PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 125 



me a j^rcsent; and I avail myself of this opportunity to say to you how much I 

 am touched by the proof you have given me, on this occasion, of good will. 

 You have treafcd me as a compatriot, and, sooth to say, there is no Frenchman 

 who is more American than myself. 



[The works referred to were presented by American publishers of school books 

 at the request of the Institution. — J. H.] 



From D. G. Lifidliagcn, pcrxxtual secretary of tJie Academy of Scietices of 



Stockliolm. 



Stockholm, Navemhcr 4, 1867. 



I have had the pleasure of receiving, in behalf of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Stockholm, your letter of the 29th of May last, accompanying your remittance, 

 through M. Fliigel of Leipzic, of a collection of very rare birds of tlie Arctic 

 regions of your continent — a collection which your distinguished Institution has 

 had the goodness to present to our academy. 



The package arrived in the month of August, during my absence on certain 

 commissions of the academy, and was transmitted to M. Sandevall, intendant of 

 the national museum of natural history, who presented it to the academy at its 

 first meeting in autiimn, pronouncing its contents to possess great value for the 

 museum. 



Permit me to convey to you the thanks of the academy for this acceptable 

 donation. 



From John Gould, esq. 



LoNDOK, Novemher 25, 1867. 

 I beg to thank you most sincerely for your kindness and lil)eralit3' in sending 

 from time to time for my inspection, through Mr. Lawrence, of New York, speci- 

 mens of humming-birds belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, which he has 

 designated as new species. By these acts of condescension you arc greatly aid- 

 ing the cause of science, since it is only b}- the actual comparison of such exam- 

 ples with the older known species of this extensive family in the collections of 

 this country that the fact of their being new can be satisfactorily determined. 



From S. P. Mayherry. 



Cape Elizabeth, Maine, January 4, 1868. 

 I am very much pleased with the selections in your reports, and hope that 

 some means may be taken for their more extended circulation. Wliile at a summer 

 resort, Rye Beach, New Hampshire, of some celebrity, attention was called to 

 the gradual approach of the sea upon the land. Some 20 rods below high-water 

 mark, at an exceeding low tide, may bo seen the stumps of quite large trees 

 embedded in the sand, and from the general appearance one would suppose that 

 the trees had been felled from those stumps. I made inquiry of the oldest 

 inhabitants if they had any information relative to them ; they had none ; that, 

 in their time andtliat of their fathers', these had been noticed, seeming not much 

 further out to sea than at the present time. There is no growth within 800 yards. 

 The country around has been settled since 1623. About two miles from this 

 used to be a fine sand beach, which has disappeared. The inhabitants thought 



