24S 



[May 16, 



Science Observer, Boston ; Professors Brush and Dana ; New 

 Jersey Historical Society ; Franklin Institute, Medical News, 

 Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, Philadelphia ; and 

 Mr. Horace W. Smith. 



The librarian exhibited the six volumes, in elephant folio, 

 bequeathed to the Society by its late President, Dr. George 

 B. Wood, entitled, Gli Edijizi di Roma e sua campagna, &c. 

 By Com. Jjuigi Canina, 1848, 1851, 1856. 



Vols. I and II describe the Roman walls, gates, forums, 

 basilicas, porticos, illustrated in 151 plates; Vols. Ill and 

 IV describe the Roman theatres, amphitheatres, circuses, 

 baths, aqueducts, bridges, and imperial Palatine houses, in 

 159 plates ; and Vols. V and VI describe the antiquities 

 of the Campagna with a large detailed map of the same in 

 six sheets, and 139 plates of views. 



An obituary notice of the late Dr. Isaac Hays was read 

 by Dr. D. Gr. Brinton according to appointment April 18, 

 1879. 



The death of Prof. Paolo Volpicelli at Rome, his natal 

 city, at 11 p. m., April 14th, 1879, was announced by family 

 circular. 



A communication "On the Geology of the Diamantiferous 

 Region of the Province of Parana, Brazil, by Orville A. 

 Derby, M. S.," was read by the Secretary. This English 

 version of a Portuguese report prepared for the Brazilian 

 Government was read by permission of the Director of the 

 National Museum. 



Mr. Lesley remarked that the paper just read was an im- 

 portant contribution to Geology for several reasons: 



1. It showed the topography of the southern part of Brazil in a new 

 light. The province of Sao Paulo, south of the celebrated diamond province 

 of Minus Geraes, and the province of Parana, south of Sao Paulo, were tra- 

 versed by three ranges of mountains, the Sierra do Mar, or Serra Graciosa, 

 3000 feet high, with peaks 50u0 feet high, along the coast ; composed of 

 granite, porphyries and schists, equivalent to our Blue Ridge, South Moun- 

 tain and Highland range. Back of this the Serra Serrinha (or Little Moun- 

 tain) over 3000 feet high, composed of highly inclined metamorphic non- 

 crystalline schistose gneisses, red schists, and talcose or hydromica schists, 

 probably of Cambrian and Silurian age, with a covering of pebbles of 



