards the tip; tip yellow, impunctured. Corium guttated with distinct, deep punctures, which are more crowded near the base, the suture separat- ing the exterior field of the corium piceous, and terminating upon the disk in an ill defined spot of the same color; membrane brownish, transparent, the nervures darker. Connexivum yellow, finely punc- tured, having a double black spot at the incisures of the segments, both above and below; venter remotely punctured with brown, the punctures more dense on the sides and near the base, each side with two longitudinal series of double, black spots. Length 10 millims. Humeral breadth 53 millims. — No. 71. Harris Collection. ‘+ August 30, 1828.” RHAPHIGASTER Lap. R. Pennsylvanicus. | Cimex Pennsylvanicus DeGeer. Bd. 111; p. 216; pl. xxxiv; fig. 5. Pentatoma abrupta Say. Heteropt. p. 6, no. 10. No. 129. Harris Collection. ¢. “ Cambridge, Mass., Mr. Randall.” I have examined specimens of this species found in Panama, IIli- nois, New York, New Jersey and Mass. Fam. MICTIDA. Metapropius Westw. 1. M. instabilis, n. sp. | Blackish fuscous, sparingly clothed with yellowish pubescence; in | 1871.] 99 [Uhler. form less robust than MJ. femoratus Fab., and with the posterior femora much more slender and scarcely curved. Apical joint of antennz bright orange, much longer than the others, the basal joint about equal to the second. Rostrum reaching the tip of the interme- diate cox, hairy, more or less tinged with yellow. Pronotum a little broader than long, the humeri prominent, bluntly subacuminate, having a slightly backward curvature; the surface finely remotely punctured, and with small, scattered tubercles, some of which are excavated, the lateral margins deeply sinuated, the subearinate edge bearing a few short, oblique, rather remote teeth, margins behind the humeri granulated. Scutellum transversely wrinkled, the extreme tip orange. Hemelytra minutely, closely punctured, the punctures becoming a little coarser upon the clavus, the costal area near its base bearing a few minute granules. Antepleura shining, granulated, punctured; the odoriferous glands fulvous. Legs blackish piceous; the tarsi and ends of the tibiz fulvous, nails piceous; posterior femora almost straight, the teeth graduating in size towards the tip, the five in a row nearest the tip large and curved; posterior tibie dilated exteriorly through two-thirds of their length, sinuated on the middle, the base of the sinus almost acutely angulated, the opposite end tapering and beyond this a few small, remote teeth; the inner dilata- tion feeble, extending to about the middle, beyond this to the tip minutely tuberculate-denticulate, the upper and lower surface of the dilatation granulated. Length, 19 millims. Humeral breadth, 7 millims. No. 50. Harris Collection. g. Anisoscelis prominulus Say. Mss. Penn., Dr. Pickering; “ North Carolina, Prof. Hentz.” 2. M. confraternus, n. sp. Dark brown, blackish fuscous beneath, clothed with yellowish, almost prostrate hairs, which extend also upon the legs. Form and general appearance of the preceding species, but easily recognized by the long and very robust posterior femora. Antenne slender, fuscous, the apical joint fulvous, longer than the basal joint. Pronotum minutely tuberculated, a few of the tubercles excavated, the humeral angles a little curved upwards, bluntly subacuminate; lateral margins subcarinate, armed with small, rather remote, tuber- cular teeth, the sides subsinuated. Antepleura polished, granulated, anteriorly with a few coarse punctures. Odoriferous glands orange. Scutellum a little elevated on the disk, each side with a shallow Impression, surface transversely, obsoletely wrinkled, the extreme > Uhler.] 100 [February 1, tip orange. Hemelytra densely, finely punctured, minutely granu- lated at base and on the costal area. Legs blackish piceous, the anterior and intermediate from near the base, the tips of the poste- rior tibize and all the tarsi, fulvous ; posterior femora robust, clavate, longer than in femoratus Fab., the row of five teeth nearest the tip large and stout; the tibiz moderately dilated exteriorly almost to the tip, tapering, the sinuosity shallow, the angle at its base not very prominent, interior dilatation very narrow, sublinear, from its mid- dle to the apex of the tibia minutely denticulated ; three or four minute teeth on the opposite side of the tibie. Leneth, 23 millims. Humeral breadth, 8 millims. g. “Florida. Mr. Doubleday.” In Dr. Harris’s Collection without a number. Fam. COREIDA. Nerpes Latus. N. decurvatus, n. sp. Form and general appearance of Neides spinosus Say. Luteus, or pale cinnamon yellow. Head with a slender, decurved tooth pro- | jecting forward and downward from the vertex. Thorax a little longer, less coarsely punctured, the callosities at the anterior end | of the median carina small and indistinct ; sternum dull black, no spines against the posterior coxe. Tip of the corium of hemelytra | without the dusky spot. Venter densely punctured. Length 7-9 millims. Humeral breadth 3-1 millim. No. 72. Harris Collection. g 9. «Dublin, N. H., Mr. Leonard.” Fam. LYGAIDA. PTOCHIOMERA Say. P. nodosa. -Ptochiomera nodosus Say. Heteropt. p. 18, no. 9. Aphanus clavatus Dallas. Brit. Mus. Cat. Hemipt. p. 560. no. 5. No. 144. Harris Collection. “ Alabama, February ; Prof. | Hentz.” This genus must not be confounded with Plociomerus Amyot and | Serv., as has been done by several European hemipterists. The | clavate, irregular antennz and shape of the thoracic pieces are quite different from those of the types of that genus. 1871.] 101 [Uhler. Following Dr. Erichson in Prof. Agassiz’s Index Universalis, the above spelling should be changed to Ptochomera. PiLociomERus Amyot et Serv. (Autor). 1. P. constrictus. Pamera constricta Say. Heteropt. p. 15, 1. Beosus abdominalis Guerin. La Sagra. Hist. Nat. Ile de Cuba. p: 397. No. 122, Harris Collection. “ Milton, Aug. 15th, 1831.” This species extends from the West Indies to Canada. 2. P. diffusus, n. sp. Closely allied to P. silvestris Linn. Dull black, minutely pubes- cent. Head black, very minutely punctured, above with minute, prostrate, yellowish pubescence, the face with a few long erect hairs ; tip of the tylus piceous. Antenne honey yellow, tinged with piceous, the apical.joint and tip of third fuscous. Rostrum testaceous, more or less obscured, the apical joint piceous. Pronotum with remote, prostrate, white pubescence, and a few erect bristles ; the anterior lobe dull black, smooth, very convex, much narrower than the pos- terior lobe ; posterior lobe piceous, remotely punctured, the disk with three pale lines ; humeral angles whitish, smooth. Pectus with remote, prostrate, whitish pubescence; a spot above each coxa, coxal tips, posterior edge of the metapleurz, and legs, honey yellow; the middle of the anterior femora, an indistinct band near the tip of the posterior femora (and occasionally on the intermediate femora) and tips of all the tarsi piceous. Scutellum dull black, remotely punctured, clothed with remote, prostrate, whitish pubescence, the tip testaceous. Hemelytra honey yellow, more or less tinged with piceous, with whitish, prostrate pubescence, punctured in fuscous lines, with a larger blackish spot upon the lateral middle, almost touching the margin, and a smaller one at the exterior apical angle, near the interior apical angle with a small white spot ; membrane brownish, the nervules and a spot at tip whitish. Tergum black, occasionally rufo-piceous on the disk; the venter dull black, or tinged with piceous, sericeous pubescent. Posterior margins of the ventral segments sometimes piceous. Length, 54, 64 millims. Humeral breadth, 14, 14 millims. No. 103. Harris Collection. ‘ New Hampshire, Mr. Leonard.” Uhler.] 102 [February 1, Dr. Harris refers this species to Pamera bilobata Say, but it does not agree with Mr. Say’s description. OzorHoRA. Nov. Gen. Antenne long and slender, the basal joint reaching fully one-half | its length beyond the tylus. Eyes large, rather distant from the base of the head, prominent, but deeply inserted, the facets rather — large, postorbital surface swollen. Pronotum campanulate, broader | than long, at sides deeply sinuated, the anterior lobe rounded, con- vex, shorter than the posterior one, the sides bounded by a thick, raised margin; collum distinctly elevated, sinuated in the middle; | posterior lobe very broad, the sides oblique, bounded by the continua- — tion of the same elevated margin; humeri prominent, resembling long, thick tubercles. Impression between the lobes moderately deep. Disk of scutellum excavated. | O. picturata, n. sp. Pale rufo-piceous, or rufo-testaceous, elongate-oval, colors beneath and upon the anterior lobe of pronotum opaque; hemelytra and base of pronotum glossy. Antenne, rostrum, legs, hemelytra, posterior lobe of pronotum, and scutellum testaceous. Apex of the second and third joints and apical two-thirds of the last joint of the antenne blackish; the basal third of the latter white. Head densely punc- tured on the middle line, front and near the eyes, beneath finely punctured; tips of the lateral lobes and of the tylus honey-yellow, apex of rostrum piceous. Anterior lobe of pronotum impunctured, brown, the raised collar yellow, with brown spots; lateral raised mar- | gins yellowish : posterior lobe coarsely, remotely punctured with — brown, and usually with five longitudinal brown stripes; humeral | angles smooth, yellow, generally with a brown spot exteriorly. Pos- terior and upper margins of the metastethium yellow. Scutellum remotely punctured, carrying a V-shaped, yellow line, the lateral edges and tip also yellow. Hemelytra punctured in oblique lines with brown, the clavus clouded with brown; corium with a small streak near the base, a broad spot behind the middle, reaching the outer margin by contact with a smaller spot, a spot at the apical exterior angle, continued along the membranal suture, fuscous; costal margin broadly white, impuncturéd; membrane fuscous, a few irregu- lar lines near the base, the nervures and a large spot at tip white. 1871.] 103 [Uhler, Length, about 6 millims. Humeral breadth, 11 millims. No. 127. Harris Collection. ¢. ‘‘ Cambridge, Mass., April 9, 1835.” EREmMocoRIS Fieb. EH. ferus. Pamera fera Say. Heteropt. p. 16, 4. Rhyparochromus borealis Dallas. Brit. Mus. Cat. p. 565, 16. No. 73. Harris Collection. ¢ 9. The manuscript index to this collection gives the name Anisoscelis prominulus Say, Mss. to No. 73. The true genus Anisoscelis being known to both Dr. Harris and Mr. Say, the reference must have been originally made to an insect quite different from the one now bearing that number. PERITRECHUS Fieb. P. fraternus, n. sp. Elongate-oval, very slightly convex, black, dull. Head black, finely, remotely punctured both above and beneath, face pubescent, having some erect long hairs about the tip. Antenne piceous-black, the scapus and incisures of joints pale. Rostrum and tip of tylus pale piceous, the former (¢) reaching beyond the mesosternum, the tip darker. Pronotum broad, the transverse impression very ill-de- fined, but more distinct at each end, lateral reflexed margin decurv- ing anteriorly to meet the middle of the eyes; the surface dull, with remote, prostrate pubescence, the collar pale piceous; posterior lobe dull ochreous-yellow, with remote, coarse blackish punctures, humeri with a dusky spot in front. Pectus dull black, the pleural pieces remotely, obsoletely punctured. Legs pale rufo-piceous, the anterior femora blackish, excepting the knees; tibie dusky above, paler towards the tip; tarsi pale, but more or less dusky above and at tip: immediate and posterior femora dark piceous on the middle, the trochanters, cox and adjoining surface pale rufo-piceous. Hemely- tra pale, dull ochreous-yellow, punctured with black in numerous oblique rows, a few dusky spots and clouds produced by aggregations of the punctures, the costal margin and two or more small spots on the disk smooth, yellow. Membrane whitish, with a spot near the interior angle, and a few less distinct ones on the middle and sides a Uhler] 104 [February 1, brown. Venter black, polished, minutely, closely punctured, mi- nutely pubescent. Tip of costal margin with a black spot. Length, 5 millims. Humeral breadth, 12 millims. No. 146. Harris Collection. 9. ‘‘ Cambridge, Mass., April 20, 1837, under a board.” BELoNocHILUS. Nov. Gen. Elongate, oval, flattened, pronotum and head together forming a long triangle. Head very long, acutely narrowing to the tip ; the tylus narrow, projecting prominently forwards. Ocelli placed on a line with the back of the eyes and near them. Antenne about half as long as the body, the apical joint subfusiform, much stouter than the others, about equaling the third in length ; basal joint very short, not reaching to the tip of head, contracted at base, the second as long as the basal and third united. Buccule narrow, tapering toa point behind the middle of the throat, the rostral groove deep, nar- rowing behind. Rostrum slender, reaching behind the middle of the venter, the basal joint fully as long as the head, almost enclosed in the groove, second joint a little longer than the first, third about twice as long as the fourth, the fourth a little shorter than the first. Prosternal groove broad, not carried as far as the collum, mesoster- nal groove broad, well defined. Osteolar appendix auriculate, grooved. Base of venter triangularly produced against the sternum ; the median line sulcate to behind the middle. Anterior femora very stout, armed with one large tooth. Membrane with five longitudinal nervures, and at base with one long and one transverse cell. Very closely related to Orsillus Dallas. B. numenius. Lygeus numenius Say. Heteropt. p. 15. 9. No. 81. Harris Collection. 9. “September 1st, 1829. Penn. Dr. Pickering.” A very rare insect in Maryland; but of which I have examined specimens from Ohio and Illinois. | Fam. ARADID/. ARADUS Fab. A. robustus, n. sp. Fuscous, or rufo-fuscous, with close-set, short sete over most of the surface. Form of A. quadrilineatus Say. Head broad, short, } 1871.] 105 [Uhler. deeply grooved each side, with the posterior part of the grooves more deeply sunken. Tylus narrow, high, rounded at tip; on the con- striction behind it is a minute, elevated granule. Antenniferous processes stout, subacute at tip, extending almost to the tip of the basal joint of the antenne. Antenne very broad, a little flattened, the basal joint very short, not as long as the apical one ; second joint longest, subfusiform, more than twice as long as the apical one, much stouter than the basal ; third equally stout, a little more than one-half the length of the second, apical much narrower than the third, the tip subconical. Rostrum reaching fully to the anterior cox. Pronotum transversely elongate-oval, more than twice as wide as long, the lateral margins remotely denticulated, the teeth decreas- ing in size posteriorly; anterior margin subtruncated, posterior margin somewhat lobed behind the humeri; the disk with four longitudinal ridges, the lateral ones incomplete, curving inwards anteriorly, and on each humerus is a short ridge. Margins of the scutellum much elevated. Tibiz pale yellowish, with the base, tip and a broad band on the middle, black. Disk of corium usually reticulated with pale ferruginous, which includes also the two elevated nervures ; mem- brane pale, marmorated with fuscous, and having four long nervules. Middle line of venter incised ; post-genital flaps long and broad, obliquely approaching at tip. Lateral margins of the posterior seg- ments broadly scalloped. Length, 53-7 milims. Humeral breadth, 2-2) millims. No. 82. Harris Collection @. ‘May 20th, 1829.” ANEURUS. Curtis. A. inconstans, n. sp. Ferruginous, or rufo-fuscous. When deeply colored displaying a large, whitish spot upon the middle of the corium. Antenne stouter than in the allied species, the second joint a little longer than the basal one; the third almost as long, or at least two-thirds as long as the fourth. Spines of the antenniferous tubercles acute and a little curved. ‘The other characters are those common to the allied species. Length, 64 millims. Humeral breadth, 2 millims. No. 13. Harris Collection. 9. ‘‘Aradus sanguineus Say. Mss., May 29th, 1822, Mass. On a fence.” Uhler.} 106 [February a The following scheme embraces all the species known to me. A. Coarsely granulated species. | Antenne, second joint stout, longer than the feel one; third joint about one-half as long as the fourth. 1. A.levis Fab. , Europe. Antennz, second joint stout, longer than the basal one; third | joint almost as long as the fourth. 2. A. inconstans, n. sp. Mass. Antenne, very slender, second joint more slender at base, much longer than the basal one; third joint less than one-half as long as the fourth ; fourth very long and slender. 3. A. simplex, n. sp. New England. B. Minutely granulated, highly polished. Antenne, second and third joints subequal, neither longer than the basal one; the fourth longer than any two of the others con- joined. Antenniferous tubercles not denticulated. 4. <A. politus Say. Florida and Cuba. Fam. ANTHOCORIDZ. Lyctocoris Hahn. L. domesticus. Cimex domesticus Schill. Isis. 1834. p. 738. Anthocoris bicuspis H. Schf. Nomencl. Ent. p. 60. No. 148. Harris Collection. ‘‘ Alabama, Feb. North Carolina. Prof. Hentz.” Widely distributed throughout North America, and probably a species imported from Europe. TRIPHLEPS Fieb. T. insidiosus. Reduvius insidiosus Say. Heteropt. p. 32. 5. Anthocoris pseudo-chinche Fitch. Second Report, p. 295. ; The specimens in this collection are destitute of a number, and have no indication of the place where they were found. Fam. REDUVIDZ. PYGOLAMPIS Germar. P. pectoralis. Reduvius pectoralis Say. Ins. of Louisiana, p. 11. 1871.] 107 [Uhler, Pygolampis fuscipennis Stal. Ofv. Vetens. 1859. p. 380. 4. No. 33. Harris Collection. g. ‘‘ May 15th, 1826.” Fam. EMESIDA. Emesa Fab. EH. longipes. Cimex longipes DeGeer. Mem. m1, pl. xxxv, figs. 17 and 19. Plowaria brevipennis Say. Amer. Ent. 111, pl. xlvii. Fimesa pia Amyot & Serv. Hem., p. 394. 2. Emesa jfilum G. R. Gray. Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom, vol. 11., p. 244, pl. xcvii, fig. 3. _ Emesa pia 1. Schf. Wanz. Ins. 1x, p. 114, fig. 937. No. 93. Harris Collection. ¢. “Penn., Dr. Pickering.” After carefully comparing specimens of this species, from many parts of the United States, with the descriptions and figures above cited, I feel convinced that they are all to be referred to that described by DeGeer. Dr Dohrn, Linnea Entomologica, vol. xiv, p- 220, cites a species from Georgia for the Plo. brevipennis Say, but Say’s species came from Pennsylvania and does not agree with the description of Dr. Dohrn. It seems to me to be a new species which J have never seen. Pra@aria Amyot and Serv. P. errabunda. Ploiaria errabunda Say. Heteropt. p. 34. 2. Ploiaria maculata Hald. Proc. Acad. Phila. 