186 



truncated, continuous with the body ; neck slightly contracted. 

 Eyes four in number, as in Tetrastemma. 



H. ELEGANs Girard. Blackish brown, with a yellowish line 

 all along the back, from the snout to the tail, and dotted with 

 black. A similar line, but rather whitish, is seen around the 

 neck, forming a kind of ring. Length one inch and a quarter ; 

 breadth a sixteenth of an inch. From deep water in Boston 

 Harbor. A marbled variety has been observed in the same 

 locality. 



Poseidon Girard. Body cylindrical, tapering anteriorly and 

 posteriorly, very contractile. Eyes very numerous, situated 

 near the anterior extremity, distributed over two elongated areas. 

 The body, when in a contracted state, exhibits transversal and 

 annular wrinkles. 



P. CoLEi Girard. Uniformly yellowish red, with a few irregu- 

 lar and small whitish dots. Total length about one inch ; breadth 

 a tenth of an inch. Found in both Boston and Beverly Harbors, 

 near low-water mark. This species we have dedicated to 

 Thomas Cole, Esq., of Salem, Mass., as a tribute of respect and 

 esteem. 



No specimens of either of these two species are as yet pre- 

 served in any Zoological collection. 



Dr. Kneeland read a communication on " The Leanness 

 of the American People." His conclusion was, that the 

 cause of this is an excess of oxygen taken into the system 

 from the exceedingly dry air of North America, and the 

 consequent too complete consumption of the carbon taken 

 in the form of food. The means of obviating this would 

 be the use of a greater amount of food containing the 

 true elements of respiration, non-nilrogenized substances, 

 such as starch, gum, sugar, fat, &:c. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson said, that he doubted if chemical 

 analysis would show that moist air contains less oxygen 

 than dry. In this opinion he was sustained by Prof. Ro- 

 gers, who observed that all nations living in a dry air tend 

 to thinness of flesh, such as the Arabs for instance, and the 



