212 



PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



of the North American Gadoids ;" Description of the genera of Gadoid 

 and Brotuloid Fishes ;" " Synopsis of the Lycodoidae ;" and " Synopsis 

 of the Lepturoids," etc. By Theodore Gill. 



" On Strepoinatidae, etc." By S. S. Haldenian. 



Sept. 8 th. 



Dr. McEuen in the Chair. 



Sixteen members present. 



Prof. Porter made the following communication : 



During the month of August of the present year I devoted a day to the col- 

 lection of fresh-water shells from the Juniata River, near Alexandria, Hun- 

 tingdon County, Penna., and whilst engaged in the search, observed large 

 numbers of Unio complanatus, Say, which had left the channel of the stream 

 and crawled to its very margin, into little shallow pools, where the water was 

 quiet and warm. They lay with the hinge down and the edge up, the valves 

 slightly apart. This struck me as singular, and I touched several of them with 

 my cane, when the valves were forcibly closed, and a greenish slime ejected 

 upward for a, considerable distance. The slime did not dissolve, but floated 

 on the surface. I afterward noticed pools that were covered with it, no doubt 

 from voluntary emissions. This mucus-like substance was probably the 

 semen of the male. I had no microscope with me of sufficient power to re- 

 veal the presence of spermatozoa, and have since regretted that I did not 

 bring some of the material home for examination. Some of the individuals 

 observed may have been females, in a similar position, in order to receive im- 

 pregnation. 



The following were presented for publication : 



" Notes on the Labroids of Western North America," and " Synop- 

 sis of the Pomacentroids," etj. By Theo. Gill. 



Sept. lbth. 

 Dr. Bridges, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Fourteen members present. 



Dr. Leidy exhibited a female Phalangopsis, which he had found in 

 an active condition rolled in a leaf of a spice bush, Benzoin odoriferum, 

 in the manner of the lepidopterous leaf rollers, for which he happened 

 to be seeking at the time. This habit was new to him, nor had he 

 observed any previous account of it. The insect he had always found 

 beneath stones and logs. The edges of the cone enclosing the insect 

 adhered apparently by a mucoid cement, and had every appearance of 

 having been made by the Phalangopsis, which hopped away after it 

 was released. 



Sept. 22d. 

 Dr. Bridges, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

 Fifteen members present. 



[Sept. 



