Mr. William P. Blake, of New Haven, was chosen a 

 Corresponding Member. 



January 19, 1859. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Dr. Cabot made a statement respecting the ravages of the lar- 

 vae of Dermestes and Antkreni in specimens of birds supposed to be 

 sufficiently protected ; the former, he said, attack the skin, the latter 

 the legs and bill. Specimens dipped in a very strong solution of 

 corrosive sublimate, and in a saturated solution of arsenious acid 

 in hot water, were attacked by these larvae ; but specimens dipped 

 into a tincture of strychnine were not touched by them. Of the 

 first two poisons, arsenic is the best ; in specimens preserved by 

 the latter the skin was not touched, the larvse boring in through 

 the legs. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson made some observations on the preservation 

 of animal tissues by arsenic ; he mentioned a case in which the 

 stomach, carefully washed, had at first assumed a yellowish tint, 

 becoming soft, with an odor of ammonia, but none of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, then changing into a pasty mass of a custard yellow, 

 and finally of the magnificent red of the sulphuret of arsenic, the 

 sulphur having been obtained from the decomposition of the tis- 

 sues. In another case, where the amount of the poison was 

 greater, the abdominal organs were perfectly preserved, and the 

 walls shrivelled. 



The Secretary read a paper from Dr. Henry Bryant on 

 some of the birds observed by him in East Florida, 

 south of St. Augustine, as follows : — 



Gathartes aura. The Turkey Buzzards were much more nu- 

 merous at Enterprise than the Black Vultures ; at Indian River 

 the vultures were the most common ; and among the keys both 

 species were rare. Audubon, in his description of this bird, states 



