175 



September 19, 1849. 



Dr. A. A. Gould in the Chair. 

 Present, sixteen members. 



Mr. Stimpson presented a description of a new species of 

 Helix, as follows : — 



H. EXiGUA. H. t. minuta, discoidea, pellucida, corneo-viri- 

 descente, supra convexiuscula, infra concava ; anfr. 3^ convexis, 

 spiraliter striatis, ef [apice excluso] costis longitudinalibus, dis- 

 tantibus, strias incrementales oblique decussantibus instructis ; 

 anfr. ultimo rotundato ; sutura impressa ; umbilico lato ; aper- 

 tura rotundata ; labro simplici. Diam. .078 poll. Hah. Mas- 

 sachusetts, vicinity of Boston. 



Young specimens of H. striatella, which it much resembles, 

 have nearly one whorl less, want the revolving lines, and have 

 the whorls somewhat angular, instead of rounded. I have found 

 it in various localities in the vicinity of Boston, usually under 

 dead leaves, in low, moist places. It has also been found in 

 Salem by Mr. Joseph True. 



Dr. Gould gave an account of some tame fishes and 

 turtles at Hingham, Massachusetts. They have been tamed 

 by a little girl seven years of age, who is in the habit of 

 feeding them. They come at her call to the shoal margin 

 of the water in which they live. It is a question whether 

 the fish are not guided by the sense of sight. The turtles 

 undoubtedly are led by the sound of her voice. The fish 

 are mostly of the species Pimelodus nebulosus, Horn-pout ; 

 and the turtles are Emys guttata and picta. 



Dr. J. M. Warren exhibited, preserved in alcohol, the 

 glands which secrete the acrid fluid which furnishes a 

 means of defence to the American Skunk, Mephitis Ameri- 

 cana. These glands are situated on either side of the intes- 

 tine, at the root of the tail, just within the anus, and are 

 about an inch in diameter. When the animal is pursued, 



