and flattened its head, which it was prone to do when alarmed, 

 the change of color being produced by the scales separating and 

 exposing the coppery surface which is normally hidden. 



Dr. Engelmann presented a mineral substance which might be 

 mistaken for white sand, but was really granular gypsum. It 

 came from the Mesilla Valley, New Mexico, where it covered an 

 area ten miles in extent, making the country perfectly sterile. 



Mr. Riley read a paper entitled " Descriptions of the early 

 Stages of Apatura Lycaon Fabr. and A. Herse Fabr., with Re- 

 marks on their Synonymy," which was referred to the Committee 

 on Publication. 



Dr. J no. C. Christien, W. M. Bryan, W.J. S.Bryan, and Geo. 

 B. McClellan, were elected associate members. 



November 3, 1S73. 

 Vice-President Todd in the chair. 

 Seventeen members present. 



A number of publications received from foreign societies were 

 laid upon the table by the Corresponding Secretary, who called 

 the attention of members to several papers containing matters of 

 peculiar interest. 



Among them was a paper in the Proceedings of the Phil. Society of Glas- 

 gow, by Dr. McAdam, explaining the cause of the explosions of flour-mills 

 which had occurred in Scotland. It was attributed to the fine flour-dust 

 floating in the air in the mill, being composed chiefly of carbon and hydro- 

 gen and thus resembling in composition an explosive carbon-oil, being set 

 on fire by a candle, or by a spark from a nail or other substance getting 

 between the mill-stones. Such accidents had not occurred in this country 

 that he was aware of, but evidently might happen unless due precaution 

 were taken. — Prof. Schiaparelli, in an elaborate paper on Comets, Shoot- 

 ing Stars, and Meteorites (in the Memoirs of the R. Istituto Lombardo, 

 Milan), had come to the following conclusions : 1. That falling stars and 

 meteorites were identical in their nature; 2. That they are not of planetary 

 or cometary origin, but most probably come from stellar space, and in di- 

 verse directions; 3. That they do not originate in any one body; 4. That 

 they tend to prove the identity of the chemical and molecular structure of 

 all the bodies of the universe. — A paper in the Bulletin of the Anthro- 

 pological Society of France, by M. Hamy, upon the fossal human skeleton 

 discovered by M. Riviere in the caves of Mentone, near Nice, had satisfac- 



