1856.] 301 



owe the possession of the single valve, were right in assigning it to China. 

 Doubts arose from the fact that, heretofore, Triquetra has been considered to be 

 confined to South America. Mr. Lea stated that he proposed the name should 

 be changed from that he originally proposed, {T. lanceolata, as inappropriate to 

 the complete mature shell,) to that of contorta, which is very descriptive, and can 

 never be mistaken. 



December 23c?. 

 Dr. Bridges, Vice President, in the Chair. 



A letter was read from the Society of Arts, Manufactures and Com- 

 merce, dated Adelphi, London, Nov. 22d, 1856, acknowledging the re- 

 ceipt of the Proceedings of the Academy. 



The following papers were presented for publication in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Academy : 



" Note on the collection of Reptiles from Texas, recently presented 

 to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by Dr. A. Heer- 

 mann. By Edward Hallowell, M. D." " Description of a new genus 

 of Colubriform Serpents from California. By Edward Hallowell, 

 M. D. ;" both referred to a Committee consisting of Mr. Haldeman, Dr. 

 Le Conte and Dr. Morris. 



" Notices of extinct Vertebrata discovered by Dr. F. V. Hayden, &c. 

 By Joseph Leidy, M. D. ;" referred to a Committee consisting of Dr. Le 

 Conte, Mr. Haldeman and Dr. Wilson. 



" Catalogue of Birds collected at Cape Lopez, Western Africa, by Mr. 

 P. B. Du Chaillu, in 1856, with notes and descriptions of new species. 

 By John Cassin;" referred to Drs. Woodhouse, Wilson and Bridges. 



" Description of three new genera, twenty-three new species of 

 Tertiary fossils from California, and one species from Texas. By T. A. 

 Conrad ;" referred to Dr. Wilson, Dr. Leidy and Mr. A. H. Smith. 



Dr. Morris mentioned an instance of a tumor taken from the abdomen 

 of a cat, which, upon examination, proved to be true medullary cancer. 



December SOth. 



Dr. Bridges, Vice President, in the Chair. 



The Committees to which were referred Drs. Leidy's and Hilgard's 

 papers, read 16th inst. ; and Drs. Hallowell's and Leidy's, and Messrs. 

 Cassin's and Conrad's papers, read 23d inst., severally reported in favor 

 of publication in the Proceedings. 



Remarhs on certain extinct species of Fishes. 



By Joseph Leidy, M. D. 



Remarks on Edestus vorax, Journ. A. JV. S. iii. 159. Since describing the fossil, 

 supposed to be the fragment of an upper jaw of a fish, to which the name of 

 Edestus vorax was given, it has occurred to me that it may perhaps be the por- 

 tion of a dorsal spine of a huge cartilaginous fish. In the published Proceed- 

 ings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, (Providence, 



