NATUKAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 179 



Dr. Meigs read the following extract of a letter from Dr. E. A. 

 Abaddie, V. S. N., accompanying ttc donation of skulls presented by 

 him. 



Nos. 1 and 2 are crania talccn from the ruins of Gran Quivira ; they 

 were brought in by an expedition under the command of Major Carleton, 

 who explored the ruins thoroughly, and presented me No. 1 skull. 



No. o. Was disinterred by myself, and found in the centre of the ruins 

 of the church at Guarra, N. M. 



No. 4. Is the skull of Jose Largo, a Mescalero chief, who was killed 

 in a foray near Bosque Kedondo, near the Pecos River, N. Mexico. 



No. 5. Is the head of a Pueblo Indian, taken from the churchyard of 

 their village Laguna. 



No. 6. This skull was found with many other human remains, in a 

 very bad state of preservation, in making excavations in an old field, 

 in Santa F6, N. Mexico. This head, and the remains found, evidently 

 belonged to the same race of Indians which formed the numerous pop- 

 ulation of the large towns long since in ruins, and of which so little is 

 known ; as Gran Quivira, Abo, Guarra Pecos, old Church, kc. 



Septemler 29 th, 1857. 

 Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



The Committee to whom the following papers were referred reported 

 in favor of publication in the Proceedings, viz : 



Observations on the Wild Turkey, by John LeConte. 



Descriptions of some new Reptiles, collected by the U. S. Exploring 

 Expedition under the command of Capt. Chas. Wilkes, U. S. N., by 

 Charles Girard. 



Observations on the Wild Turkey, or GALLOPAVO SYLVESTRIS, of Eay. 

 BY JOHN LECONTE. 



"Whoever has compared the Wild Turkey of the United States with the do- 

 luestic. animal of the s.ame genus, must have observed that there existed very 

 striking differences between them. These differences do not consist of slight 

 and unimportant i)articularities, but in radical disagreements, which ought to 

 remain unchangeable under all circumstances, and which form good specific 

 characteristics. 



In the tame bird, the colors vary infinitelj^, and in the wild one, very con- 

 siderably. The great mark of distinction is in the enormous palear or dew- 

 lap of the former, which extends from the base of the lower mandible to the 

 large caruncles on the lower part of the neck. Whatever alterations may have 

 been produced by long domestication, this palear could not have been formed 

 by an enlargement of the rather loose skin of the neck. It is a specific charac- 

 ter, which as in our own bird is not found in the Meleagris ocellata of Honduras. 

 It has been observed by my son in a former number of our Proceedings, that all 

 derivative variations are monstrosities, and take place chiefly in those parts, 

 which in a normal state of existence, are impossible in the genus, as we observe 

 in hornless beeves and tailless cats, in feather-crested fowls and solid-footed 

 swine. 



The conviction that these two birds were really distinct species has long ex- 

 isted in my mind : more than fifty years ago, when I first saw a Wild Turkev, I 



1857.] 