111, p. 151. No. 107. Harris Collection. ‘ New Hampshire, Mr. Leonard.” A somewhat immature specimen now remains in the collection. It seems to be rare, although widely distributed in the United States. Fam. HYDROESSZ. RHAGOVELIA Mayr. R. obesa, n. sp. Allied o R. collaris Mayr, but differs in the colors, in the more contracted abdomen (unwinged) with its acutely produced tips of the connexivum, and in the absence of the tuft of hairs at the Uhiler.] 108 [February Ly end of the abdomen in the corresponding sex. Brownish, or bronzed black, the underside bluish sericeous. Head velvety black, the front almost truncated, cinereous, with an impressed longitudinal line run- ning almost to base, with a few long hairs about the sides and above; base of cranium a little carinately elevated. Labrum and lateral lobes yellowish, or rufo-piceous ; rostrum black, reaching to the tip of the anterior coxe. Eyes brown. Antenne, excepting the pale base of basal joint, black, basal joint stoutest, curved, about twice as long as the second, the second subequal to the third, the fourth decidedly shorter than the third. Thorax obese, pronotum velvety black, sparingly clothed about the sides with fine golden pubescence; the collum orange, interrupted in the middle by blackish, middle line, faintly carinated ; tip of pronotum produced, at tip curved upwards, the extreme end expanded, with a granulated process at each corner (winged) ; in the unwinged, the posterior margin forms a long tri- angle with the angles bluntly rounded. Each side of prosternum broadly orange. Cox, trochanters and usually the base of femora yellow; the femora bronzed- or blue-black. Cerci of the male long, slender, curved, hairy. . Length, 34-4 millims. Greatest breadth of pronotum, 1% millims. No. 64. Harris Collection. ‘‘ Velia collaris Say, Mss. On water, September 30th.” Occurs both with and without wings in some localities. Near Baltimore and in Eastern Massachusetts I have found great numbers of specimens, but always unwinged. Fam. HYDROMETRIDZ. Metrosatss. Nov. Gen. Similar to Halobates Esch. (autor.) Robust and broad. Anten- nz stout, almost as long as the entire body, the basal joint nearly as long as the three others united, curved at base, narrowing in that direction, much stouter in the male and expanded at the tip, the underside with erect hairs; second joint about one-third the length of the basal, greatly enlarged at tip, the third shortest, also enlarged at tip, fourth very stout, fusiform, almost as long as the second. Prono- tum ample (in the unwinged form narrow and short, the mesothorax forming the stoutest and largest part of the body), a very little 1871] 109 [Uhler. wider than long, the posterior lobe large, and extending back in the form of a broad triangle with the sides nearly straight and the tip a litthe rounded; the lateral margins, including the humeri, forming high, broad ridges. Anterior legs stout, the tibize a little curved at tip, with the process small and almost in continuous contact with the surface on which it stands; the basal joint of tarsi about one-fourth the length of the second, the second having the unguicule placed about one-third from the tip. Intermediate femora about two-thirds the leneth of the posterior, the tibia not quite as long as the pos- terior femur and tibia conjoined; the tarsus equal in length to the posterior tibia and tarsus conjoined. Corium of hemelytra short, with two elongated cells occupying nearly the whole width; membrane more than twice as long as the corium, the looped ner- vule running parallel to the entire margin. M. hesperius, n. sp. Opaque, velvety blue- or brown-black, densely pubescent. Head robust, convex, brown, at base and each side of it rufous or orange, minutely, densely pubescent, the face blackish. Rostrum black, beneath shining, above densely greyish pubescent, at base more or less orange. Antenne black, pubescent, the basal one-fourth of the basal joint orange. Pronotum very small in the unwinged specimens, and less than one-half as long as wide, having the anterior margin a little concave, the surface finely, closely pubescent, the middle line broadly depressed, yellow, invaded by gray or whitish lead color, which expands in running back and covers the whole width of the ° tergum to its tip, omitting only a few black streaks on the disks and margins of the segments. ‘The whole pectus, venter and two spots on the pleura lead color with a sericeous gloss. The winged form has the pronotum blackish-brown, densely pubes- cent, the middle of the anterior lobe broadly depressed, covered by an orange spot, but lacking the bluish stripe. Coxee yellow beneath, legs brownish-black, the anterior pair yellow at base, the yellow color continued further on the under side. Sternum blackish, each side of it yellowish. Hemelytra dark brown, with a faint, paler streak on the median suture, at base and on the costal margin pubescent. Venter cinereous, the disk of the penultimate and base of the last seoment yellow. Length to tip of hemelytra 5 millims. Extreme width of meso- thorax 2 millims. Unwinged, length, 3-4 millims. Mesothoracie width 18 21 millims. No. 29. Harris Collection. Shaler.] 110 [February 1, ON THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO THE PRODUCTION OF CAPE Hatreras. By Pror. N. S. SHALER. It is an almost self-evident proposition that the geological structure of a coast line is the key to its character; that the subterranean fea- tures have determined its outward contours. It is equally clear that the changes now going on along any coast must depend to a great extent upon the geological character of the materials along that coast. These considerations make it seem necessary to study the | geological disposition of the materials along any shore, as the condi- tion on which we may hope to attain to a true understanding of the causes which have determined its form. In endeavoring to arrange a plan for the examination of the geological history of the shore line of the United States, it is at once obvious that the first thing to be done is to interpret the history of the most conspicuous features of the shore, in order to obtain the basis for the detail work. Inspec- tion of the map of the eastern coast of North America shows the existence of a number of great indentations and projections. It is obvious that these must depend upon some great geological facts which require interpretation. I propose to discuss here the causes which have led to the production of one of the most important irreg- ularities, the great salient angle of our southern shore known as Cape Hatteras. The geological facts already in our possession have failed to account for the existence of this projection. The general character of the shore at that point, and of the low lands which lie between the sea and the base of the Aileghany mountains, is such as to make it seem at first sight unlikely that the shoulder which the continent forms at this point is to be referred to disturbances of the underlying rocks. The region, for nearly one hundred miles to the west of Cape Hatteras, is nearly level, and seems to be a northward prolongation of the great southern plain which extends from Texas to Virginia; a singularly monotonous surface, with little indication of disturbance away from the immediate contact with the borders of the Alleghany chain. Along the whole stretch of coast from near the mouth of the Rio Grande we find the shore line everywhere bor- dered by this plain, and throughout its whole extent presenting no features which require us to call in the aid of geological dislocations to explain, saving the projections at the mouth of the Mississippi and the peninsula of Florida. The shore, from Matagorda Bay to near Hatteras, forms an almost uniformly curved line. The consider- 1871.] 111 (Shaler. able salients at these points are easily accounted for; the first is obviously the product of the Mississippi, and the second the result of the action of the reef-building corals (as has been shown by the researches of Agassiz and others), aided, it may be, by the action of the mud of the Mississippi. It is evident that this projection at Cape Hatteras is due to neither of the causes which have produced these more southern reliefs. It is not like the Louisiana salient, the product of the detritus deposited at a river’s mouth, for the rivers emptying at this point are small and carry but little amount of detritus; besides, it will be evident from the details of the geological structure of this region that the shore is waning at the mouths of the rivers rather than gaining in extent. It is not to be regarded as the product of corals, like the great monument of organic life, the promontory of Florida. Professor Agassiz has, it is true, suggested that the sand reefs which fringe the Cape may be merely ancient coral reefs now serving as a basis of sand accumulations. Itseems, indeed, natural to assume that these reefs, which continue to the northward, are the outlines of the coral barriers, or possibly have some relation thereto. Careful study, however, has shown that the changes which occur in this barrier are of such a character as to forbid our accepting this view- Passes open and close in the barrier, cutting apparently to its base which seems to be a dense clay. The truth is, these ridges of sand in the form of barrier reefs are common along the whole coast where moving sands occur, from Montauk Point to Mexico. They seem to be the necessary product of tidal action on any shore where there are large amounts of materials in a condition to be moved by the currents produced by the tides. I have elsewhere endeavored to account for the presence of the enormous masses of detrital material which constitutes the broad reefs of Hatteras, and have shown that it is likely that the excavation of the great bays of the Chesapeake and Delaware was accomplished during the geological period just passing away; and that the exca- vating agents were the streams of ice which at that time poured down the valleys which debouch at the heads of these great inlets, just as the great alpine glaciers have in times past dug out the basins of the Swiss lakes. JI have tried to show that the material so exca- vated, or at least a good part of it, drifted to the southward of these bays and went to form the great masses of reef material which make up the Hatteras bars and those which form the Eastern border of the broad waters of Eastern Virginia. Shaler.] 17 [February 1, A revision of the eyidence which led me to this opinion of the origin of the great bays of the Chesapeake and the Delaware, and secondly, of the source of the sands and muds which make the sand- bars and mud-flats to the south of them, has confirmed me in the opinion expressed a year ago. A glance at the map will show, how- ever, that the fringing reefs of the Hatteras shore are only the ante- cedents of this part of the coast ; remove them entirely and the difi- culty of explaining the prominence of Cape Hatteras remains. Stripped of these reefs the shore would still present essentially the form it does at present. A careful examination has satisfied me that the projection: of Hatteras is due to subterranean disturbances which have resulted in uplifting the whole of this part of the coast. We shall have to go to some distance from the cape itself in order to find the evidence of this uplifting action. Upon a north and south line which passes through Richmond, Virginia, there exists a hitherto little noticed fold of the rocks having an altitude of over one thousand feet. On examining this ridge carefully, we shall find that it is elongated in the fashion of all great plications of rocks, and that it extends from Richmond, where it seems to sink down to the northward, as far as Weldon, N. C., having a length of at least fifty miles ; its east and west development is much less, probably being not more than ten to fifteen miles at the base. On comparing the general character of this . ridge with the separate ridges of the Alleghanies we find a very close resemblance. We are drawn to the conclusion that the similar- ity of form and the identity of direction indicate that this ridge is to be regarded as an outlying member of the Alleghany chain. It may, at first sight, seem an extravagance to term this ridge a mountain chain, it giving no conspicuous evidence of its existence on the surface. Although there is no external relief, the uplift of the rocks beneath the surface is as great as in the case of those ridges which still have a conspicuous relief. The true explanation of this peculiarity is that this ridge has been to a great extent worn down, and covered by subequal fens tions of sedimentary materials. The geological structure of other points along this chain, to the eastward of the elevated region, indicates the same extensive erosive action as would have been required to reduce the Richmond elevation to its present height. The upturned edges of the old series of rocks which crop out 1871.) 118 [Shaler. along the line of the Manassas railroad, indicate that extensive reliefs once existing in that region have been worn away since the time of their upheaval. This erosive force I conjecture to have been brought into action by the successive periods of glacial activity which have probably operated in this region. It is in the highest degree improbable that the period of wide spread glaciation which has just passed away, was an unexampled accident in the history of our earth. It is, on the contrary, becoming more and more probable that we must accept glaciation as a recurring phenomenon, giving alternations in the action of the erosive force at work upon the sur- face of the continents ; at one time the streams acting in the local manner in which water works in its channels, again working over the whole ‘surface of the country when its surface is ice covered to profound depths. The glacial streams, which have dug out the: vast excavations of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, must have been accompanied by lesser streams, or more likely by an almost continuous sheet of ice, pouring down the flanks of the mountain range along its whole ex- tent. Supposing such repeated ice action, we should naturally expect to have many of the lower outlines of the range of mountains over- ridden by the rising streams and much ground by their action. The energy of the glacial action on the borders of a range is naturally much greater than in the central parts thereof; generally speaking, the weight of the ice sheet, and therefore its cutting power, increases from its sources towards the border. We should, on this as well as on other accounts, expect glaciation to be most destructive of reliefs, not in the centre of a chain but rather upon its borders. During the last glacial period in Switzerland, the great peaks of the inner region probably lost little, if anything, in height. Their summits covered with incoherent snow, or with névé, would be protected from external accidents; the lower regions alone, where the snow had become compacted, where it had gained its real glacial charac- ter, would be eroded. It is not to glaciation or other erosion alone that we owe the disappearance of this, and probably other of the eastern outlines of the Alleghanies. ‘There is abundant evidence of a considerable subsidence which has carried this and other summits below the bend which at one time they had. To see this point more clearly it will be necessary to look at some of the singular results obtained during the exploration of the Gulf stream by this survey. In the course of PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 8 AvausT, 1871. Shaler) 114 ’ [February 1, the stream, in the latitude of Charleston, S. C., several parallel ridges were discovered which had a height of over one thousand feet; these ridges were, in their course, approximately parallel to the coast, and to the trend of the Alleghany range. The symmetri- cal relations of direction and arrangement existing between these submarine ridges and those of the Alleghany chain, at once sug- gest the existence of some relation of a genetic kind. ‘The fact, hitherto unnoticed, of the existence of a ridge occupying a somewhat intermediate position between the Alleghanies and these submerged mountains, makes it not at all improbable that deeper down, beneath the more recent strata, there may be other similar ridges. I have else- where endeavored to show that the formation of mountain chains is necessarily limited to the land areas, or at least to those areas where there is no deposition of sedimentary material taking place. If this principle be correct, then we shall be safe in assuming that the sub- merged mountains; in the path of the Gulf stream above referred to, were formed above the level of the sea, and have since been sub- merged. Assuming that the continent has moved, as a whole, in this change of level, we should be compelled to suppose that the Allegha- nies had lost over ten thousand feet of their altitude by this subsidence. It is possible, however, and this view derives probability from several sources, that the subsidence took place through the downward flexure of the section lying between the base of the Alleghanies, and the point where these submerged chains now lie. We shall see hereafter that there is evidence at hand to show that the coast of the continent, from a point somewhere between New York and the Chesapeake, is grad- ually subsiding, and that this subsidence has already gone so far as to depress recent accumulations to the depth of near one hundred feet at some points. The question next in importance is that concerning the time of up- lift of the Richmond axis. Passing to the east from Richmond we find at the distance of a few miles a set of coal bearing beds, dipping steeply to the west. The shafts of the coal field mines enable us to ‘be sure that this dip amounts to over one thousand feet in the dis- tance of three or four miles, at those points where the dip is least, and to two or three times this declivity at other points. The degree of inclination of these beds, together with the evidences of intense dis- turbance visible in every section through the coal bearing part of the series, makes it evident that they could not have been laid down in their present position. The presumption always is that coal beds have 1871.]