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rods of the sea, by digging in the sand beach. At the 

 depth of two or three feet, the water was fresh, but on dig- 

 ging deeper salt water was found. Capt. Henry also men- 

 tions the existence of fresh-water ponds, separated by only 

 a small ridge from the Gulf, and in their immediate vicinity 

 salt ones, under precisely similar conditions. The Secretary 

 suggested that the salt ponds might have been more recently 

 cut off from the sea than the others, and had not yet had 

 time to undergo transformation. 



The President recurred to the subject of the mastodon, 

 spoken of by him at the last meeting, in order to answer a 

 question which had been put to him by Dr. J. B. S. Jack- 

 son, as to the number of species of this extinct genus. He 

 stated it to be his present opinion that there are but two 

 species known, M. giganteus and angustidens, and in 

 North America there has as yet, been found only one, the 

 giganteus. In the present imperfect state of our knowledge 

 of the fossil bones of the mastodon found in South Amer- 

 ica, New Holland, &c., he should be inchned to refer 

 them, he said, to M. angustidens rather than to any other 

 species. 



Dr. Cabot said he thought such an opinion should be 

 accepted with some hesitation, as it would be entirely at 

 variance with the facts usually observed in the distribution 

 of animals. He thought it impossible, under the present 

 geographical conditions, that the angustidens could have 

 passed by way of the continent of Asia and the North-west 

 coast of America, to South America, without leaving traces 

 of its existence in North America. 



Dr. Cabot exhibited a number of birds which had 

 recently been mounted for the Society, among which were 

 two of special interest, from Europe ; viz., Corvus corone, 

 and Buteo vulgaris. Corvus corone, Dr. Cabot remarked, 

 had been commonly confounded with the common Amer- 

 ican Crow. He was satisfied, however, that it is a distinct 



