66 



points of interest in relation to its philosophical anatomy. It is 

 not at first developed in connection with the vertebral column, 

 but beneath the skin at the base of the tail on the under side, in 

 the form of two triangular plates, which are separated by a con- 

 siderable interval from the vertebrae. These gradually extend 

 themselves upwards, the legs elongating downwards at the same 

 time. Ultimately the pelvis becomes united with the sacral 

 vertebrae. The primitive condition of the pelvis of the tadpole 

 repeats the permanent one of the fish, where it is constantly 

 separated from the vertebral column, and lodged beneath the skin 

 on the abdominal side of the body. 



Mr. Ayres exhibited a fresh specimen of Solaster pap- 

 posa from George's Bank, where it had been taken in vv'ater 

 of from twenty-five to thirty fathoms depth. It was re- 

 markable for the freshness and brightness of its colors. 



Mr. Bouve presented, in the name of Mr. George Mount- 

 fort, United States Consul at Candia, a specimen of bone 

 breccia from that Island, taken from sixty-five feet below 

 the surface. It contained a portion of a skull of a Rumi- 

 nant. 



The thanks of the Society were voted for the donation. 



June 4, 1851. 

 The President in the Chair. 



Dr. Gould remarked with regard to Dr. Jackson's sug- 

 gestion, at the last meeting, that the rounded masses of fish 

 scales found in the shale at Hillsborough, N. B., were 

 probably formed in eddies and whirls in the water from 

 which the materials of the rock were precipitated, — that a 

 more probable explanation was, that they were the con- 

 tents of the stomachs of fishes. 



Mr. Stimpson remarked that, the abundance of Holo- 