- 115 [Shaler, been deposited in the form of swamp accumulations, and thus must have been laid down upon horizontal surfaces. There is every reason to suppose that the present condition and arrangement of the materials in the Dismal Swamp on the eastern side of the Richmond ridge exactly correspond to what was to be found in the region now occupied by the coal field we are considering, at the time when the vegetable matter of which it is composed was in the state of formation. Thus we have, on either side of a low dividing ridge, two basins of nearly equal size and comparable forms, the one holding vegetable matter, which has not yet been converted to coal, the other showing us an advanced state in this process of conversion. I know no other point where the pro- cess and the product. of forming coal are shown so well together. It is evident that if we could determine with accuracy the age of the beds which embrace the Richmond coal, we should thereby fix the most remote time at which this mass of the disturbing ridge had been uplifted. It was long ago perceived that the Richmond coal was not of the same age as the more extensive beds which lhe to the westward. As yet the precise period to which it is to be referred is not yet determined. The first determinations of a trustworthy char- acter assigned a Liassic age to the fossil plants found in the coal beds. Although these determinations have sometimes been called in ques- tion, no naturalist has ever yet assigned a time earlier than the Trias- sic period as the age when these beds were formed. Accepting these determinations, and of their trustworthy character there seems no occasion for doubt, we must conclude that the East Virginia uplift dates sometime later than the formation of the Alleghanies, provided the general opinion among geologists, which refers the elevation of that chain to the close of the carboniferous period, should be accepted as correct. This is conclusive that two axes of elevation, coinciding in eleva- tion very closely, yet of different age, is not in accordance with some of the views which were advanced by M. Elie de Beaumont, and for many years have had a singular influence upon the minds of geologists. The principal point in the theory of M. de Beaumont was that all chains, elevated at the same time, stand in a parallel relation to each other, even though they might be a hemisphere apart. In the same connection it was held that all the elements of the same chain, standing to each other in the sort of relation in which the sep- erate elements of the Appalachian system stand to each other, were uplifted at the same time. The extraordinary ability with which the Shaler.] 116 [February 1, arguments were presented, rather than the number of well-ascertained facts which were adduced to support the theory, caused most geol- ogists to give it their ready adherence. ‘The criticisms of Mr. Charles Hopkins, together with more extensive and careful study of mountain chains, have caused a great decline in the estimation of this theory, so that we may not now fear to run counter to a generally accepted opinion in venturing to oppose M. de Beaumont’s views. In a subsequent report I hope to embody the result of some obser- vations made upon the western flanks of the Alleghanies, showing the existence, in a position about as far west of their centre as the Rich- mond axis is east of that point, of a mountain range, which, though formed Jong anterior to the elevation of the principal mass of the Appalachian chain, is still parallel to it, may in fact be regarded as the first step towards the formation of that singular mountain system. Geologists have long known that the city of Cincinnati rests upon an elevation of the silurian rocks of the Ohio valley, the beds dipping gently away from that point. It has been always assumed that the dip was uniform in every direction, giving a true dome character to that elevation. Careful study of the region, however, has convinced me that the elevation is not a dome, but has a north-east by north, and a south-west by south trend, and extends as far as a similar ele- vation of the silurian rocks, which is found in western ‘Tennessee, which elevation is, in fact, only the southern extremity of the Cin- cinnati axis. The direction of the line connecting these isolated patches of silurian rocks almost precisely coincides with the general trend of the Appalachian chain to the eastward. There are many reasons for believing that this Cincinnati axis was lifted above the sea early in the silurian period. The presence of considerable quantities of salt in the rocks of lower silurian age which flank this ridge, the existence of ancient beach marks in the rocks of the same age, and other phenomena, which cannot be properly discussed here, all point to the conclusion that this ridge was formed at a time when the silu- rian period had just begun, and while a large part, if not the whole, of what is now the highest part of the Alleghanies was still beneath the level of the sea. The existence of ridges of widely different ages on either side of the Appalachian chain, makes it questionable whether the central mass of that system is to be all referred to the same period as has hitherto been done; whether it may not be rather a congeries of elevations dating from periods of various ages, between 1871.] 117 [Shaler. the age which we must assign to the Cincinnati and the Richmond axes. it would be very important to determine the age of the several members of the central part “of the Appalachian chain; as yet we _ have no data to make the basis of such a determination, nor do we even know the age of the rocks which compose the great mass of the chain to the south of the Pennsylvania line. It is quite evident that there has been a difference in the character of the movements which have produced the upheavals of the section from northern Virginia to the southward. ‘To the north of that first-named line the chain is characterized by the absence of great faults. ‘These dislocations are very frequent in the region to the southward. The existence of the hot springs of Virginia is due to the great dislocations of that region. The existence of a different class of irregularities in this part of the Alleghany chain, points to the conclusion that the conditions of ele- vation, and therefore likely the time of upheaval, was different from that of the mountains to the northward. I am confident that the tertiary rocks which lie to the eastward of the Richmond ridge have been so far uplifted by the original or some subsequent elevation of this ridge, that they have had given to them the additional height which produces the projection of Cape Hatteras. Along the shore of the main land from Newhbern, N. C., to Washing- ton, at the mouth of the Roanoke, the hard, shelly limestone of the Tertiary period, looking much like the shell bed which is found near Charleston, S. C., comes to the surface just above high tide mark, and seems to be the principal barrier to the encroachment of the sea. At most points this shell bed is covered to the depth of several feet by an accumulation of vegetable mould, but before the last subsidence of this shore began it probably stood several feet higher. The dip of these beds is so slight that it is impossible to obtain any distinct indications of the slope. The relation of the beds is, therefore, to a certain extent, inferential. We have determined that the Richmond axis must have been elevated since the close of the Paleozoic time. But we have found no reason to conclude that it must have been uplifted at or near that period in the earth’s history. Iam inclined to think that the only satisfactory evidence concerning the period at which this uplift occurred must be sought for at a point remote from this part of the coast, though closeiy connected with it geologically. The belt of rocks of a Triassic or Liassic age, to which the Richmond coal-field belongs, continues along Shaler.] 118 | wh) [February 1, the foot of the Alleghany chain all the way from North Carolina to Vermont. Throughout this line it is more or less disturbed by dislo- cations, the directions of which coincide quite closely with that of the Richmond ridge and the faults of the*coal-field just west of it. In Massachusetts these dislocations are distinctly seen in the great faults of the Connecticut valley which have given us the ridges of the Mounts Tom and Holyoke range, the Greenfield trap ridge, and many other similar reliefs. If we could assume that these dislocations, which have cut up the Connecticut equivalents of the Richmond beds, were produced at the 1 same time as the uplift of the Richmond axes, or the faults of its coal | basin, we should be near the determination of the age of these dis- turbances. The Connecticut river system of dislocation seems to be continued in parallel disturbances to the eastward, as far as Martha’s Vineyard, the principal faults and folds of which have a north, south, and south- west trend. On this island the disturbances have upheaved beds of the Miocene age, so that we are led.to suspect, on good grounds, that the whole system of north-west and south-west breaks, so extremely developed between this point and the foot of the Berkshire hills, are of this recent age. The recent look of the Connecticut valley dislo- cations, upon which the erosion which has always been active in this region has acted to a very slight extent, seems to corroborate this view; but it would be hazardous to say that the Virginia dislocations, which cut rocks of the same formation, and have near the same course, are to be regarded as of the same age. All that these corres- pondences can be regarded as establishing, is the probability of such a relation of age, a probability which must be carefully weighed with the other evidence before we can give it much weight. These Vir- ginia dislocations have undoubtedly been much more eroded than those of Massachusetts, inasmuch as despite the powerful disturbance produced by the elevation of the Richmond axis, and the great faults of the coal basin, the region in which they occur is nearly level. There is reason to believe that the sea has worked more constantly against the reliefs produced by these dislocations than upon those of Massachusetts, which have probably never been subjected to the pow- erful erosion of the oceanic waves. Unless we can attribute the dis- appearance of all these irregularities of surface to some such differ- ence of conditions, we must certainly assign to them a much earlier period of uplift. Taking the facts altogether, it seems reasonable to \ 1871.) 119 [Shaler, conclude that the uplift took place after the tertiary series of rocks began to be laid down, and that the disturbance in the tertiary beds at Hatteras and Martha’s Vineyard occurred during the same period of upheaval. It is not improbable also, that the whole of the disturb- ances of the Richmond axis did not take place at the same time, but at successive times, during two or more geological periods. CHANGES OF LEVEL OF THE HATTERAS COAST. There is a change in the character of the surface of the country, as we pass southward from Petersburg. North of that point everything seems to indicate that the topography is the product of many thou- sand years of aerial erosion. As we go southward, the evidences of the atmospheric action grow steadily less and less manifest. At Goulds- boro’ the streams seem to have had little to do with shaping the _ surface of the country. Their basins have but a slight slope towards the channel. But what topography there is seems to be entirely the result of river action in its broadest sense. The slopes are all those normal in river systems, though very slight. In the section from Gouldsboro’ to Newbern, we observe, however, some decided pecu- liarities. Soon after passing the first-named place, on our way to the coast, there is an apparent diminution of height, and a gradual change of topography. The long, low ridges could not well have been formed by subaerial erosion. They do not lie normally to the course of the streams. I am satisfied that the topography is of sub- marine origin, as is that of the South Carolina coast above the Sea Islands. The long winrow-like ridges are, in shape, like those now found along many of the shoal, tide swept sea floors of our coast. The drainage seems to have found its way around these low reliefs when the country became uplifted, without changing them much. Gener- ally the streams find their way around and between the ridges, rarely cutting them across. The behavior of the streams among these undu- tits reminds one very much of the way in which the streams in the Alleghany system cut their way across the series of ridges of that mountain region. There is reason to believe that the subsidence of the land in this region is still going on, and that since the last considerable uplift there has been a sinking, amounting to several feet, at least. There are a variety of facts tending to support this conclusion, which are well established by the observations made since the settlement of the coun- try. At Charleston, S. C., the phosphate bed which, at a point six Shaler.] 120 [February 1, miles to the west of that city, is at the surface of the ground, is de- pressed to a depth of seventy-five feet, as was demonstrated by the section made by the artesian well at that point. The existence of a continued submergence at this point of our shore is a matter of great economic, as well as scientific importance. As no part of the east- ernmost one hundred miles of the State can be submerged to the depth of fifty feet without either becoming covered by the sea, or so liable to overflow as to be useless for cultivation, it follows that a sinking of a few feet a century is a matter of great concern to those who would anticipate the future of this part of our national area. It is a well ascertained fact that a rise in the whole shore line from New York to Greenland has taken place since the close of the glacial period. This movement has most likely taken place in connection with the removal of the glacial sheet which, for some as yet unex- plained reason, seems to have brought about a subsidence proportion- ate to the depth of the icy accumulation. It seems not at all unlikely that coincident with this re-elevation of the northern coast, there began a subsidence in the southern part of the Atlantic shore of the United States. It is certain that from New York southward to Charleston, there are, from point to point, indications of subsidence of a date about as recent as the elevation to the north of that point. The form of the debouchures of the rivers which empty along this part of the coast, giving us the broad waters known as Albemarle and Pamplico Sounds, is not readily explained. Unlike the greater inlets of the Delaware and the Chesapeake on the north, these estua- ries do not seem to have been formed by ice action. ‘They are far shallower than those bays, and do not, like them, extend all the way from the shore to the hard rocks and high lands of the interior. It would be difficult to suppose that glacial action could have excavated their mouths and not cut out the upper part of their courses deeper than we find them to be. JI am inclined to think that they have been formed much in the fashion of the estuary known as the Broad River in South Carolina. A river carrying comparatively little sediment, and thus having a small delta-forming power, has had its mouth grad- ually depressed by the sinking of the shore, and has thus naturally formed an estuary as wide as that part of the valley which was sub- merged. It seems likely that at the time when the beds of these streams were first thus depressed the barrier of the Hatteras reefs had not been raised above the sea, and that the run of the tides in these 1871.] 121 (Niles. | bays was far greater than at present. This would have contributed to cut away their shores of incoherent sand, and thus increase their width. If we examine the shores of Pamplico and Albemarle Sounds we find a tolerably regular correspondence between the direction of the major axis of the narrow bays and inlets which lead off the large sounds, and the course of the prevalent winds, showing a ten- dency to elongate in the direction of the run of the waves. This | shows how far the development of the irregularities of this shore may be dependent upon the wear of the water currents. Although my investigations of the geology of this part of our coast was carried on under great disadvantages, from the fact that deep snows covered the surface, and made detailed geological work impossible, yet there are some points in the economy of the subject upon which some information was gained. To the people of this region it is of great importance to determine whether the phosphate marls exist beneath their soil as in the coast region of South Caro- lina. I have not yet succeeded in finding the nodular phosphates in the Pamplico region. There can be no doubt, however, that the similarity in the geclogical structure of the country points to the probability of finding these valuable deposits in some parts of the shore region. A careful exploration of all the localities where there is a probability of finding the oe should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity. Mr. J. B. Perry said, in regard to the Syenite underlying the coal, that there is no evidence of intrusion. The Syen- ite was in existence before the coal was laid down. Mr. W. H. Niles remarked that the question which Prof. Shaler had discussed was one of great interest, and he con- sidered his view consistent with all the physical features of our eastern coast. The deepest portion of the sea-bed lies opposite mountains, showing a parallelism between the At- lantic valley and the Appalachian System. The Cincinnati axis he thought instructive, because showing that all parallel chains were not raised at the same time. The long terrace of the Atlantic plain forms another parallel. The deposi- 1This paper is from a report on the geological history of Cape Hatteras, published by permission of Prof. B. Pierce, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey. Hyatt.} 122 [February I, | tions are parallel with the mountain chains. He accepted Prof. Shaler’s explanation of the elevation and depression of land in connection with water deposition. He also showed that from the earliest time, in the Nan. dacks, and at different points southerly, there had been peninsulas corresponding in position to Florida, which is the most southern and latest. Prof. A. Hyatt said, beside the general westerly and easterly motion described by Prof. Shaler, there were eviden- ces of a motion transverse to this along the coast. Thus the north of Greenland, as shown by various Arctic explora- tions, has beaches recently elevated, and historical records, as well as direct observations, have proved that the southern portions of this peninsula are sinking. Dr. Packard’s observations in Labrador give | the evidence of a comparatively recent elevation, perhaps still in progress. Farther south, at the Mingan Islands, the speaker had observed a remarkable series of beaches, the lower still remaining near high water mark. On the island of Anticosta the remains of fresh water shells were found, evidently killed by the encroachments _ of the sea into the mouth of an ‘estuary or brook, where the water had previously been fresh. There are two series of cliffs, stretching around the southern shore of this island, each about fifty feet high. — The present level of high tide, however, now reaches to the foot of the inner line of cliffs, burying the crest of the outer line, which is — only bare at low water. The shores of Nova Scotia, according to the observations of Hind, Gesner and Dawson, are sinking; those of New Brunswick and Eastern Maine rising. The shores of Western Maine, as shown by Dr. A. S. Packard, Dr. C. T. Jackson, and others, are rising. At Marblehead Neck, and along the Beverly shore, the speaker has observed several marks of recent elevation in beaches at the height of from eight to ten feet above high water mark. The submarine forests of Holmes’ Hole and Nantucket, described by Hitchcock, appear to indicate the beginning of another grand wave of subsidence. Observations made by the Coast Survey show that the coast of Long Island Sound, and southward in New Jersey, is sinking. The formation of Florida Keys on the other hand, ac- ' 1871.) 