1870.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 33 



The fossil remains of the deer, at first supposed to belong to an 

 extinct species, for which the name of Gervus muscalinensis was 

 suggested, were discovered in grading a street in the city of Mus- 

 catine. From the Loess of the same locality Prof. Witter has 

 collected the following fossil shells: Helix striate.Ua, H.fuloa, H. 

 pulchella, H. lineata, Pupa muscorum, P. blandi, P. simplex, 

 Sucoinea obliqua, S. acara, Limned humilis? and Helicina, 

 occulta. 



February 11. 

 The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 

 Thirty-one persons present. 



Natives of Hotel Tobago. The President rend the following 

 extract from a letter by Dr. Charles A. Siegfried, U. S. N , 

 dated December 20, 1878: "We visited an island called Botel 

 Tobago, while surveying a rock, 80 miles east of South Cape of 

 Formosa. We found a race of aborigines, probably from Malay 

 stock. They knew nothing of money, rum, or tobacco. They 

 gave us goats and pigs for tin pots and brass buttons, and would 

 hang around us all day in their canoes, waiting for a chance to 

 dive for something thrown overboard. They wore clouts only; 

 ate taro and yams mainly, though they have pigs, goats, chickens, 

 and fish, and cocoanuts also. Snakes abound, of the boa variety 

 I judge. Their thatch houses are low, with much overhang of the 

 roof, surrounded by stone walls, strongly made of laid stone to 

 protect them from monsoons. Their paddy fields contain im- 

 mense quantities of taro, Golocasia aroidea my botany says. 

 They are peaceful and timid, do not mark the body or deform the 

 face or teeth, and seem happy enough in their condition. I found 

 them fairly healthy. They had axes, spears, and knives, but all 

 of common iron, the axe being made by imbedding the handle 

 instead of the handle piercing the iron, as with us. Their 

 canoes are beautiful, made without nails, and are ornamented 

 usually with geometrical lines. The hair is worn naturally, the 

 men partly clipping theirs. I saw no valuable metal. They wore 

 the beards of goats, with small shells, as neck ornaments." 



'Cutting or Parasol Ant, Atta fervens, Say The Rev. H. C. 

 McCook stated that he had in course of preparation a detailed 

 account of the architecture and habits of the Cutting Ant of 

 Texas. The observations, of which he proceeded to give an ab- 

 stract, were made during an encampment for purposes of study, 

 south of Austin, Texas. 



1. Exterior Architecture. Two forms were noted. The first, 

 seen at a point distinguished as Camp Wright, was that of a 



