Wyman.] 158 [April 17, 



the sparrows of France consume annually ten million bushels of 

 wheat." 



Jardine says that a price is set on their heads because of their severe 

 depredations on grain and garden seed, and Valmont de Bomare, in his 

 Dictionary published in 1791, says that " In Brandebourg, in order to 

 diminish the ravages committed by sparrows, a price is set on their 

 heads, and the peasants are compelled, by law to bring in a certain 

 number yearly ; in each village there are sparrow-hvinters, who sell the 

 birds to the peasants to enable them to pay their tribute. The bird is 

 bold, cunning and quick in discerning snares or devices to frighten 

 them ; it breeds three times a year, feeding its young with insects, and 

 especially bees, though its principal food consists of grain. It follows 

 the farmer while sowing, harvesting, threshing, or feeding his poultry ; 

 it enters the dove-cot, and with its bill pierces the throats of young pig- 

 eons, to obtain the gi-ain in their craw." 



That their destructive propensities were popularly known in Eng- 

 land, is shown by Cowper's lines : 



" The sparrows peep and quit the sheltering eaves 

 To seize the fair occasion , well they eye 

 The scattered grain, and thievishlj^ resolved 

 To escape the impending famine; often scared, 

 As oft return, a pert, voracious kind." 



Dr. White said that he believed their domestic habits had been as- 

 signed as the reason for their introduction. These made them useful in 

 destroying the insects infesting trees in the city. 



Dr. Charles T. Jackson presented some fossil mollusca from 

 the Green Sand of New Jersey, which he considered closely 

 analogous to, if not identical with, those found in the Green 

 Sand of England and France. The Green Sand itself is of 

 great agricultural importance ; mixed with the calcareous 

 marl, it renders the soil exceeding fertile ; the overlying soil 

 is a tertiary earth derived from the cretaceous, but is more 

 largely mixed with sand. 



Dr. Jeffries Wyman gave an account of an excursion he 

 had recently made to the St. John's River, Florida, for the 

 purpose of examining the Indian antiquities of that region. 

 His attention was especially given to the shell mounds. 



These mounds are of two kinds : those on the sea-coast, made of 

 marine shells, as at Fernandina and St. John's Bluff, and those found 

 inland, which are composed entirely of fresh-icater shells. Twenty- 

 eight of the latter, situated between Palatka and Salt Creek, were ex- 