128 (Dall, cording to Agassiz, again evinces the action of elevating forces. These and other facts, which investigation would readily establish, prove that a series, or perhaps many series, of more or less local waves of elevation and depression run down the coast at right angles to the direction of the great waves which created the Appala- chian folds. Section of Microscopy. Feb. 8, 1871. Mr. E. Bicknell in the chair. Seven members present. The Recording Secretary being absent, on motion of Mr. W. F. Whitney, Mr. A. H. Tuttle was appointed Secretary pro tem. Mr. Chas. K. Stevens and Dr. Geo. B. Harriman were elected members of the Section. The Chairman called attention to photographs of Amphi- pleura pellucida and Surrirella gemma, taken by Dr. Wood- ward, of the Army Medical Museum, and exhibited by Mr. Chas. Stodder. Mr. A. H. Tuttle made some remarks on the fissiparous re- production of Stentor, with reference to the direction of the plane of fission in Stentor, and in other ciliate infusoria. Feb. 15, 1871. The President in the chair. Thirty-eight persons present. The Secretary read the following paper : On THE RELATIONS OF THE CLAss Bracuiopopa. By W. H. Datu, WasHineTon, D. C. Having received a report, presumably correct, of some remarks by Mr. E. S. Morse in relation to my views of the relations of this class, oe Dall.] 124 [February 15, | at a recent meeting of the Society, it would seem desirable to cor- rect some erroneous inferences contained therein, and still further explain some disputed points from my own point of view. Mr. Morse seems to think that I have not acted impartially in omitting to notice in my comparisons ‘‘nearly every point brought forward to prove the Annelidan character of the Brachiopods” and instances “the dorsal and ventral plates, the serial arrangement of sete and gill lamine, the bilobed lophophore, the cephalic collar, the thin and muscular visceral walls, the composition of the shell of Lin- gula, the cecal prolongations of the mantle, and the presence of one or more pairs of segmental organs in form, character, and func- tion like the segmental organs of the annelids.” In regard to this, it was distinctly stated that in the comparisons which I undertook, I included characters of high structural value alone, such as are almost universally acknowledged to be so by the 1raturalists of the present day, and not trivial characters peculiar to small groups, and due to adaptation and special development. This is a general answer, and I believe a sufficient one to Mr. Morse’s criticisms, but I would add the following remarks to further explain the circumstances. All the so-called Annelidan characters brought forward by Mr. Morse in his published remarks on the subject, ap- pear to me to be due to a series of extremely defective and entirely unproved homologies, which require much more evidence than has yet been brought forward, to confirm them. That dorsal and ventral plates, serial arrangement of sete and gills (other than such’ as exist in Patella), and segmented organs of any kind exist in the Brachiopods, remains to be proved; and as yet no evidence has been brought forward to sustain any such hypothesis. Such assertions must be supported by facts to render them worthy of notice and none have yet been adduced. Isubmit that such a state- ment as ‘‘one pair of segmental organs” in the absence of other seg- ments with similar organs, is a contradiction in terms. Again, stria- ted muscular fibre is not a characteristic of any group as distin- guished from any other, according to Lebert, the best authority on the subject, and is, moreover, present in all classes of Mollusks, ex- cept the Cephalopod, where it may yet be found. Mr. Morse complains that I have accepted Clark’s definition of the Mollusca which includes the Tunicata, Polyzoa and Brachiopoda. If Clark’s definition includes them by their principal structural charac- ters, as I believe it does, it remains for Mr. Morse to give us a defini- 1871.] 125 [Dall. tion, equally good, which shall include the Brachiopods with the An- nelids Tunicata and Polyzoa as opposed to the typical Mollusks. _ This he has yet failed to do. Mr. Morse seems to think that I have omitted the unisegmental ‘“vermes” in my comparison. 1 have not considered ,“‘segmenta- tion,” as properly understood, as a character at all. Segmentation is merely an adjunct, and the successive repetition of organs occurs without it, throughout the worms. The sete of Brachiopods, some- times entirely absent, are not arranged in successive series as are the ‘setee of worms. Furthermore, I have expressly avoided drawing any homology between the peduncle of Lingula and the siphon of Mya, but have pointed out that the histological structure of the two being identical it affords no basis for homologizing the peduncle of Brachio- pods alone with any Annelidan organ. Nor have I stated or inferred anywhere, that the position of the sete in Brachiopods prevents their identity in structure with those of Annelids, but I have proved that their structure is by no means identical, and any homology drawn from them is therefore erroneous. I am at a loss to know the basis of the remark that I believe all Chetopods have sete from head to tail, and trust that the inferences which Mr. Morse has drawn from certain supposed characters of Brachiopods are less erroneous than those which my paper appears to have afforded him. In regard to Chitons, admitted to be Mollusks, though a very aber- rant group, I have shown that their aberrancies are in some points similar to those of the Brachiopods, and therefore should not be taken in either as proofs that either group is non-Molluscan. Such homologies would afford a much more powerful argument for placing the Tunicates among the Vertebrates than any yet brought forward by Mr. Morse for placing the Brachiopods with the Worms. Leuckhart, Gegenbaur and Heckel, have, it is true, placed the Polyzoa and Tunicata among the ‘‘Vermes,’’ but their views have not been adopted by naturalists, and proceed, as in my opinion do those of Mr. Morse, from a magnifying of certain unimportant char- acters and the overlooking of truly valid details of structure. Proofs have not been afforded of either view; when they are, it will be time to combat them. With regard to the embryology of the Polyzoa, Tunicata and Brachiopoda it must be remembered that they differ among them- selves in this regard, as widely as do any of the higher subkingdoms, Brigham. ] 126 [February 15, and also that our classifications are to be drawn from the mature characteristics and not from embryology alone, which would, if taken by itself, throw the study of all low forms into confusion. In conclusion I would say, that, while adhering to the views enter- tained by the most eminent naturalists of the present day, I am by no means unwilling to modify my opinions when good cause is shown; but I cannot do so on vague and unproved statements, doubtful homologies, or supposed identity of trivial points of structure. I look forward, as others do, to the publication of Mr. Morse’s re- searches, with the greatest interest; and trust that the essential points of my arguments, which he jag not a so far to refute or even to allude to, will be met with all the facts in his possession. Truth will infallibly be established through such discussion, which is the final aim of all, and which will endure after the discussions are forgotten. While Allman, who has made a life-long study of the Polyzoa, finds the most intimate homologies between them and the Lamellibranchs, and Kovalevsky and’ Heckel show the strongest em- bryological affinity between the Tunicates and Vertebrates, we may well pause in our speculations and more profitably devote ourselves to active research. Facts brought forward are immutable, while hy- potheses and inferences depend on the individual eee and in many cases have the most fleeting duration. | Mr. Wm. T. Brigham described the system of volcanoes in Mexico, which he said was arranged in a line between the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands. He referred to the geo- graphical position of Orizaba, near Vera Cruz, which has re- _ cently been active. The first eruption took place in 1456-7. In 1569, another occurred, throwing up immense columns of ashes and boulders, which now resemble those that have been subjected to glacial action. It has since been quiet until last year, when it was again active, causing much destruction. In March, 1870, Ceborujo was in a state of activity. He read an interesting account of this eruption, showing its ef- fects upon the magnetic needle. He next referred to the well known voleano Jorullo. In reply to a question from Dr. C. T. Jackson, he said that fishes six or eight inches in length had been taken from subterranean lakes in the vicinity of 1871.] 1 ait [Shaler. Carguairazo, one of the Andes. Some of these lakes con- tain beds of diatoms twelve feet in thickness. He also made ‘a brief reference to the multitude of extinct volcanoes in the vicinity of Ceborujo. Dr. Charles Pickering, referring to an observation made by Dr. Jackson at the preceding meeting, to the effect that the central heat held water on the surface of the globe, said he had seen this exemplified on a small scale at Hawaii. All the water there is distilled by the heat below, condensed by the vegetation and collected in pools, from which the supplies were taken. Immediately after an eruption, when he visited the volcano, the crater was empty. He could detect no steam or vapor in the fields of lava. There rises from the lava a kind of smoke, which is very conspicuous. He could not say what it was, but thought it was not vapor. The winds there always blowing in one direction, he had visited the regions to leeward of the volcano and found quantities of “Pele’s hair” in rolls. The eruption of Kilauea, he said, differs in some respects from that of Mauna Loa. In the latter, the lava breaking out eight or ten miles from the sum- mit, flows eighty or ninety miles to the sea. The ascent of Kilauea is so gradual that it is difficult for one ascending to . its summit to appreciate its altitude. The great crater does not overflow, but when -full splits the island, opening a way for the lava thirty miles to the sea. Mr. Brigham, referring to the opinion that water was neces- sary to an eruption, said, that with the ocean all around it, the vapor from this volcano is always dry. It is blown down toward the sea and its moisture, if it contained any, would be deposited, but the region over which it passes is dry and bar- ren. He found it necessary to wear a wet cloth over his face to protect respiration while passing through it, and it was quickly dried. It is mixed with sulphur, but what gives its occasional black appearance, he could not say. The rocks Shaler.] 128 [February 15, | are so porous that water runs through them as it does through sand. The natives are obliged to place calabashes to catch the rain. Water which is filtered through the roofs of the caverns is perfectly pure. | Dr. Chas. T. Jackson referred to Etna as another instance of a volcano which does not overflow its crater. The lava breaks its way down by Monte Rosa. The openings of the era- ter of the volcano on the Island of Ischia also, is not at the summit but on the side of the mountain, and at Stromboli, visitors can stand on a table rock above the crater, while ex- plosions are taking place every minute. Mr. W. H. Niles spoke of an examination recently made by him of a quarry of the sandstone series at Montague, and referred to the extremely large size of the conglomerate pebbles found in that vicinity. He also exhibited specimens to illustrate the lateral change in a bed of conglomerate, at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, Brighton, Mass. He showed pebbles of quartz, or of quartzose rock, from the conglomer- ate, which were from two to five inches in diameter, and not larger than many others there; only fifty-eight feet from these pebbles when in the rock, the same stratum was entirely a fine argillaceous slate, a specimen of which was shown. Also specimens of the intermediate rock were used to illus- trate the nature of the change. Dr. Pickering said that the conglomerate appears in almost every part of the globe. He had found it in the Pacific Is- lands, but he had seen it containing boulders, like that de- scribed by Prof. Niles; only on the Island of Madeira. In regard to the formation of conglomerate, he said we do not want the aid of sea or river, but only to conceive of the re- cent deposits, which we see about Boston, hardening into rock. He had tried in vain to find the conglomerate at Ha- Wail; the lava is amorphous and insoluble. 1871.) 129 [Brewer Mr. Brigham said he had found a conglomerate lava in one of the Hawaiian islands, containing rounded pebbles, which after having been broken, undergo a change in the arrange- ment of material. By weathering, they scale off, and on splitting them, they show a concentric arrangement, and can be peeled off in laminz. Dr. Jackson remarked, concerning Mr. Niles’ two speci- mens, one of quartzite, the other of argillaceous slate, that the former resists, while the latter undergoes disintegration, though they lie together. The argillaceous clays consolidate around them and form slates. “Mr. Niles found the evidence of glacial action on the con- glomerate, grinding down the hard and soft rocks to asmooth and level surface. The President called attention to the perfect cast skin of a lizard, prepared by Mr. J. T. Ogden, and presented through Mr. R. C. Greenleaf to the Society. It was obtained with difficulty while the animal was in the act of swallowing it. March 1, 1871. The President in the chair. Thirty-eight persons present. Dr. Thomas M. Brewer exhibited the egg of the Mooruk, Casuarius Bennettii, which the Society had recently pur- chased, and read from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, an interesting account of this bird, which inhabits New Britain, and of its habits in domestication. It resembles in some respects the Dinornis. PROCEEDINGS B. 8S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 9 NOVEMBER, 1871. Sceva.] 130 a [March 1, Mr. Geo. Sceva exhibited some Hindoo skulls, and made the following remarks : — I notice especially the shortness of the upper jaws and the fre- quent absence of the third molars. The first specimen, from a person of about twenty-three years, had fourteen teeth in the upper jaw, all of which were well formed and free from any appearance of disease, but no trace of the third molars (or wisdom teeth) could be found. ‘The posterior part of the jaw | [maxillary tuberosity] presents the same appearance back of the | second molars as that of European skulls back of the third molars. | In the lower jaw the third molar is wanting on the left side, but | is present on the right, its roots being crowded backward and up- | ward into the ramus of the jaw. In the second specimen (age about thirty years), the third molar is wanting on the right side of the upper jaw, and on both sides of the lower jaw. A section had been made with a fine saw, so that a portion of the bone in both jaws could be removed and the internal structure examined, but nothing was shown to indicate that the third molars had ever existed. In the third specimen —of about the same age as the last — the third molars are present but are crowded backward, their crowns approaching near the external pterygoid plate; the lower jaw of this specimen had not been preserved. In the fourth specimen (age about twenty years), the third mo- lars are wanting on both sides. In this specimen is shown a remarkable displacement of one of the canine teeth. The decid- uous canine on the left side, instead of being shed as usual at the age of about twelve years, has been retained, and the permanent canine is found after cutting away a thin plate of bone, completely in- verted, the point of its crown appearing a little below the orbit of the eye. No trace, however, of the third molars is found. A great displacement of the teeth might often be observed in, European skulls, but the cases in which chews had been no develop- ment of the dea molars were exceedingly rare. In almost every case where a third molar did not appear in its normal position in European skulls, it might be found above, or between, the roots of the second molar, or in some other part of the jaw. In the lower jaw it had been found so far removed as to appear in the upper part 1871.] 131 [Sceva. of the ramus, its crown reaching nearly to the level of the sigmoid notch, between the condyle and coronoid process. I obtained these Hindoo skulls while in Calcutta, but as I did not observe this peculiarity of their dentition until I was preparing to leave, I was unable to obtain any information concerning them, except that they were found in some burial place where the bodies had been partially exposed by jackals. I desire to call attention to two Hindoo skulls (Mumbered 141 and 126) from the Society’s collection, in one of which the third molars are absent on both sides. In the other the third molar is wanting on the right side, but on the left there is a small tooth with a short, conical root, showing no tendency to division, and being less in diam- eter than that of the central incisor. . I have been informed by Dr. J. B. S. Jackson that the Museum of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement contains four | Hindoo skulls, in two of which the third molars are wanting. From the examinations which I have been able to make, 1 have thought that these cases are confined chiefly to one caste, or to some particular class of people inhabiting the lower part of Bengal. I have examined the dentition of about four hundred European skulls, and I believe the cases where the third molars are wanting, either wholly, or in part, are less than one per cent., while in the class of people to which these East Indian skulls belong, they ap- peared to be absent in about fifteen per cent. Although this last mentioned proportion could not be found in the inhabitants of India generally, and might — owing to the small num- ber of skulls now examined — exceed slightly that of any particular class, yet I wish to call attention to the subject that it may be further investigated by any one having an opportunity for doing so. Mr. W. T. Brigham (replying to an inquiry made by Mr. Sceva) said that when he visited India a few years ago, he _ had heard it reported that the mongous was able to resist the effects of the poison of the cobra by eating some kind of plant, but the accounts given were so various that nothing trustworthy could be obtained. He afterwards inquired of scientific men residing in the country concerning the report, and was told that they had no reason for believing it. Mr. Sceva thought the mistakes which had been so often Sceva.] 