OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : JANUARY 9, 1866. 57 



discovery of this new method of obtaining a silken material, (namely, 

 by a reeling or circular motion applied to the insect itself,) I will defer 

 to a future occasion a more complete account of the spider, of its hab- 

 its, anatomy, and embryology, and of the various qualities of its silk, 

 with whatever conclusion can be reached concerning the practicability 

 of rearing the young ; and also how far it is possible to apply the 

 same process to the silk-worm, and other silk-producing larvae. 



Five hundred and fifty-ninth. Meeting. 



December 12, 1865. — Monthly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



A letter was read from Mr. Samuel Eliot in acknowl- 

 edgment of his election into the Academy ; also letters rela- 

 tive to exchanges. 



The President called the attention of the Academy to the 

 recent decease of Dr. John Lindley of London, of the Foreign 

 Honorary Members. 



Five hundred and sixtieth Meeting. 



January 9, 1866. — Monthly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



The President called the attention of the Academy to the 

 recent decease of Colonel James Duncan Graham of the Resi- 

 dent Fellows, formerly an Associate Fellow. 



A memoir by Professor Child was presented by title, namely, 

 " Remarks on the Language of Gower's Confessio Amantis : 

 a Sequel to Observations on the Language of Chaucer, printed 

 in Vol. VIII. of the Memoirs of the Academy." 



Professor Cooke made the following; communication : — 



*& 



On the Aqueous Lines of the Solar Spectrum. By Josiah 



P. Cooke, Jr. 



A careful examination of the solar spectrum, continued during sev- 

 eral months with the spectroscope described in a recent article of the 

 VOL. VII. 8 



