5 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



sense of the entire faithfulness, impartiality, and eminent ability with 

 which Dr. Lea performed the duties of President during the length- 

 ened term of his incumbency. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this Academy be hereby tendered to 

 Dr. Lea for his most valuable and important services in the capacity 

 of President, and for his many other judicious and liberal favors and 

 continued and successful exertions for the benefit of this Academy 

 and for the advancement of the interests of Science in the United 

 States. 



January \%th. 

 Vice-President Vaux in the Chair. 



Eighteen members present. 



The following was presented for publication : " Notes of Botanical 

 Visits to the lower part of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Mary- 

 land." By Win. M. Canby. 



January 2Qth. 



A r ice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Twenty-one members present. 



On report of the respective committees, the following were ordered 

 to be published : 



Description of a new Genus of the Family MELANIDiE. 

 BY ISAAC LEA. 



Genus MESESCHIZA.* 



Testa fusiformis, imperforata. Apertura rhomboidea, inferne canaliculata. 

 Labrum expansum, in medio excisum. Columella laevis, incurvata. Oper- 

 culum corneum ad spiram pertinens. 



When I described the genus Trypanostoma,f I mentioned the importance of 

 eliminating as many species as possible from the enormously-extended genus 

 Melanin. The little shell which I now propose as a new genus has so distinct 

 a character in the incision of the middle of the outer lip, as to mark perfectly 

 its place in the Melanidse of the United States. It differs entirely in the cha- 

 racter of the cut from that in Sckizostorua, which has, in all the many species 

 I have seen, a more or less deep incision immediately under the suture. The 

 living soft parts have not yet been observed. They may, when examined, 

 prove to have some characteristics quite different from Schizostoma. 



Meseschiza Grosvenorii. Testa laevi, fusiformi, tenui, obtuse conica, vel 

 ipurpureA vel vittata ; spira obtuse conica ; suturis leviter impressis ; anfracti- 

 bus instar septenis, vix convixis ; apertura, magna, rhomboidea, intus plerum- 

 que vittatd ; labro acuto, in medio leviter exciso ; columella parum iucrassata 

 et contortft. 



* Mw, cx'&i central fissure. 

 f Journal ot the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. v. p. 268, and " Obser- 

 vations," vol. ix. p. 90. 



[Jan. 