132 "(March i, made in supposing that the mongous could resist the effects _ of the cobra’s poison, were easily accounted for. ! The mongous, when attacking the cobra, would seize it by the neck or throat, and would usually retain its hold for a few seconds, at the same time sucking the blood from the large vessels in its neck. Sometimes the snake and mongous would roll. over to- gether several times, and he had known people who were so ignorant of the habits and powers of these animals, as to suppose that during this time the weak jaws of the cobra were holding the mongous, and on seeing the blood about its head and mouth, would think that it came from wounds on its own body, received from the fangs of the cobra. Another mistake was often made in supposing that the blood frequently seen on the cobra’s nose comes from a wound inflicted there by the mongous. And assuming this to be the case, the question was often asked how the mongous could bite the cobra’s nose without receiving in return wounds’ from the cobra’s fangs. On carefully observing the movements of the cobra when snakes and other animals were put into its cage, Mr. Sceva had found that it would strike at them with its nose without opening its mouth, and in many instances the cobra, by striking past them, would bruise its nose on the side of the box, or against the wire netting in front, causing it to bleed. This had occurred in every case he had witnessed of its encounters with the mongous. Dr. Fayrer had made the mistake in one of his first ex- periments, of thinking the mongous bitten when it was struck by the nose of the cobra, and as the mongous did not die, his report, published in the Indian Medical Gazette, stat- ing that the animal was “bitten,” was regarded by some as conclusive evidence that the poison must have entered the blood, but could produce no bad effect on it. Dr. Fayrer, however, soon discovered that when animals were put into a box with a cobra it was very difficult to tell— merely by watching the snake’s movements — whether they were bitten 1871.] 1 33 [Sceva. or not; and in nearly all the experiments made afterwards he ~ had the animal secured, and the fangs of the snake applied to any part of the body required, or the poison taken from the snake and injected under the skin with a hypodermic syringe. Several experiments were made on the mongous by both methods, causing its death in every case. ‘Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., inquired if any one had attempted to give any reason for supposing that the mongous enjoyed a special immunity from the effects of the cobra poison. Mr. Sceva said the habits of the animal were somewhat — similar to those of the weasel. He thought no anatomist or physiologist would find anything to favor the presumption that its blood could withstand the action of cobra poison better than that of other animals of its kind, although he thought it probable that there might be those who would consider the mere fact of the mongous attacking and killing the cobra enough to warrant the belief that the animal was differently organized from others; and notwithstanding the best evidence to the contrary, there were those who still un- reasonably believed that the mongous, by eating the cobra’s flesh, could resist the action of the poison. Dr. C. T. Jackson remarked that many think the hog is not affected by the poison of the rattlesnake, as it is known to attack and kill the snake. Mr. Sceva believed that hogs would attack and kill poison- ous snakes in almost every part of the world. He had never seen a hog at the commencement of his attack upon a poi- sonous snake, but on one occasion he had seen one with both fore feet on the snake’s head and neck while he was tearing open the body with his teeth. He had met with many people in North and South America, and in India, who thought that the venom of snakes could not affect the hog, but this supposition had been proved by careful experiments to be incorrect. In India he had seen a hog bitten by a co- bra on the ear and on the inside of the fore leg; the action of the poison and the time of its death were shown to be Atwood.] . 134 [March 1, ‘ about the same as in the case of dogs. Mr. Sceva had once | travelled with a party of men from the Western States, who had provided themselves with two bottles of brandy and a bottle of hog’s lard as antidotes for snake bites. They had no reason to give for using the lard, except that they thought | the snake’s poison could not affect the hog. Mr. Sceva had | known several cases of recovery from the bite of the rattle- snake in California, where the men had drank freely of whiskey and brandy. He did not think the bite of this reptile so dangerous in the Northern States and California | as in warmer places. Dr. Jackson remarked that it is not so dangerous in Cali- | fornia as in the States eastward of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Sceva, in reply to an inquiry by Mr. Putnam, said that the poison of many of the venomous snakes had been tried, both on themselves and on each other, without producing death. Mr. Putnam mentioned a case in which the rattlesnake bit himself several times, and was not injured by its own venom. Mr. Sceva mentioned an experiment in which a small quantity of blood from a poisoned fowl was injected into the Se a 4 f / f t ‘ ' flesh of another, and from the second into the third, death. occurring in each case. He thought that the venom of all poisonous snakes acts in a similar manner on the blood, al- though varying greatly in power. A great deal depends on the quantity of poison thrown into the blood. A large and vigorous animal might survive the action of a minute quantity. Capt. N. E. Atwood spoke of the Capelin, Mallotus villo- sus, one of the Salmonide. It does not come as far south as New England, but is abundant on the coast of Labrador, around Newfoundland, in the Straits of Belle Isle, and west- ward as far as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, also on the coast of Greenland. It resembles the smelt and is a migratory spe- 1871.] 135 (Putnam. cies, as is generally the case with the fishes on the coast of Labrador. They come on the coast in great numbers, the cod accompanying and feeding upon them, but at first there are no females among them. The sexual marks are very prominent. The female resembles the common smelt, but the male is thicker, with a ridge of villous scales on each side, running the entire length of the body. The male is harder and better for bait. About a week after the arrival of the males, females begin to appear among them, but only in the proportion of about one to ten. The males disappear after milting, and in about a week the females follow, their stay on the coast continuing about three weeks. Some stragelers only remain, in such an emaciated condition that the cod will not take them. He referred also to the disproportion in weight and num- ber, in the different sexes of the Halibut. Nine-tenths are females, the largest of these weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds, while the largest males reach about sixty only. Mr. F. W. Putnam mentioned a remarkable case occur- ring in a collection of fishes recently received by him, from the east coast of Africa. An eel had swallowed a spiny Chetodon, of three times its own normal diameter, so that the fish appeared as a great lump distending the abdomen of the eel. | March 15, 1871. The President in the chair. Thirty-nine persons present. Mr. Edward S. Morse referred to the communication of Mr. Wm. H. Dall, “On the Relations of the Brachiopoda,” read at the preceding meeting. Hyatt.] 136 [March 15, He dealt with all the points treated of in Mr. Dall’s communica- | tion, by reading, in both cases, Mr. Dall’s first paper and his last | communication side by side, and submitting the facts to the Society | as to what Mr. Dall really said in his first paper, and the denials to | the same in this last communication. As to Mr. Dall’s personal — opinions regarding improved homologies, and the doubts expressed regarding certain well known structural features of the Brachiopods, Mr. Morse would pass them over as the result of haste in discussing the question. Prof. Hyatt said My objections to Mr. Morse’s classification have heretofore rested wholly upon the presumed affinities of the Polyzoa and Ascidia. I have been led by the similarities of the adult animals of the two groups, to partially follow Prof. Allman in his opinion, that these two groups are closely related. In a paper on the fresh water Polyzoa (Proceedings Essex Institute, Vol. 1v.) I have compared them, but at the same time shown that. the differences are much greater be- tween the Polyzoa and Ascidia than between the former and Brachi- opods. Thus, there is no muscular system in the Ascidia which can compare in any sense with that of the Polyzoa; and in transforming the Polyzoa into an Ascidian, Prof. Allman is obliged to violate this obvious difference, as well as to effect many changes which are not consistent with their organization. The nearer affinity of the Poly- zoa and Brachiopoda is hardly questionable, since the investigations — of Kovalewsky, who has shown us that the young Ascidians are ap- parently more like young vertebrata than they are like the young of the Polyzoa. The importance and value of the resemblances exist- ing between the adult Polyzoon and the adult Ascidian, so far as they may be supposed to indicate any close affinity or community of origin, are thus doubly denied by the differences of HORE and space both in the adults and in the larve. The Ascidians are also likely to be removed by these new discov- eries, not only entirely away from the Polyzoa, but to an equal or greater distance from all the rest of the Mollusca; and even if we could, in the face of embryology, still maintain our comparison be- tween the two structures, we should be contrasting the Polyzoa, not with a typical Mollusk, but with an animal whose own position is very uncertain. J can think of no fundamental molluscan character- istics, either in the Brachiopods or Polyzoa, which ally them with the 1871.] 137 (Morse. Lamellibranchs (clams), except those which join them still more . closely to the Ascidia. Therefore it seems clear, that if we separate the Ascidia from the Lamellibranchs, which they so closely resemble in their general adult characteristics, on account of their different developments, we must also, in turn, divide the Polyzoan Ascidia, and should logically regard the similarities of the two as analogies arising in different structures, and not as affinities derived from some common ancestor. Thus cut off from its quondam molluscan allies, our Polyzoon has but one refuge; its development points concisely to a vermian ancestor, and to this source we must relegate both it and its nearest ally, the Brachiopod. Mr. Morse called attention to the fact that Kovalewsky, Heckel, Darwin and others had pointed out the relationship apparently seen in the embryo of certain Tunicates, and the typical idea of the vertebrate embryo. Without expressing an opinion for or against this view, it was interesting to re- mark that many eminent naturalists had seen reason to in- clude the Tunicates with the Vermes; and in the supposed relation, on the other hand, of the Tunicates with the Verte- brates, it was interesting to recall two prominent features of the Vermes that are likewise prominent characters of the Vertebrates, namely: hairs or sete secreted by follicles, and genitals in pairs, with infundibuliform orifices, suspended freely in the perivisceral cavity. Dr. 8. Kneeland gave an account of a trip which he made in 1870, by sea, from San Francisco to Panama, and pre- sented a few specimens which he had collected. He de- scribed the climate, the general appearance of the coast, and incidents of the voyage, and referred to the habits of some of the sea birds and of the flying-fish. Large petrels (Puffinus cinereus) began to appear, and followed us on the second day out. On alighting in the water, which they often do, they put forward their webbed feet, checking their headway in this manner, backing water, as it were, with the wings spread, before settling on the surface. They came round and near the steamer in Kueeland.] 1 5 8 : [March 13, considerable numbers, but never alighted on it, as the booby of the | Atlantic does. On account of the great length of their wings and . the shortness of their legs, they cannot rise, like the gulls, directly from the water, but are obliged to run along the surface like the smaller petrels, beating the water with their feet until sufficientiy elevated to use their wings. Flying-fish also appeared, but were neither so numerous nor so large as in the Southern Atlantic. The ventrals were expanded like the pectorals in the act of flight, the former being much the smaller. They rose out of a perfectly smooth sea, showing that they are not mere skippers from the top of one wave to another; they could be seen to change their course, as well as to rise and fall, not unfrequently touching the longer, lower lobe of the tail to the surface, and again rising, as if they used the tail as a powerful spring. While the ventrals may have acted chiefly as a parachute, it seemed that the pectorals performed, by their almost imperceptible but rapid vibrations, the function of true flight.° Another reason which leads me to think they perform a true flight, is the way in which they reén- ter the water. After reaching the end of their aerial course, they drop into the water with a splash, instead of making a gradual and gentle descent, like the flying-squirrel, flying-dragon, and other vertebrates with membranes acting as parachutes. The drying of the flying membrane in the air would prevent the small but numerous motions necessary for true flight, and the animal therefore suddenly drops when the membrane becomes stiff. I do not see how the drying of the pectorals would affect their action as parachutes. At the same time were seen small Portuguese men-of-war (Physa- lia) no larger than an olive, and without the purple reflections of the larger ones, so often met with in the Atlantic. Whether these were the young, or full-grown individuals, I do not know. I saw none larger than these, and they were not numerous. As we approached the coast off the Gulf of California, the. petrels lefé us, and were replaced in an hour or two by white gulls, about the size of Bonaparte’s gull, but either entirely white, or with a very slight lavender-blue tinge on the back and wings. These had an entirely different way of alighting and rising from the water; they did not push forward their feet to arrest their course, but circled — round like pigeons until their headway was stopped, then quietly settled upon the water, immediately folding their wings. They also 1871.] 139 | [Perry. rose directly from the surface without running along, as the larger- winged petrels did. Dr. Kneeland also presented to the Society some specimens of copper ore from Chili, and beautiful green beetles worn as ornaments by the Brazilian ladies. Rey. J. B. Perry conjectured that some of the so-called Scolitht in the Potsdam may be the peduncles of the Brachiopods. In confirmation of this he remarked that Brachiopods are found in considerable abundance in many of the primordial rocks. He also added that the probable traces of worms occur, not only in the Potsdam, but also in rocks of much greater age. What appear to be worm-bur- rows are found in rocks in Vermont, at least twenty-five thousand feet below the Potsdam sandstone. They, and other traces of worms, are said to occur in the oldest fossilif- erous rocks in England and Ireland, namely, in the Long- mynd rocks and several of the overlying primordial forma- tions. Mr. Morse said it might seem singular that in the Potsdam we should not find the shells, if these cases are the peduncles. This, however, is readily accounted for on the ground that the sandstone is not favorable to the preservation of organic remains. Prof. Hyatt said Mr. Billings thought these cases were masses of sponge, on account of the presence of spicule in them, but they show themselves to be peduncles, by the swelling at the extremity. Prof. Hyatt also read a letter from Mr. W. H. Dall, in which he presents a valuable specimen of a new Lingula, discovered by him, to the Society, with the request that Mr. Morse may have an opportunity to study the structure of the animal. Sanborn. ] 140 [March 22, Section of Entomology. March 22, 1871. Mr. Edw. Burgess in the chair. Nine members present. Mr. F. G. Sanborn exhibited the galls of Cynips quercus- tubicola O. S., and C. quercus-lane Fitch, together with specimens of the gall-makers and their parasites, all presented by Rev. E. C. Bolles, who obtained them in the Cumberland Mountains of Alabama. Mr. Sanborn also called the atten- tion of the members to several trays of Longicorn Coleoptera recently presented by himself and others to the Society’s cabinet, and systematically arranged and labelled by Mr. Philip 8. Sprague. He also stated that the Society had been able to secure the services of this gentleman for an indefinite period, in the arrangement and preservation of the insect collection. Mr. P. S. Sprague mentioned that he had noticed a percep- tible power of motion in the antennz of a Pterostichus Semoralis, on removing it from alcohol, in which it had been kept two years; he alluded to a similar case of motion of the antenne in a Staphylinide beetle, recorded by him at a pre- vious meeting. Mr. Hollis Thayer had observed similar mo- tions in specimens of beetles which had been in alcohol several days. Mr. Edw. Burgess read an abstract of a letter recently received from our associate, Mr. Benj. P. Mann, now in the vicinity of Rio Janeiro, Brazil, in which he stated that he was engaged in studying the insects attacking the corn, and had found several species of Lepidoptera among them, which were identical with our northern forms. 1871. 