NATURAL SCIENCES OF PniLADELPHIA. ^ 



On the Cetaceans of the Western Coast of North America. By 

 C. M. Scaranion. Edited by Edw. D. Cope. 



Thomas Meeluiu presented some hickory nuts sent by Mr. W. H Ravenel, of 

 Aiken, South Carolina, supposed to he a hylirid between Carya olira'fonim and 

 Cart/a agualica, because they were produced from trees raised from seed of the 

 former which had trees of the hitter growing near them ; and because the 

 fruit exhibited had the characters of both. Mr. Meehan said that there wa? a 

 great difference of opinion amongst botanists whether the numerous forms of 

 hickory nuts, so puzzling to botanists who attempted to classify them, were 

 the result of hybridization, or were produced by the plant's own innate jiower 

 of change by ordinary external circumstances acting on a supposed germ ot 

 form, hxact experiments were ditHcult, on account of the many years it 

 would take to get at the results. He thought this instance furnished by Mr. 

 Ravenel useful, as being one of the nearest he had known to an actual fact 

 that hybridization has some influence on these varying forms. 



Prof. Cope exhibited a specimen of the Heloderraa h o r ri d u m, of Wicg- 

 maun, from Tehuautepec, belonging to the Smithsonian Institution. He stated 

 that the Heloderma of the Sonoraa region proved, on comparison, to be a differ- 

 ent species, diflering in the more numerous scales on the head and body, in 

 the shorter tail, and in coloration. He said it had been well figured by Baird 

 in the Mexican boundary survey. He called it H. s u s p e c t u m. He stated 

 that though the lizards of this genus could not be proven to inflict a poisoaons 

 bite, yet that the salivary glands of the lower jaw were emptied by an efferent 

 duct which issued at the basis of each tooth, and in such a way that the saliva 

 would be conveyed into the wound by the deep groove of the crown. 



March 16th. 

 The President, Dr. Hays, in the Chair. 

 Twenty -eight members present. 



March 2Sd. 

 The President, Dr. Hays, in the Chair. 

 Twenty-nine members present. 

 The 'death of Jason L. Fenemore was announced. 



March ZOfh. 

 The President, Dr. Hays, in the Chair. 

 Thirty-three members present. 



The Report of the Biological and Microscopical Section was read. 



The following gentlemen were elected members : 



Col. Jas. Greer, of Dayton, Ohio, Dr. Douglas R. Bannan, U. S. 

 N., Geo. Henszey, John Birkinbine. 



On favorable report of the Committee, the following paper wiis 

 ordered to be published : 



1869.] 



