126 



Rockland county, N. Y. He had seen the shells of this latter 

 name in the possession of Dr. Budd, and they were the elcgans 

 of Adams. Dekay also identifies this shell with rlwmhoidea^ 

 Adams, described in the American Journal of Sciences. 



Cyclas elegans, C. truncafa, and the new species are found 

 in company and often with C. dubia. C. similis is seldom found 

 in company with the others. 



Mr. H. R. Storer presented a number of birdsnests, 

 mostly obtained in the vicinity of Boston. 



November 19, 1851. 

 The President in the Chair. 



Dr. Kneeland made a communication on the question, 

 " Does the human lumbar vertebra develop a rib ? " 



In answer to the above question, Wilson* and Maclise t say 

 that it does. Wilson calls the "transverse processes" of other 

 anatomists, lumlar ribs, and maintains that the tubercle (so- 

 called) is the true transverse process, arising, as in the cervical 

 vertebrae, from the superior articulating processes, which he, 

 without giving his reasons, assumes to be the normal origin of 

 transverse processes. Another reason for this opinion is, that 

 these two elements converge, and, if prolonged, would enclose a 

 foramen as in the vertebral foramen of the neck ; or they would 

 rest in contact as in the dorsal region, or become consolidated as 

 in the sacrum. And, again, the tubercles if prolonged, would 

 come in contact with a small process occasionally seen at the 

 base of the tubercle of the vertebra above, and form a posterior 

 intervertebral foramen, as in the sacrum. 



Allowing this convergence and the consummation of these 

 " ifs," it does not seem to me that these are valid reasons. The 

 so-called tubercles, which appear to be in a continuous line with 



* Anatomists' Vatle-Mecum : by Erasmus Wilson. 



t Cyclopeedia of Anatomy and Physiology, art. Skeleton. 



