276 



in detail in the casts, yet the true number of phalanges could 

 not be counted. The pressure upon the foot in taking the 

 impression, as well as the natural weight of a bird's body upon 

 its feet, which have been imprinted in the sands of the sea-shore, 

 tend to straighten and extend the foot and thus obliterate, or 

 render indistinct, the impressions of the phalanges. 



Prof. Wm. B. Rogers made some remarks upon the Geology 

 of the Southern and Middle States, confirmatory of the observa- 

 tions of Prof. Wyman upon the Footprints of the Carboniferous 

 Strata of Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Charles Stodder exhibited samples of Gutta Percha, 

 of different qualifies. 



Dr. T. M. Brewer presented, in the name of Dr. T. H. 

 Webb, a seed vessel and seeds of Nelumbium luteum, Yellovi^ 

 Nelumbo or Water Chinquepin, from Kansas. The seeds 

 are used by the Indians as food. 



December 5, 1855. 



The President in the Chair. 



The following extract from a letter of Isaac Lea, Esq., of 

 Philadelphia, addressed to the President, was read to the 

 Society. 



" I am very glad to see, by late numbers of the Proceedings of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History, that you have recently 

 received from Mr. Field, of Greenfield, Mass., a slab of the 

 Connecticut Valley Sandstone, displaying unusually interesting 

 surfaces." ( Fit^e Proceedings of meeting of June 6, 1855.) 

 "The footprints of crustaceans are very rare. I hope you will 



