108 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



land, in a paper read before the Cleveland meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, and published himself the next year, 

 as a principal argument in favor of his theory of the formation of sandstones, 

 and even conglomerates, solely by chemical deposition. He supposed the 

 pebbles to have been deposited in a gelatinous state at first, so as to be capable 

 of receiving the impressions of plants ; and he gives a figure of such an im- 

 pression resembling a calamite or a coarse conglomerate with the surface of 

 the pebbles quite flat. I was puzzled by a similar detached fragment of a 

 slickenside in the conglomerate near Beaver Meadow, in 1859 ; but this speci- 

 men, from its size and completeness, explains perfectly both that one and the 

 one figured by Professor Brainerd. 



Aside from the striking extravagance of Professor Brainerd's theory, and 

 from this specimen's refutation of one of his best arguments, another argument 

 against him, furnished by his own figures, may perhaps properly be mentioned 

 here. A gelatinous pebble flattened by pressure on one side would, manifestly, 

 be distorted on other sides, and a number of such pebbles lying side by side, 

 affected by the same pressure, would have analogous distorions. In Professor 

 Brainerd's figure of the so-called fossil calamite, the pebbles flattened on one 

 side show no such distortion, but retain on every other side their rounded, 

 water-worn look ; so that the general appearance is, in effect, that of pebbles 

 cut in two, instead of flattened down by pressure. The same can be said of 

 the pebbles in his figure of the conglomerate resting with flat bottomed peb- 

 bles on the soft red shales, which he says is a very common occurrence, and 

 which forms his other best argument in support of his theory. 



The death was announced of Mr. J. Pemberton Hutchinson, Member, 

 on May 9th. 



May 22d. 

 Mr. Vatjx, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

 Thirty members present. 



The following were presented for publication : 



" Monograph of the Procellaridas." Parts IV. and V. By Elliot 

 Coues, M. D. 



" On the Introduction of the Shad into the Alabama River." By 

 Prof. W. C. Daniel. 



Dr. Le Conte made some remarks on the subfamily Clavigeridae, of Coleoptera. 



He described briefly the structure and habits of these insects, and pointed 

 out the distinctive characters of the three described genera, Claviger, Adranes 

 and Articerus, to which he added a fourth, F u s t i g e r. 



This new genus agrees with Articerus in having eyes, but differs in the 

 structure of the antenna?. These organs in Articerus are broad, without 

 distinct basal articulation, but in Fus tiger consist of a long subconkal 

 mass, gradually broader externally, truncate, and covered with a sponge of 

 hair at the tip, and marked with four or five indistinct transverse sutures, 

 showing that it is composed of closely connate joints ; between this subcorneal 

 mass and the head is a distinct short basal joint, projecting beyond the fovea 

 in which the antenna is inserted. The eyes are oval, situated on the sides of 

 the head, and composed of seven or eight moderately large lenses. 1'he tibiae 

 are not dilated as in Articerus. 



The four genera thus form two series, of two genera each : 

 A. Eyes wanting : 



A n ten me 6- join ted Claviger. 



Antennas wiili a long homogeneous club, and two short 



basal joints Adranes. 



[May, 



