303 



believing that the result will be of the highest value to science, 

 and will give much information of the early history of the Ame- 

 rican continent. 



Resolved^ That Congress be earnestly solicited to make the 

 necessary appropriations to carry out these surveys in the man- 

 ner proposed by the Commissioners of the General Land Office. 



Resolved^ That a copy of this preamble and series of resolu- 

 tions be signed by the officers of the Society and be transmitted 

 by the Secretary to the Commissioners of the General Land 

 Office at Washington. 



The Resolutions were unanimously adopted. 



Dr. Gould presented, in the name of Prof. Gibbs, a 

 Paper on a new species of Menobranchus with the spe- 

 cific name punctatus. Referred to the Committee on Her- 

 petology. 



Dr. Bryant read a Paper on the Sandhill Crane, as fol- 

 lows : 



Audubon and the majority of Ornithologists consider the 

 brown or Sandhill Crane, Gnis canadensis, and the white or 

 Whooping Crane, Grus Americana, as identical. Having had 

 many opportunities of observing the Sandhill Crane, as it is seen 

 in the peninsula of Florida, south of Lake George, I am con- 

 vinced that it is a distinct species ; though I have no doubt that 

 the young of the Whooping Crane resemble it in color and 

 general appearance. I have seen hundreds of Sandhill Cranes 

 while alive, and have examined many when dead, but have 

 never seen a single bird that presented any appearance of chang- 

 ing its plumage to white. I have, also, made inquiry of many 

 o^the inhabitants of that part of the country, and have never met 

 with an individual who had ever seen a white or particolored 

 bird. This being the fact, and the bird being a constant resident 

 of Florida, and breeding there in sufficient numbers for me to 

 have been enabled to examine four nests within three miles of 

 the house where I was residing on the banks of Lake Munroe, 

 I think I am authorized to consider it a distinct species. I am 

 of course aware that many birds breed in an immature plumage, 

 and should not therefore consider the mere fact of the brown 



