228 



vicinity and toward the northeast. He referred espe- 

 cially to the conditions of metamorphism of the shales 

 and slates in the neighborhood of Eastport, which, while 

 displaying all the evidences of profound alteration in 

 their increased density and in the development of crys- 

 talline and other chemical compounds throughout their 

 substance, give little indication of having been subjected 

 to violent agencies of a mechanical kind. He also spoke 

 of the enormous extent to which coarse conglomerate 

 rocks are intercalated among the slates and sandstones 

 of the sections lately examined by him in this north- 

 eastern part of Maine, and called attention to the fact 

 that in many cases the finer of these sedimentary de- 

 posits have been so indurated and otherwise modified as 

 to have put on a close resemblance to trappean masses. 

 The latter, however, in their genuine form are, he 

 thought, of far less frequent occurrence in this region 

 than at first view would be inferred. He spoke of the 

 great thickness of the Devonian and Silurian strata as 

 developed here and in the adjoining British territories, 

 and of the interesting field of structural geology and 

 paleontology which they offered. 



Capt. Atwood presented a specimen of a spine of the 

 fin of some siluroid fish, which had been found deposited 

 in the blubber of a whale killed on the west coast of 

 Africa, in such numbers that it was with difficulty cut 

 up ; they had probably worked their way through from 

 the stomach. 



The Corresponding Secretary read the following let- 

 ers, viz : — 



From H. Drouet, Paris, November 9, 1859, proposing ex- 

 change of specimens ; Elliott Society, Charleston, S. C, Decem- 

 ber 16, 1859, and Regents of New York University, December 

 31, 1859, acknowledging the receipt of the Society's publications ; 



