344 proceedings of the academy of [1889. 



November 5. 



The President, Di\ Joseph Leidy, in the chair. 



Forty persons present. 



The deaths of Mary Jeanes and Henry Winsor, members, were 

 announced. 



Note on Plnus Banksiana. — Mr. J. H. Redfield spoke of the occur- 

 rence of a forest of Pinna Banksiana upon Schoodic Peninsula on 

 the coast of Maine in latitude 44° 20'. This pine is well-known as 

 skirting the northern borders of our territory from Northern Maine 

 to Minnesota, but it is only recently that its occurrence so far south 

 has been noted. He then gave an account of visits made to the 

 locality by Mr. Edward L. Rand, of Boston, in 1882, and by himself 

 in 1889. 



This pine grows in great abundance over a large part of the pen- 

 insula, seeming to almost entirely replace the ordinary coniferous 

 growth of that region. Mr. Redfield had also found a very extensive 

 growth of Corema Conradii in the open rocky glades in the forest of 

 Pinus Banksiana. 



Mimicry of the environment in Pterophryne histrio. — Mr. J. E. 

 Ives stated that his attention had been drawn to the remarkable 

 resemblance of the color-markings of the Frog-fish to the Sargassum 

 weed in which it lives. This fish is a member of the Pediculati, and 

 shares the sluggish habits common to the group. On account of the 

 elongation of the carpal bones, and other peculiar modifications, they 

 have poor powers of swimming, their structure being adapted to 

 moving about, mi the bottom, among corals, seaweed, and other low 

 forms of lite, which they closely resemble in color and in many points 

 of outline. By this resemblance they are concealed both from their 

 enemies and their prey. The member of the group best known, is 

 the common Fishing-frog, Lophius piscatorius whose remarkable 

 mimicry of its surroundings has been well described by Mr. S. Kent. 

 In the genus Antennarius, closely related to Pterophryne, the species 

 present wonderful similarity of color to the forms among which 

 they live. Dr. Gun t her has paid considerable attention to this genus, 

 and he has also given an excellent figure of Pterophryne histrio, 

 under the name of Antennarius marmoratus? 



Pterophryne histrio is found among the floating masses of Sargas- 

 sum weed in the warm seas. Here it makes its peculiar nest by 

 binding together the fronds of the seaweed with gelatinous threads, 

 and depositing the eggs throughout the mass. The ground color of 

 the fish is of a pale yellow, and on this light background are darker 



1 Journal des Museum Godeffroy, Heft. XI, pp. 161-165, Pis. 99-106. 