141 [ Morse. April 5, 1871. Vice President, Dr. Chas. T. Jackson, in the chair. Thirty- nine persons present. Rey. Edwin C. Bolles of Salem, Joseph Stone of Charles- town, Thomas C. Felton, Walter Ela and W. G. Farlow of Cambridge, Richard W. Bender, Sidney E. Sargent, William R. Nichols, Fletcher M. Abbott and 8. Dana Hayes of Bos- ton, were elected Resident Members. Prof. Edward 8. Morse presented the following paper :— On THE ADAPTIVE COLORATION OF MOLLUSCA. Naturalists have long recognized the curious cases oftentimes oc- curring, of the resemblance between the color of an animal and its immediate surroundings. It had been supposed that climatic influ- ences, or peculiarities of food, or greater or less access to light had something to do with these coincidences. Mr. Alfred R. Wallace has shown that the varied phases of these phenomena could not be ex- plained by such agents, and in a paper “On Mimicry and other pro- tective resemblances among Animals,” published in the Westminster Review, July, 1867, and since made widely public in his work on ‘‘Nat- ural Selection” he shows that the singular resemblances between the colors of animals and their surroundings are mainly brought about by the protection afforded them through greater concealment. Many very interesting examples are then cited from the Vertebrates and Articulates in support of these views. Briefly may be mentioned as examples, the almost universal sand color of those animals inhabit- ing desert tracts; the white color of those animals living amid per- petual snows; the resemblance seen again and again between the color of many insects and the places they frequent. Among the hosts of examples cited by Mr. Wallace as illustrating plainly the views he advances, may be mentioned the many species of Cicindela or tiger beetle. The common English species, “C. campestris, fre- quents grassy banks and is of a beautiful green color, while C. mari- tima, which is found only on sandy sea shores, is of a pale bronzy yellow, so as to be almost invisible.” He then states that a great number of species found by himself in the Malay Archipelago, were similarly protected. ‘‘The beautiful Cicindela gloriosa, of a deep Morse.] 142 : i [April 5, velvety green color, was only taken upon wet mossy stones in the bed of a mountain stream, where it was with difficulty detected. A large, brown species (C. heros) was found chiefly on dead leaves in forest paths; and one which was never seen except on the wet mud of salt marshes, was of a glossy olive so exactly the color of the mud as only to be distinguished when the sun shone, by its shadow. Where the sand beach was coralline and nearly white, I found a very pale Cicindela; wherever it was volcanic and black, a dark species of the same genus was sure to be met with.’’ But little attention has been given to adaptive coloring among the lower invertebrate animals. Darwin, in his last work on the “Descent of Man’’ calls attention to the statements of Heckel that the transpar- ency of the Meduse and other floating animals is protective since their glass-like appearance renders them invisible to their enemies, though Wallace also alludes to this same feature (p. 258). Mr. Edward Burgess informs me of a species of Acaleph, Polyclonia fron- dosa, on the coast of Florida, which lives in the mud and is brown in color. Darwin while admitting that the transparency of these animals unquestionably aids them to escape the notice of their enemies, yet doubts whether the color of Mollusks affords similar protection. He says, ‘‘The colors do not appear in most cases to be of any use as a pro- tection; they are probably the direct result, as in the iower classes, of the nature of the tissues, the patterns and sculpture of the shell de- pending on its manner of growth.” Vol. 1, p. 316. In glancing over our New England Mollusca, however, it seems that we do have very clear evidences of protective adaptations among them, not only in their form, but more particularly in their color. It would seem strange indeed if this were not so since so many species of Mollusca form an important portion of the food of many fishes, and also of certain species of birds. 1In an inlet near Salem the writer observed a school of minnows swimming along the bottom and as they approached a certain point darting right and left in great alarm. For some time the disturbing cause could not befound. On closer examination, however, a Cottus was seen to open his large mouth and take in several of the little fishes. The Cottus was so perfectly protected by its colors, that it was only recognized when the capacious mouth opened, and only then were the minnows alarmed. Just beyond in their track was a rusty tin fruit can, the little tin remaining on it reflecting the rays of the sun, and from this harmless object they all turned affrightedly away. In this connection it would be interesting to inquire into the food of fishes in re- spect to their colors. Those fishes feeding upon Mollusca would certainly not require such protection for concealment as those living upon more active prey. 1871.] 143 { Morse. In a general way we recall the sombre colors of the shells of most species, varying through different shades of yellow, brown and green, in this respect resembling the sand, mud and rocks, or sea weed in or upon which they live, and we then recall by groups the land snails of our woods with their almost uniform brown tints, like the dead leaves or rotten wood in which they live. The fresh water snails have similar shades to match their peculiar habitats. The fresh water mussels, colored likewise brown, greenish or ee accord with their places of refuge. Among the marine forms we notice the adaptive coloration of cer- tain species very well-marked. The common Littorina of the coast swarms on the bladder weed, the bulbous portions of which are olive brown in color, or yellowish according to age. The shells of the Litiorina found upon it, present in their varieties these two colors and are limited to these colors, though now and then delicately banded specimens are seen. Purpura lapillus, which generally hides beneath overhanging ledges, or is concealed under flat rocks, has generally a dirty white shell, with now and then a specimen bright yellow, or banded with brown. We are not aware of any fish that feeds upon this species, though in the almost universal white color of the species an adaptive color may be secured in resembling the white barnacles which oftentimes whiten the rocks by their numbers. In pools left at low tide where the rocks are often clothed with the red calcareous alge we find the little red Chiton. Certain Mytili are green. The young of the large M. modiolus has a rough coat of epidermal filaments looking like the aborescent growth of some Algz or Hydroid. The few species common to the mud flats exposed by the retreat- ing tide are colored black or dark olive. Jlyanassa obsoleta has the shell black, while the soft parts are quite dark. A related form, Nassa trivittata, lives in more sandy places and has a similarly colored shell. Rissoa minuta, inhabiting mud flats, has a shell dark olive, or nearly black, while other species of Rissoa are much lighter in color. The fronds of the large Laminarian are frequented by Lacuna vincta and its variety fusca. ‘The first is greenish or purplish horn color, with darker bands, while the variety fusca is uniformly dark brown or chestnut; the colors in both cases quite match the Laminarian upon which they are found. Another species of the same genus, Morse.] 144 ‘ [April 5, Lacuna neritoidea, Mr. Fuller has observed spawning on bladder weed and its yellowish tinge accords well with its surroundings. Margarita helicina I have found in numbers on the large Laminarian and on sea weed at low water mark, and its color is decidedly protec- tive; while other species of Margarita dredged in deep water on shelly ground are whitish, pearly, or red. | The protective coloring of certain species is well seen upon stones dredged in deep water, the various mollusks adhering to them, closely resembling the calcareous alg and the stones themselves. Species peculiar to sand beaches are of various sand colored shades, | as for example Machera, Mactra, Cochlodesma, Cyprina, the little — Solenomya and Solen. On muddy ground we notice certain Tellinas and other species with white shells. It has been supposed that those species hidden from the light were generally white, and this would seem to be the case when we recall Mya, certain species of Teredo, Tellina, Pholas, and other species. Yet we do have cases where the shell is oftentimes conspicuously banded or marked. It might appear ‘that in those species living buried in the mud or sand, the shell was protected by a very thin epidermal layer, and that this layer was eroded, thus exposing the white shell; there are certain species, how- ever, living buried in the mud or sand which have an’epidermal coat very thick and dark brown or black, such examples are seen in So- lenomya borealis and Glycymeris siliqua. It has been noticed that the same species occupying different sta- tions are differently colored. Dr. A. A. Gould noticed this in regard to Astarte castanea; those thrown up from deeper water are darker colored than those found in quiet sandy places. In his report on the Invertebrate Animals of Massachusetts, first edition, p. 78, speak- ing of the shells found in the sandy harbor of Provincetown, he says: ‘‘The color of all the shells in that harbor is remarkably light.” A very evident case of protective coloring is seen in the three spe- cies of Crepidula found on our coast. Crepidula fornicata is drab, variously rayed and mottled with brown, and it lives attached to stones near the roots of the large Laminarian or upon stones clothed with alga of similar colors, or attached to the large Mytilus. Cre- pidula convexa, a much smaller species, lives on the roots of sea weed. Prof. Perkins records its occurrence on the black shell of Ilyanassa obsoleta. This Crepidula has a very dark brown shell, according weil with the dark color of its various places of lodgement. Crepidula plona or unguiformis lives within the apertures of the shells of larger — 1871.] 145 [Bicknell. species of Gasteropods, as Buccinum, Natica, Busycon and others. The shell of this Crepidula is absolutely white. There are many species that undoubtedly receive protection in al- lowing foreign substances to grow upon their shells, and these species, oftentimes covered by a dense growth of calcareous or other alge, are difficult of detection by the experienced collector. There are also certain species that habitually aceumulate foreign substances upon their shells. The little Pisedium ferrugineum possibly finds greater immunity from danger in its habit of accumulating a fer- rugineous deposit on that portion of the shell most conspicuous. Nu- cula delphinodonta has likewise a similar habit. ‘The delicate Lyon- sia arenosa, with its habit of entangling particles of sand in its epi- dermal filaments, undoubtedly finds protection in this peculiarity. It was not the intention to go outside of New England species in citing these examples, but in this connection I cannot forbear men- tioning the tropical genus Phorus. ‘The species are said to frequent rough bottoms and to scramble over the ground like the Strombs and not to glide evenly. ‘This peculiar manner of moving would render: them very conspicuous, and it is eurious to observe that most of the species attach foreign substances to the margins of their sheils as they grow, so that when a shell has attained its growth it is almost com- pletely concealed by fragments of shells large and small, spines of Echini, bits of coral and stones. These few observations are offered (and they might be multiplied) with the belief that if there is any truth in the theory of protective coloring as advanced by Wallace, the various colors of Mollusca in. ‘many cases can be explained, and the occurrence of varieties in color are also accounted for by the same theory. Mr. Edwin Bicknell remarked that animals in preying upon each other were attracted more by the sense of smell than that of sight. He had noticed on one occasion, when jelly fishes were stranded, that numerous carnivorous snails, Lacuna vincta, were seen moving from all points towards: them. He thought they could be directed only by a acute sense of smell. Dr. B. Joy Jeffries called attention to the probability that the animals which prey upon those supposed to be pro-. tected by want of color, or by being of the color of their PROCEEDINGS B. 8. N. H.—VOL, XIV. 10 DECEMBER, 1871. Hyatt.] 146 ~ [April 5, surroundings, can not perhaps be accorded a power of color | perception; and suggested that form and light may govern them in hunting for their prey. . He also explained the differ- ence between the red eyes of the albinos and others. With the opthalmoscope one sees in other eyes the same red reflec- tions as in albinos. Prof. A. Hyatt alluded to the color of the common Unios, or Anodons, as probably protective, and the well known case of the Melanias of the Western rivers, which are hardly distinguishable by the unpracticed eye, and to the peculiar and marked variations of the Siluroid fishes of the same region, which agree in color very closely with the ground on which they live. Mr. Hyatt then continued, however, that he by no means desired to endorse the Darwinian doctrine of Natural Selection. A belief in evolution and the derivation of all higher forms, from lower and simple organisms, perhaps from inorganic matter itself, by means of secondary natural forces, is perfectly consistent with opposition to the Darwinian theory. . According to this theory, new characteristics and therefore new kinds and species of animals arise by the survival of the fittest, asin a recent instance cited by the ‘‘ American Natu- ralist,” where a new race of deer is supposed to be in course of for- mation in the Southern Adirondacs. In this case, certain full grown bucks, about thirteen years ago were produced, with short stabbing horns like the young deer. These were thus enabled to drive away the branching horned forms during the rutting season, and to leave a larger number of descendants. These and their descendants, in turn enjoying similar advantages are, it is stated, gradually supplanting the branching horned deer in the Southern Adirondacs. The facts have been disputed and need the confirmation of farther observation and experience, but they form, perhaps, one of the best illustrations of the theory of natural selection ever recorded. Assuming, how- ever, that it is true, and that a new species of deer is now being evolved in this region, what does natural selection really account for? It must account for the preservation and perpetuation of the branching horned variety, as well as the rise of the straight horns. The Anoplotherium of the Eocene, which has always been considered 1871] 147 [Hyatt. by Owen and others, as the probable ancestor of the Cervide, had no horns even in the adult. The young deer when it is born has none, and the process by which they are acquired, takes place subse- quently. The general characteristics of the deer’s antler of the Miocene and Pliocene were simple, with only one tyne or prong like those of the young deer, and the palmate and extensively pronged horns were not brought out fully until the Post- -pliocene. To-day, a decline seems to be taking place, since neither the reindeer or the moose equals the extinct Irish elk in the complexity and size of their horns. If Darwinism can account for the propagation af this new race by the advantage which the short, stabbing horns gives to the bucks, how could any branching antlers ever have arisen from the Miocene deer. In accordance with the theory of natural or sexual selection, the horns should have become longer and sharper and have dropped their tynes, thus making them better weapons. The reverse has certainly occurred, and antlers developed of extraor- dinary size, cumbersome and useless in comparison with the short, dagger-like horns of the Miocene deer. According to Darwin’s latest modification in his Descent of Man, the increase in the size would be accounted for by sexual selection, namely, that the females would se- lect the males having the largest horns, and thus the size of the horns would be increased in successive generations. If this be the explanation, how account for the rise of the short horned variety at the present time. Darwin quotes this instance as an example of Natural and Sexual Selection, in his last work, ‘The Descent of Man” (Vol. 11, p. 248, Am. ed.) Presuming, however, that natural selection does account for the evolution of the branching horns, and also for the preservation and gradual increase in number of the present spike horned bucks (as it may be fairly assumed in many instances, to act in the preservation and perpetuation of many characteristics), it neither does nor can ac- count for the first appearance of horns, nor the first appearance of a full grown buck having the spike horns. The inadequacy of the theory of natural selection, to show us how characteristics arise, has been repeatedly insisted upon by several authors. Prof. Cope and the writer, in two widely separated departments, among the Reptiles on the one hand, and the Mollusks on the other, have repeatedly pointed out the mode in which characteristics, races, species and genera have arisen. Several writers on the European continent, and Hyatt.] . 148 [April 5, St. George Mivart in his Genesis of Species, have lately taken similar views. The latter continually alludes to the sudden rise of species or races, and gives an instance of the sudden appearance of the black - shouldered peacock in a flock of common peacocks. This variety, previously known in India as a separate species, speedily increased to the extinction of the original form. Here, as St. George Mivart points out, under different geographical influences, the same species has suddenly arisen in India and in England. No slow changes similar to those perpetually cited by Darwin and Wallace, no gradual fading of one species into another, but a sudden evolutyon of a new, . distinct form. _ Mivart too states, that “the view here advocated, regards the whole organic world as arising and going forward in one harmonious development, similar to that which displays itself in the growth and action of each separate individual organism. ‘This apparently is the key note of his book.” This was the view advocated by the speaker some four years previously, in the Memoirs of the Society, in a paper written to establish the fact that all characteristics had arisen sud- denly among the Ammonites and Nautili of past geographical epochs. This paper was a short preliminary statement of facts observed, and it did not excite his surprise that Mivart had overlooked it. He could not, however, help wondering at the absolute silence preserved with relation to the essay of Prof. Cope, of Philadelphia. This had been issued at about the same time and independently, but advo- cated nearly the same views as regarded the sudden production of characteristics among the Reptiles, and must have been well known to Prof. Huxley, with whom Mivart seems to have taken council. This omission is by no means creditable to the author of a work writ- ten to refute such books as Darwin is in the habit of producing, and contrasts unfavorably with that writer’s evident acquaintance with the essay alluded to above. This is shown most by the manner in which he is obliged to rest the proof of his assertion that species arise suddenly, upon a number of isolated facts, whereas either Prof. Cope’s paper or the speaker’s, especially the former, would have fur- nished him with a number of reliable and serene connected illustra- tions of the quick evolution of species. Dr. 8. Kneeland presented to the Society specimens of deep sea soundings, collected by Lieut. Breck off the Pacific coast, in three thousand three hundred fathoms, samples of cS] 1871.] 