OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



325 



which the natural crystalline form of the alloy would have been pre- 

 sented in a single crystal." 



Dr. Engeltnann gave additional accounts of the peculiarities, 

 classification, and geographical distribution of the Cactacea, 

 of the United States. 



President Hitchcock exhibited a model representing the 

 shape of the masses of snow which fell at Brattleborough, 

 Vermont, on the 24th of May last. The masses were all 

 alike, and in the form of a cone with a concave base, of about 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter, and of a pretty firm con- 

 sistence, — about that of an ordinary snow-ball. 



Four Iiiiudred and tliirty-second meeting;. 



November 12, 1856. — (Quarterly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



Professor Agassiz stated that he had recently been engaged 

 in the study of a number of fishes of Greece, which he had 

 received from his friend, Dr. Roeser, through the agency of 

 Professor Felton, which led him to identify the Glanis of 

 Aristotle. 



" There are several classes of the animal kingdom, respecting the 

 habits of which most of the information stored up in our scientific 

 records is derived from the observation of men of little education 

 engaged in the labors of common life. This is particularly the case 

 with the fishes. The importance of fisheries at all times, and the value 

 of fish as an article of food, have made it necessary for those in- 

 terested to ascertain all that can be known respecting the habits of 

 fishes, in order that they may the more successfully pursue their 

 occupations. If we look over all the works on ichthyology written 

 down to the present day, or any more general works in which the 

 fishes are included, a critical reader will very soon perceive that the 

 remarks relating to the habits of fishes are for the most part made on 

 the authority of the fishermen. Cuvier justly says, that to his day no 

 man knew the fishes of the Mediterranean more accurately than 

 Rondelet, — that classic sea, surrounded from the most ancient times 

 by civilized nations interested in fisheries, fond of fish as an article of 



