TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETY. 1 79 



TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



ORLEANS COUNTY SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



January n, 1871. 



Regular Meeting at West CJiarleston. 



President HiNMAX in the chair. 



Peat Bog. — Rev. S R. Hall read a paper on the peat 

 deposits in Orleans County, in which he showed their 

 usefulness as fertilizers. Many of them were under- 

 laid by extensive beds of shell marl, others by a stra- 

 tum of clay or caravel. In some places these deposits 

 were found to be more than one hundred feet deep, 

 but usually the average was from seven to ten feet. 

 Manganese was a constant ingredient in most of the 

 beds, which, however, he considered disadvantageous 

 as a manure. lie founil phosphate of lime in very 

 small quantities in nearly cvey locality In Brown- 

 ington he dug oTit numerous billets of beaver-knawed 

 wood, six inches in diameter, and seven feet below 

 the surface of the V.)()g These billets were of a differ- 

 ent species from any fmuul in that region or even in 

 Vermont anywhere at the present time. 



Donations to Museum. — Twr) s])ecimens of serpen- 

 tine and one of copper ore from \\\c Huntington Mine, 

 Quebec, Canada, froui li. I [arrington ; 3 undeter- 

 mined crysalids, from J. C. Kennedy. 



E'Keu'rsions. — J M C'urrier mailc some obervations 

 on the' entomo](igy of Vermont, stating that but a lit- 

 tle had been done in that branch of science in this 

 State, suggested that during the coming Summer sev- 

 eral excursions be made f-r the purpose of collecting 

 specimens and stuying species. The Society voted 

 so to do> , 



