226 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



Prof. Harper asked for instructions regarding an exchange of 

 fossils. 



Referred to the Librarian and Executive Board. 



Donations were announced as follows : From Chief Signal 

 Officer, Monthly Weather Review for July; from Prof. Edward 

 Orton, Columbus, O., Preliminary Report on Petroleum and 

 Inflammable Gas; from T. H. Aldrich, Bulletin No. i Geological 

 Survey of Alabama; from H. P. Smith, Climate and Time, James 

 Croll ; from Dr. L. Darapsky, Santiago, Chili, Verhandlungen des 

 Deutschen Wissenschaftlichen Vereins zur Santiago ; from C. L. 

 Faber, 221 species of shells; from Mrs. J. R. Hunt, Columbus, 

 O., Specimens of Algje. 



Adjourned. 



Scientific Meeting, Tuesday, November 2d. 



Vice President Fisher in the chair; twenty members present. 



A short paper by Dr. J. H. Hunt, on the Nesting of Martins 

 in Tallahasse, Florida, was read by the Secretary. 



Mr. William H. Knight, in presenting a specimen of Dynastes 

 tityus from Mr. G. W. Lewis, of Yosemite, Ky., made some 

 remarks upon the Coleoptera in general. 



Prof. G. W. Harper gave an interesting account of the pursuit 

 of a caterpillar by a carnivorous bee'.le, as observed by a friend. 



The Secretary exhibited specimens of Hamemelis Virginica in 

 flower and of Wolfifia Brasiliensis. The latter was collected from 

 a pond west of the Big Miami River by Dr. J. H. Hunt and Mr. 

 George Twitchell. 



Mr. J. Ralston Skinner said "Mr. James' remarks on the witch 

 hazel, call to my mind that the fork of the witch hazel is popularly 

 taken as the ajjpropriate wood for finding wells of water and 

 the like in the hands of what are called d/7'/ncs, or water-witches ; 

 my accidental experiences go to prove that there is a measure 

 of truth in the claims of ability to divine. But investigation has 

 shown that the ability lays in the peculiar nervous organiza- 

 tion of the person, and not at all in the kind of wood used. 

 The wood may be of peach or willow or maple, etc., and may be 

 dry or green. The nervous organization must be alive to that of 

 ' Reichenbach's sensitives, ' or to that of ' trance mediums, ' so 

 called, — bordering on a tendency to epilepsy. 



"A friend of mine desired to find a spot for sinking a well. A 

 man who happened to stop at his house to rest and dine, and to 



