1890.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 341 



October 7. 

 The President, Dr. Joseph Leidy, in the chair. 

 Thirty persons present. 

 Papers under the following titles were presented for publication : — 



" Eocene ]\Iollusca of the State of Texas." By Prof Angelo 

 Heilprin. 



"The Fossils of the Orizaba Marble of Mexico." By Prof. 

 Angelo Heilprin. 



The Publication Committee reported in favor of publishing a 

 paper entitled "On the Influence of Previous Pregnancies on Off- 

 spring," by Charles Morris, in a medical journal to be selected by 

 the author. 



Beroe on the New Jersey Coast. — Prof. Leidy exhibited drawings 

 of a Beroe, which he had observed in considerable numbers in Little 

 Egg Harbor, at Beach Haven, N. J., the end of last August. In 

 swimming, it ranged from an inch to about four inches in length ; 

 the larger ones being red, the smaller ones much paler or even col- 

 orless, while occasionally some of intermediate size appeared yellow- 

 ish. It w^as compressed cylindrical, prominently ribbed, domed at 

 top and truncate at the mouth. kSpecimens caught and kept in a 

 dish became shorter, proportionately broader and to a variable de- 

 gree more bulging above. The ciliated ribs, or ambulacra, were vari- 

 ably prominent and the intervals variably concave or convex in 

 accordance with the contractile movements of the body and the pro- 

 jection of the ribs. The mouth was elliptical and as wide as the 

 body, but contractile so as to become narrower. All the ribs extended 

 from the summit of the dome to the margin of the mouth. The 

 coloring was superficial and especially well marked in the course of 

 the ambulacral vessels and their lateral ramifications. The endoderm 

 was colorless, as were also the lateral gastric vessels beneath it. 



Sevei'al individuals w^ere taken with masses of colorless jelly in the 

 stomach, seemingly portions of Cyanea arctica, fragments of which 

 occurred abundantly on the open sea coast in the vicinity. 



The summit of the body of the Beroe, the seat of the sense organs, 

 appeared specially sensitive, as on near approach of an instrument 

 without touching, it would suddenly retract and become depressed. 

 At night, on irritation of the Beroe, it displayed brilliant bands of 

 light with iridescent hues streaming along the ribs, but not elsewhere. 



The New Jersey Beroe is probably the same as that found on the 

 New England coast, described by Agassiz as Idyia roseola (Contrib. 

 pi. I, figs. 1, 2); very like the Beroe ovata, of the Mediterranean, 

 of Chun, (Die Ctenophoren des Golfes von Neapel, pi. xiv, fig. 1), 



