1853.] ' 303 



March Is^, 1853. i 



Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Letters were read 



From the Royal Society of Sciences of Stockholm, dated 20th Oct., 

 1S52, transmitting recent Nos. of its publications acknowledged this 

 evening. 



From the same, of same date, acknowledging the receipt of late jS"os. 

 of the Proceedings of the Academy, and requesting olhers deficient in 

 it^ series. 



From the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, dated 5th Nov. 



1852, acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings, &c. 



From the "Acad. C. L. C. Nature Curiosorum,'' dated Breslau, Nov. 

 20, 1852, transmitting the volume of its " Nova Acta/' announced 

 this evening. 



From "L'Ecole des Mines," Paris, dated 6th Jan. 1852, requesting 

 certain Nos. of the Journal and Proceedings of the iVcademy deficient 

 in its series. 



From the Smithsonian Institution, dated AVashington, Feb. 16, 



1853, acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings Vol. 6, No. 6, and 

 Journal A^ol. 2, Part 3. 



From the Secretary of the Troy (N. Y.) Young Men's Associa- 

 tion, dated Feb. 21, 1853, requesting, for that Institution, the publica- 

 tions of the Academy. 



March Sfh. 

 Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Dr. Leidy called the attention of the members to several fossil fragments 

 found in association with the remains of Megalonyx, &c. in the neighborhood 

 of Natchez, Mississippi. 



One of the specimens is half of a lower jaw containing several teeth, of which 

 the bone is enveloped in a thick layer of peroxide of iron. It belonged to a 

 species of Ursus, and presents no difference in size or otherwise from that of 

 the common Black Bear. 



Two others, consisting of a penultimate superior molar, and a fragment of a 

 lower jaw containing the last molar, were referred to a new species of Bear, 

 under the name of Ursus amplideiis. The fragment of lower jaw is even less 

 in size than the corresponding portion in the Black Bear, while the two teeth 

 mentioned are very nearly as large as the corresponding ones in the Grizzly 

 Bear. The comparative dimensions are as follows : 



PROCEED. ACAD. NAT. SCI. OF PHILADELPHIA. VOL. VI. ^0. VIII. 47 