149 [Kneeland. which he had already furnished to Count Pourtales for inves- tigation. Dr. Kneeland exhibited several specimens of glass, marble and hard stones, engraved, carved, and grooved by the action of sand driven by a blast of air or steam. The surface being covered by perforated paper or a stencil plate, the parts exposed by the perfora- tions are cut rapidly and accurately, while the covered parts are un- touched, protected, it is supposed, by the elasticity of the paper or thin metal. He drew attention to this industrial process as illustrating the ad- vantage of diffusing, as a common branch of knowledge, information on the forces of nature, and, in this instance, on dynamical geology. This process, which promises to revolutionize one of the most exten- sive of the industrial arts, is simply carrying out what natural forces have been doing to the surface rocks of our continent for ages. Sands carried by strong and steady winds, passing over rocks, often wear them smooth or cover them with grooves and scratches, as no- ticed and figured by Mr. Blake, in the granite rocks at San Bernar- dino Pass, Cal.: see Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. v, pp. 92 and 231. Quartz rocks were there found polished, the softer felspar being cut away; where the latter had been protected by garnets, projections were left, tipped with the hard garnets, pointing like fingers in the direction of the wind. On the surface of the great Colorado desert the pebbles are finely polished by the drifting sand, or variously grooved, according to the hardness of their substance. Prof. J. Wyman also mentions that glass windows on Cape Cod have some- times holes worn in them by the drifting sands blown by the winds. It is the tendency of modern education to pay less attention to the dead languages and to ancient history, as a means of culture, and more to the practical and living issues of the day, and especially to combine a knowledge of natural phenomena with the elementary in- struction of the school room. In this particular instance, it is altogether probable that, if the grooving of rocks by the wind-driven sands, long known by geologists and physicists, and by them turned to no practical account, had been equally well known to our intelli- gent and skilful mechanics, the process here illustrated would have been invented years ago, and by this time have attained a high de- eree of perfection. The same reasoning will apply to other depart- ments of natural and physical science, and goes to show the wisdom Richards.] 150 [April 5, of those educators who are endeavoring to diffuse a knowledge of scientific principles and phenomena among the people. Mr. L. 8. Richards exhibited a stone taken from the exca- vations at Fort Hill, in this city, near Oliver Street, seventy- five feet below the surface, which, like the majority of the stones taken from the drift near this spot, was covered with “ olacial” grooves and scratches. He had also found on the southerly side of the locality conglomerate in the process of formation without the action of heat. On THE RELATIONS oF ANOMIA. By Epwarp S. Morse. Under the name Anomia was included Terebratula by the early writers. Misled by external appearance, Linneeus, Lamarck and others believed Anomia and Terebratula to be closely related. . While not the slightest ground existed for bringing them together, yet the mere fact of these two animals being enclosed within a living shell composed of two pieces, held to the rock by a process which passed out through that element of the shell which was undermost in both eases, furnished sufficient proof of their relationship to those who were ready to judge everything from external appearance. The whales among fishes, the barnacles among mollusks, were only some of the blunders committed by this superficial way of compari- son; and now after the external elements of the Brachiopods are ad- mitted by all writers to be dorsal and ventral, while the valves of Anomia are right and left, and after the splendid memoir of Lacaze Duthier on the anatomy of Anomia! has shown that its nearest rela- tions are with the Pectens, etc., there are still some writers who vaguely imagine that some sort of relationship exists between the two. It is refreshing to turn back twenty years and find Forbes stating that ‘‘a close examination shows that there is no relationship of affinity between them, but only a resemblance through forma’ analogy.” This brief note is given to verify the correctness of a statement ‘Organization of Anomia. Aun. Sc. Nat. 1854, 11 series, 5-85. 1871.] 151 [Morse. made by Forbes and Hanley in their standard work on the Brit- ish Mollusca, wherein the shelly plug which escapes through the sinus of the flat valve to hold the animal to its base of attachment is compared to a byssus. They say “when the very young fry of this genus shall have been care- fully observed, we believe they will be found spinning a byssus, which, passing through this sinus, fixes the shell in the first instance, before a portion of it becomes attached, eventually becomes de- tached with a part of the ‘adduc- tor muscle, and forms the opercu- lar process.” + They erred only in conceiving that the byssus passed through a sinus occupying the same position as in the adult; this is not so, as will be shown presently. Lacaze Duthier, after his ex- haustive study of the organiza- tion of Anomia, refers to these Fig. 1. Right or lower valve of Anomia, showing notch in ventral pal- lial margin, caused by byssus. Diame- ter one sixty-fourth inch. Vig.2. Lefi or upper valve of Fig. 1. Diameter one sixty-fourth inch. Fig. 3. Foramen commencing to form. The black portion shows pro- portions of left valve. Fig. 4. Amore advanced stage of right valve with foramen almost com- pleted. Fig.5. Left or upper valve of Fig. 4. Diameter one thirty-second of an inch. Fig. 6. Showing later stage, with foramen completed, and nucleus still visible. Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 1 Forbes and Hanley, British Mollusca, Vol. I, p. 828. Wore) 152 - [Aprils, | statements of Forbes and Hanley, and expresses his belief in their correctness, and in describing some peculiar features of asymmetry, aptly calls them the Pleuronectes among mollusks. In examining some dried sea weed collected by a friend of mine during the last week in March, I noticed some very young Anomiz clinging to it. Unfortunately nothing but the little dried shells were left for examination, but as these presented some exceedingly inter- esting points as bearing upon the homology of the plug to the byssus, I may be excused for presenting such incomplete observations. The specimens were easily detached from the sea weed with the point of a knife, without fracturing the shells; they were consequently very lightly attached. The smallest specimens examined are quite orbicu- lar, the upper, or left valve, is very tumid near the nucleus, the lower or right valve is flat and somewhat smaller than the upper valve. ‘The foramen, or sinus, is not closed, but opens on the anterior border of the shell. The chief point of interest, however, is seen in the nucleus, or that portion of the shell first formed when the animal was free and roving. This early condition of the shell is distinctly marked at the beak in both valves. It is yellowish in color, and marked with numerous, very regular concentric lines of growth, while the re- maining portion of the shell is colorless or white with irregular lines of increment. The nucleus is oblong-oval. The umbones are nearly central though nearer the anterior margin,and the shell is more globose behind. Both valves of the nucleus appear equally convex, and no sign of a sinus or perforation is visible in either valve. On the free edge of the right valve, directly under the umbo, a dis- tinct notch is seen, the lines of growth indicating it, and showing that the edge of the shell is not absorbed to form this notch. It will be noticed that this marginal notch appears in that valve which is below, and which afterwards presents the opening for the passage of the byssal plug. The condition of the shell at this time clearly indicates that the animal is not only already attached, but has fallen to one side, and while in this position has added a few more lines of increment to its larval shell, as no sign of this notch is seen on the left or free valve. Soon, however, the peculiar and rapid secretion of a different. shell growth takes place; the lines of increment are no longer regular, nor so conspicuous, and the shelly matter is white. The left valve adds concentric layers around its entire margin, not excepting the hinge margin. The lower valve appears to grow from its posterior and 1871.] 153 [Morse, lower half, the successive accretions being produced around the byssus. This growth for a while seems to take place exclusively from the posterior half of the shell limited in front by the byssus, and even after this growth has increased to twice the diameter of the embryo shell only a slight increase is noticed on its anterior mar- gin, this latter addition being slightly reflected. The left or upper valve grows more rapidly, so that its margin overlaps the right valve at all points. As the animal increases in size, the foramen increases also, and its earlier boundaries are consequently absorbed. It will be seen by reference to the figures that the growth of the perforated valve is first posterior and downward, from the posterior half of the shell; it then grows forward, avoiding the byssal plug, and by successive additions surrounds the byssal plug and ulti- mately reaches the umbones of the larval shell, and even beyond and behind this region. From these facts it is obvious that at an early stage the animal is free, and for a time locomotive; that it has an elongate, oval, bivalve shell, with close and regular lines of ac- cretion, and that during the latter stage of this growth it becomes at- tached by a byssus passing from between the valves as in Mytilus; that before the growth of the larval shell is completed, it drops over to one side, since one valve only shows the notch upon its margin, and that so soon as this growth ceases a new growth takes place, looser in texture, and white in color, as above described. In this ex- cessive growth of the shell backward it is interesting to note that in the Mytilide the growth of the shell is almost entirely posterior, leaving the umbones at the extreme anterior portion of the shell. It would appear that the larval shell is a true dimyarian and its affinities may possibly be quite remote from Ostrea or Pecten. A study of the early stages of the last named genera would easily remove all doubts upon these points. Drs. J. B. 8. Jackson and B. Joy Jeffries, and Messrs. R. C. Greenleaf, John Cummings, Jr., and Wm. H. Niles, were - elected a Committee of Nomination, to present the names of candidates for the officers of the Society for the ensuing year. Mr. Sanborn exhibited a valuable donation of alcoholic specimens of mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, mollusks and insects from Florida, presented by Mr. Samuel N. Chamber- Wilder.] 154 [April 5, lain, and called attention to the number of fine specimens of both sexes, of the double striped “ walking-stick insect,” the Spectrum bivittatum of Say;—a species that had hitherto been unrepresented in the Society’s Cabinet. The Secretary read a letter from Dr. T. M. Brewer, an- nouncing a donation of bird-skins to the Society, from Mr. Thure Kumlein of Wisconsin, also a mounted Hrismatura dominica, the second specimen known to have been taken in this country. The following paper was presented : — INTERMEMBRAL Homo ocies. By Burt G. Wiper, M. D., Professor of Comp. Anat. and Zool., Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. INTRODUCTION. The general correspondence of the limbs with each other was re- cognized by the ancients. The first detailed comparison was made by Vicq d’Azyr,in 1774. Since then the subject has received atten- tion from nearly all anatomists, and there have come to my notice about seventy-five works wherein it is discussed. Of these about one half have appeared since 1860, and the number and eminence of their aithors give reason for expecting much work to be done in coming years upon intermembral homologies. Yet so radical is the present difference of opinion among the more earnest workers, and so many and profound are the problems involved, that there is little hope of its final settlement within the present century. For several years I have lost no opportunity of collecting material upon the subject, and have announced my intention to devote myself chiefly to its investi- gation, in the hope of deciding one great question in homologies ; but I had also resolved to publish no more upon the subject until I could begin the publication of a series of monographs treating in full of the various subdivisions of the question. - My intention has been altered by the following circumstances :— i. Several recent English writers have regarded the question as already decided in their favor, Flower, 66,1 240; Rolleston, 61, 219; 1 The numbers refer to the bibliographical list at the close of this paper, the first number indicating the work, the last the page, and the middle one, when it occurs, the volume. 1871. 155 [ Wilder. Humphrey, 72, 68; Mivart, 279, 163, in spite of the published opin- ions of Foltz, 39, Wyman, 55, and the writer. They hold that the relation of the membra is one of syntropy or parallelism, and that pol- lex (thumb) is the homologue of primus (great toe); we hold, on the contrary, that the relation of these parts is one of analogy, and that the true homologue of pollex is quintus (little toe), and that of min- imus (little finger) primus, the membra being antitropically or sym- metrically related. 2. During the past year a new and vigorous ally has entered the discussion. Dr. Coues’ admirable papers, 70, have already been briefly noticed,! and will be reviewed at more lencth hereafter.? I now merely express my gratification and my hope that together, under the guidance of our eminent teacher, Professor Wyman, we may be able to show that a very small minority may yet be in the right. 3. Ihave recently been led to modify my previous views respect- ing the normal position of the membra in which they should be com- pared together, and [am anxious to admit this change since it in- volves a concession to those who hold the view of syntropy. Still, the present paper is intended mainly as an index of what has been done, and of what remains to be done for intermembral homolo- gies, and as a prodromus of the works which I hope to offer in coming years. It will contain : — 1. An historical sketch of the question. 2. A revision of the nomenclature of parts. 3. <A revision of the nomenclature of ideas. 4. Evidence as to the morphical unimportance of numerical composition. 5. Indication of general problems. 6. Indication of special problems. 7. Chronological list of special works upon intermembral homolo- 8. Alphabetical list of collateral works. 9. <A glossary of morphological terms. 1 American Naturalist, April, 1871. 2 American Journal of Science, July, 1871. The words below the names refer to the steps which each has taken in what seems to be the right direction; the di- verging lines denote the wrong paths in- to which they have wandered. ANTILROPY. [April 5, Homologous parts look in opposite directions, ——. 2 Zu a oq g (deo) 8 5 (o) i = BE Vicq pD’Azyr, os re a c 1774. os as) IS a AO a a) o q 80 a= fob) 2 AADS ’ wor SB soo ou" °F, > Lb ip SyYnTrRopy. Homologous parts look in the same direction. ty CEL, Qy, e Wilder.] ? 1871.] gS ~ [Wilder. I. HISTORICAL SKETCH. I have ventured to represent the progress of the question of Inter- membral Homologies since 1774, by the foregoing diagram. The brace at the left includes a reference to the general comparisons be- tween armus,} (anterior limb), and skelos (posterior limb), which were made by the ancient anatomists and by their successors prior to 1774. Between these and the recent general comparisons, and forming a common point of convergence of the one, of divergence for the other, is the ‘‘ detailed comparison” of Vicq d’Azyr. It is not easy to do justice to this great anatomist’s paper upon the membra, partly because it contains no figures, but chiefly because his words are capable of three different interpretations, which have served as the basis for as many distinct views of intermembral homol- ogies. Vicq d’ Azyr seems to have had in his mind three ideas : — 1. That armus and skelos really correspond, not only as membra, but in detail. 2. That similar parts face in opposite directions. 3. That, therefore, in order to make a comparison more readily, it is convenient to place the armus of one side, reversed, against the skelos of the other side. In brief, he wished to demonstrate a certain proposition; in so doing he recognized a certain fact, and therefore followed a certain method. His successors have all admitted the truth of the proposition, and the majority have gone no farther than to recognize the general correspondence between the several segments and articulations of the membra. But those who have noted the admission by Vicq d’ Azyr of an antagonism between these corresponding parts, whether or not they saw the importance of the prindiple of symmetry, have more or less distinctly recognized the fact, and have, therefore, followed his method of comparison as a method, and nothing more. This is evident from the words of Turenne, 21, Pagenstecher, 54, and Haughton, 62; and some, if not all of those who have been much criticized and even ridi- culed (by Owen, 20, 335; Martins, 37; Wilder, 52; Wyman, 55) for the extraordinary methods adopted in making their comparisons, ought rather to be included among those who have followed Oken, in recognizing more or less distinctly the importance of this symmetrical antagonism as a law of organization. 1 The nomenclature of parts will be discussed hereafter. Wilder.] 