227 



Prof. Hitchcock exhibited to the Society a tarso-meta- 

 tarsal bone and some of the phalanges of Palapteryx ingens. 

 The specimen had been brought from New Zealand by a 

 sailor, from whom he had obtained it. He had replaced 

 the missing bones by artificial ones. The lower extremity 

 of the tarso-metatarsal bone showed four articulating surfaces 

 for the toes, all directed forwards. The length of this bone 

 was fifteen inches, and the probable height of the species, 

 according to Owen, was nine feet. 



Dr. A. A. Hayes mentioned some experiments he had 

 tried on a small scale to arrest the progress of decay in 

 potatoes after they had been taken from the earth. He 

 had found that the gas of sulphurous acid passed over 

 them checked the process of decomposition immediately. 



Mr. Teschemacher said that he believed the rot in 

 potatoes to be caused by the development of an organic 

 substance similar to that generated in the process of fer- 

 mentation, and it was well known that this process was 

 immediately arrested by sulphurous acid gas. 



Mr. J. L. Hayes stated that Dr. Webster of Nova Scotia, 

 had lately procured some specimens of recent bird-tracks 

 in the sand of the Bay of Fundy, which were precisely like 

 the fossil bird-tracks of the Sandstone of the Connecticut 

 valley. 



The enormous tides of this Bay wear away the Sandstone and 

 deposit it on the neighboring beaches to the depth of from half an 

 inch to an inch, at each tide. Dr. Webster carefully removed 

 some of this sand bearing the foot prints of marsh birds, and baked 

 it so as to preserve the impressions perfectly. It was even found 

 that in splitting these slabs into layers the impression of the track 

 could be traced through three or four of them, as in the fossil 

 specimens. The same success attended his experiments on the 

 impressions of recent rain drops. The experiments were made 

 during the past year. 



Dr. Gould mentioned, that four years since, similar specimens 

 were sent him by Rev. Mr. Prior of Horton, baked by the heat 



