2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



January 15th. 

 Vice-President Vaux in the Chair. 

 Thirty-one members present. 



Dr. Leidy stated that in a communication to the Academy, by Dr. Mordecai, 

 published in the last number of the Proceedings, the author remarks as the 

 result of his observations, that the food of the shad consists of marine alg<e. 

 A few weeks since Dr. L.'s housekeeper had incidentally called his attention to 

 a shad, obtained in market, which appeared to her remarkable from the 

 stomach being filled with small fishes. Dr. L. examined the shad to assure 

 liimself that it really was that fish, and submitted the stomach and contents 

 to Mr. C. C. Abbott, who informs him in a note that the contents consist of 

 nine small marine fishes, as follows : 3 Hydrargyra swampina, 5 Pcecilia lati- 

 pinnis, and 1 Cyprinodon ovinus. Mr. Abbott adds, that in his dissections of 

 the shad he had frequently detected the remains of cyprinoids in the contents 

 c f the stomach. 



Mr. Slack called attention to specimens of'Mosasaurus bones presented 

 this evening. The animal was remarkable for its small size, and on ac- 

 count of its position where found, viz. in the upper stratum of the marl. 



January 22 d. 

 Mr. Lea, President, in the Chair. 



Thirty-nine members present. 



Papers were presented for publication entitled 



" Notes on Ants in Texas, by S. B. Buckley." 



" Descriptions of new species of Scolopendra in the collection of the 

 Academy, by H. C. Wood, Jr." 



" Observations on Cottus Copei Abbott, by C. C. Abbott." 



" Appendix to the Monograph of the Philypni, and description of the 

 genus Lembus of Gunther, by Theodore Gill." 



And were referred to Committees. 



Mr. Lea read the following extract of a letter from Dr. Lewis, of 

 Mohawk, N. Y. 



"I find three species of Paludina in the Erie Canal and Mohawk River at 

 this place. Mr. Binney, after examining them, pronounces them one species 

 decisa Say, regarding them merely as varieties. My reasons for regarding 

 them as three species are as follows: The large species which I shall call 

 Integra Say, for the present (and until it is satisfactorily shown by reference to 

 Say's integra from the original locality that it is a different species,) is the 

 most ponderous shell of the three species. The Embryonic young attain the 

 largest size (before exclusion from the parent) of the three species. The next 

 species I will call decisa Say, though it is usually perfect at the apex, as well 

 as the preceding. This shell is of a thinner texture, and the color of the epider- 

 mis is a darker tint, green. The Embryonic young at exclusion are of a deli- 

 cate pale willow green. The third species I have for several reasons felt dis- 

 posed to regard as rufa Hald. This does not attain so large a size here as 

 the preceding species. The height of the shell is less, proportioned to its 

 width. The central portions of the body whorl a little prominent, almost sub- 

 angular in some instances, a little flattened towards the sutures. The epider- 

 mis olivaceous, with purpureous tinge on the centre of the whorl, fading above 

 find below. The interior pink, margined above and below and at the aperture 

 with white. Embryonic young smaller than in Integra and decisa, and of a 

 delicate pale pink color. The soft parts differ as do the shells. The habits of 



[Jan. 