158 [April 5, On the other hand, the method of comparison suggested by Vicq d’ Azyr required that the armus of one side should be placed parallel with the skelos of the other. And this, with his frequent use of the term ‘“paralléle,” (by which I believe he really meant only corres- pondence,) has given rise to a class of views in which this method is in part adopted as an end, instead of a means; and the effort has been made in various ways to show that corresponding parts of the membra do, or at any rate should, face in the same direction. To this end, some have suggested ingenious serial homologies, leaving the | parts in their natural attitudes, while others have altered the position | of the membra or of their parts, in ways equally ingenious and plau- | sible, yet, as I believe, equally unsound. But all these comparisons are based upon the generally received opinion that pollex (thumb), and primus (great toe), are homologous, which opinion I hold to be incorrect. SYNTROPY. The former method of comparison originated with Dr. Barclay, the anatomical preceptor of Prof. Owen, who in 1824 suggested that the armus and skelos should be compared in their natural attitude with most mammalia, the manus pronated so as to bring the pollex upon the inner border of its membrum, as was the primus behind. This involved a denial of the homology which Vieq d’ Azyr ad- mitted between the extensor surfaces of brachium (upper arm), and meros (thigh), and between the convexity of the ancon (elbow), and _ the genu (knee); and it further involved the comparison of two par- allel bones, the tibia and fibula, with two crossed bones, the ulna and radius. Nevertheless, in 1838 Flourens proposed a similar view, 14, and in 1846 it was vigorously supported by Owen, 20, 335, and 63 in many places, who carried it so far as to find the homologue of the patella in the sesamoid bone of the biceps brachii in certain bats, and the homologue of the olecranon in the projecting post-genual process (fabella), of the wombat. : From this and other details of Owen’s peculiar views, Goodsir dis- sents; but in 1856 he enunciated what seems to be essentially the theory of Barclay and Flourens, associating with it, however, a belief in the quinary composition of the membra, which had been suggested by Oken, 285, 2380, Duges, 11, 44, and Gervais, 27, 32. I was formerly, 52, 486, inclined to include Humphrey among the ‘* Antitropists,” by reason of his recognition of the antagonism be- 1871.] 159 [Wilaer, tween the proximal parts of the membra, 34, 600, and 36, 16, which -had been previously pointed out by Agassiz, 26, 89, and others; but a more careful study of his works, especially of his later papers upon the subject, 64, and 72, has led me to regard his views as essentially syntropical ; since, in his opinion, the above-mentioned antagonism is purely telical, and involves no idea of a general principle of sym- metry ; so that his comparison of the membra must either be included among the recent general comparisons, or associated with those of Owen and Cleland, in spite of their disagreements in respect to some special homologies. To Humphrey, however, is to be given the credit of indicating the value of comparative anatomy in this discus- sion, as to Goodsir belongs the honor of urging the importance of embryological studies, in order to determine the “morphology of limbs.” The evident objection to a comparison of two parallel with two crossed bones, led Bourgery, 10, and afterward Cruveilhier, 18, to sug- gest that the tibia was represented by the upper half of the ulna and the lower half of the radius, and the fibula, in like manner, by the upper half of the radius and the lower half of the ulna; but their view has not been adopted by any later writers. Equally unnatural and unsupported was the ‘‘ Torsion’ theory of Maclise, 23, and Martins, 33, who at different times, but as it appears, independently, endeavored to preserve the syntropy or serial ho- mology of the membra, the natural attitude of the manus, and at the same time remove the objections to the views of Barclay and Bour- gery by admitting the homology of the convexities of ancon and genu, and the parallel relation of ulna and radius; they assumed that “the humerus was a bone twisted upon its axis for 180°,” and that it required to be untwisted in order to make the armus comparable with the skelos. A certain amount of ‘‘torsion” has lately been admitted by Gegenbaur, 59, but the conclusions of Maclise and Martins*have been adopted by no other anatomists, and have been objected to by Humphrey, 36, Wilder, 45, and Wyman, 55. A reaction from these speculative views took place in 1864, when Prof. Huxley proposed a comparison of the membra, 42, which differs in many respects from all others, even in the manner of its presenta- tion ; since its author appears to have attaclied so little importance to it that he has never written it out for publication or referred to it in his later works; and so far from believing, like the author of 23, that his method of comparison was to ‘‘ unravel the gordian knot of that Wilder.] 160 [April 5, problem which had so long existed as a mystery for the morphologist,” Professor Huxley admits that “it cannot be considered as thoroughly satisfactory since it has not been checked by the aid of the complete study of the development of the parts in question, the only method by which any morphological problem can be determined.” The pre- cise value of development in the determination of homologies will be discussed hereafter, but there can be no question that too little importance had been given to it in previous comparisons of the membra. : ; “ Professor Huxley instituted a new comparison of the limbs, placed not in the position which they assume in adult life, but in the only one in which they really correspond with each other, viz., that which they first exhibit in the embryo. In this condition they stand out at right angles from the body, the extensor surfaces being placed dor- sally, and the flexor surfaces ventrally, with both pairs of limbs. They then gradually become bent and afterward acquire the modified position which suits them for their function in life, and to which their various articulations become adapted. The embryonic position con- tinues throughout life in many amphibia and reptiles and without much change in galeopithecus.”’ Huxley then proceeds to compare the premembral (anterior) borders of the membra together, making the radius and pollex homologous with the tibia and primus, upon the generally accepted principle of syntropy or serial homology; not realizing that the yery same regard for the facts of development which led him to ignore the subsequent flexure and attitudes of the membra, should also require him to give no heed to those secondary modifications of the primordial buds which differentiate pollex and primus from their fellows, and cause them to resemble each other in many higher animals; but aside from his special interpretation of homologies, I am now ready to accept his method of placing the membra for comparison as the true one, of which more hereafter. This general view of the method to be pursued in determining intermembral homologies has been adopted by Mivart in 1866, by Pagenstecher in 1867, by Rolleston in 1868, and by Flower in 1870; who, however, have each proposed modifications in detail, which I will not discuss here, since the special interpretations of muscular homologies depend upon the general view of membral homology, and_ stand or fall therewith. Parker has not expressed a decided opinion upon the subject; let 1871.] 161 (Wilder. us hope that his late magnificent contribution to rational homology, 292, may be followed by a like work upon the membra, as a sound basis for all subsequent investigation. Cleland has published two short papers upon intermembral homolo- gies, 47 and 65; in the first he inclines to the general views of Goodsir, and in the latter makes the lower jaw serially homologous with the membra; but he kindly permits me to state that he is by no means satisfied with the present aspect of the question, and is even willing to admit the existence of “symmetry” in certain corporeal organs; so that I venture to hope that he may yet recognize the antitropic rela- tion of the membra, especially since I am now ready to agree with him that the antagonism of the membral flexures in many mammals, is the result of telical modifications of their primary and normal condition; therefore, in spite of his previous views, and his disagree- ment in detail with the muscular homologies of the others, he may not object to being enumerated among those who follow Huxley in basing their further investigation of intermembral homologies upon the facts of comparative anatomy and embryology rather than upon anthropotomy. ANTITROPY. The suggestion that a symmetrical relation or antagonism exists between the cephalic and caudal regions of the vertebrate body, is contained in many paragraphs of Oken’s Physio-philosophy, 285, Par. 2114, 2242, 2951, etc., and has been since alluded to by Agassiz," and Dana?; but these eminent naturalists have never published any di- rect application of the idea to the membra, although it cannot be doubted that Oken would now be among the first to adopt the anti- tropical comparison, as Agassiz and Dana have privately done.® The first published comparison of the membra upon the basis cf antitropy was that of Gerdy in 1829, 9; he appears to have been an artist as well as an anatomist, and to have been thus led to look upon the whole body as a symmetrical structure, whose upper and lower ends repeat each other in opposite directions as do the right and left sides; he began to apply this principle to the membra, but unfor- 1 Contrib. to the Nat. Hist. of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 308, 311, 312, - 2 Am. Jour. Science and Arts, Nov. 1863, p. 351. 3 Prof. Agassiz also informs me that in Europe he noted the symmetrical relae - tions between the manus and pes of the walrus, and afterward discussed the ‘whole subject in a course of unpublished lectures at the Smithsonian Institution. PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.—VOL. XIV. 11 DECEMBER, 1871. Wilder.} 162 [April 5, tunately employed those of man in the erect attitude, and was, moreover so impressed with the prevailing belief that pollex and pri- mus must correspond, that he failed to discover the existence of the idea of symmetry in the distal portions of the.membra. A few years later, Budd, 79, and Paget, 80, observed some patho- logical evidences of a relation’ between symmetry and disease, to which I have made some additions in 50. A more successful attempt to ascertain how far the membra are — truly symmetrical structures, not in a telical sense, as Humphrey re- | garded them, but upon the ec of the ideas cuageretl by Oken and Gerdy, was made by Professor Wyman in 1860, 35. In a verbal communication which it was my good fortune to hear, this eminent anatomist clearly and impartially stated the views of previous authors, and pointed out the objections thereto; no report is given of this remarkable communication, but as I recollect it, being then a student, and hearing of the subject for the first time, Professor Wyman ex- pressed himself substantially as follows :— ‘“‘In order to compare the upper and lower limbs of man, the skele- ton should be placed in a horizontal attitude ; the limbs then hang downward ; in their natural attitude, with most mammalia, the elbow looks backward and the knee forward; the shafts of the humerus and femur are inclined in opposite directions; if now the hand be supinated, and the fingers pointed backward, there results a complete symmetrical homology between all parts, until we come to the thumb and gréat toe ; for the former is now upon the outer bor- der of its limb, and thus opposed to the little toe ; this difficulty is a very serious one, and there seems to be no satisfactory method of removing it.” This view of the limbs was afterward freely discussed by Professor . | Wyman in his laboratory, and was made the basis of later and de- cided expressions of opinion by Folsom, 40, and myself, 45, who were not then able to perceive the full force of the objections which our preceptor had indicated to his own view. Three years later, but apparently unaware that Prof. Wyman had treated the subject, Dr. Foltz published his very valuable papers, 39, in which the general subject of symmetry is ably discussed and shown to exist between the membra, even to the digits and dactyls; but, excepting the supination of the manus so as to face the palm forward as the sole faces backward, Foltz retains the quadrupedal attitude of the membra, and further encumbers his theory with the 1871.] 163 (Wilder. hypothesis of the ‘‘binary composition” of the pollex and primus, in order to get rid of the difficulty caused by their size in man; this makes us all normally sexdigitists; and as no sufficient reasons are given for this part of the view, and as man is the only species in which this special difficulty would arise, and as size is now admitted to be of very slight morphical importance, no one has adopted the view of binary composition of the pollex and primus. My own contributions to the solution of this problem originated in the effort to remove the difficulties pointed out by Wyman, by sug- gesting that the morphical value of the manus and pollex was in- versely to their telical importance, and that any difficulty with them should not be allowed to outweigh the teachings of the proximal portions of the membra; this suggestion was contained in my gradua- tion thesis in 1862; and more fully presented in 1865; the same view was advocated in subsequent papers, 51, 52,57 and 58, together with another respecting the morphical unimportance of the character ‘‘nu- merical composition”’; both these points, with the distinction between natural attitude and normal position, I regard as demanding careful study in this connection, and they will be discussed hereafter; but in the above papers, I followed Wyman and the rest in comparing the membra in the condition they present in the quadrupeds, which I now believe to be not their normal condition. In compliance with the oft-repeated request of former students and others interested in the subject, Prof. Wyman at length completed and published his paper on Symmetry and Homology in Limbs; 55. In the words of a reviewer, ‘‘ certainly no modern inquirer has searched the secrets of Nature more closely, or clothed his discoveries in more concise and modest language.” After showing that “in right and left parts distorted symmetry is the exception, while in the fore and hind (cephalic and caudal) parts of adults it is the rule,” Wyman points out the remarkable analogy which exists between symmetry as brought about by. vital forces and the effects of physical polarity; then discusses the signification of homology, and concludes, “those parts of the limbs will be homotypes which have the same relative position and are symetrically placed with regard to each other.” p. 260. He then compares the various parts of the membra as symmetrical structures, ‘‘repeating each other in a reversed manner from before backwards as right and left parts do from side to side, because, though open to grave objections, the difficulties met with, are, on the Wilder.} 164 [April 5, whole, fewer than in the other, and because too, it is supported by the indications of fore and hind symmetry in other parts of the body’’ (p. 246); the objections are the same as were stated by him seven years before, and relate to the thumb and great toe, which are “assumed by most anatomists to be homotypes; first, on account of their relative size ; second, because they have similar relative posi- tions in the ordinary attitude of the fore arm; thirdly and chiefly, because they have only two phalanges each, while each of the other digits has three or more” (p. 276). The first two objections to a sym- metrical homology of the parts, which brings the thumb as homo- logue of the little toe, are removed by showing first, that “the attribute of size loses its value when studied in the lower animals”; and second, that the natural attitude of the hand is a “false posi- tion’’ due to the “rotation of the forearm in the embryo, but for which the thumb would have been on the outside of the hand, and would consequently have conformed to the position of the little toe.” But the third difficulty “forms the greatest in our way and is not so easily disposed of; and we must rest content with the assumption that the thumb with its two phalanges is the homologue of the little toe with its three phalanges.” (p. 277.) The complete removal of this difficulty is one of the chief aims of the present paper, and will be the subject of a section upon the ‘¢morphical unimportance of numerical composition.” Prof. Wyman makes a valuable suggestion (p. 274) as to the normal shape of the carpal and tarsal bones, the metacarpals and metatarsals (p. 275), which is capable of application to all the long bones of the membra, and had been even adopted by Mivart, 46,401, with respect to the scapula and ilium; if all the long bones had been regarded as morphically columnar and. cylindrical, the theory of “torsion” would never have taken the form it did. Like Huxley, Wyman lays great. stress upon the importance of comparative anatomy and embryology in this connection, but appears not to have seen the former’s paper, since he does not allude to the method of comparison suggested by him, namely, by placing the membra parallel with each other and at right angles with the trunk, the convexities of the ancon and genu looking upward as with em- bryos and many lower vertebrates; and as this is the visual method which now seems to me most likely to lead toward a final solution of the question, the lack of allusion to it and agreement with it, appears 1871.] 165 | (Wilder. to constitute the main defect in the work of my illustrious preceptor as a complete guide to the future study of intermembral homologies. The same general criticism is applicable to the admirable series of papers by Dr. Coues, which appeared during the past year. The author follows closely in the footsteps of Wyman, ‘‘not blindly but unable not to see the validity of his arguments,’ 70, 195, and there- fore with a few minor differences, or doubts respecting details, adopts the osseous homologies of Wyman as the basis for the determination of the ‘‘muscular correspondences.” In respect to these, although Dr. Coues is led to differ materially upon some points from my own previous conclusions, 45, yet he has generally shown such good rea- sons therefor, that my approval of this part of his work is unqualified, and I am anxious to go over the whole ground anew in the light of his able discussion. In two other respects, however, I am forced to criticise his work. In the first place, he has ‘‘no acknowledgements to make excepting to three authors,” ? 70, 149, and therefore, whatever satisfaction may be derived from having so taken up the subject fresh, he has also lost the benefit of the check which an acquaintance with many and dif- ferent views exerts upon the tendency to the exclusive adoption of any one. In the second place, he has, in my opinion, adopted a faulty method from each of his predecessors. He has intentionally fol- lowed Owen, in the use of many different and often ponderous ex- pressions for the same idea in order to avoid monotony, 193, note; whereas, in homologies, as in mathematics, each object and idea should be known by a single term and by that alone; since of all 1 “Tt may at first appear that too much stress is laid upon this point, since, as Dr. Coues has suggested to me, the principle is right and the same parts are anti- tropically compa