58 



Prof. Wyman, to whom were referred the reptiles belong- 

 ing to the collection of Dr. T. H. Webb, reported, that a 

 large proportion of them were from Mexico, and the south- 

 ern part of the United States, and belonged to genera and 

 species not yet described by systematic writers ; that this So- 

 ciety has not the proper books and plat.es for their determi- 

 nation ; and that as Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, has already studied these reptiles, and has a complete 

 library of works on herpetology, he advised Dr. Webb to 

 send them to Prof. Baird, who had accordingly done so. 



Dr. D. H. Storer read portions of a letter from Dr. W. 

 O. Ayres, of San Francisco, upon subjects of Natural His- 

 tory. At the suggestion of Dr. Ayres, the Society voted to 

 send a copy of the "Journal" and "Proceedings" to the 

 California Academy of Natural Sciences, a newly established 

 society of San Francisco. 



The following gentlemen were elected Corresponding 

 Members : Rev. A. Constantino Barry, of Racine, Wis. ; 

 Thure Kumlien, Esq., of Albion, Wis. ; and William Hop- 

 kins, Esq., of Auburn, N. Y. 



June 2lst, 1854. 



Dr. Silas Durkee, in the Chair. 



Dr. Shaw exhibited specimens of the Coccue insect upon 

 the locust tree, placed in his hands by Mr. C. J. Sprague. 

 The small branches of the locust were completely covered 

 by the insect. They were all females, each containing an 

 immense number of ova, and are apparently of the same spe- 

 cies as that which infests the grape vines in Boston, though 

 the cotton-like secretion which envelopes the eggj is much 

 less abundant in the Coccus of the locust. 



