283 



It was voted, on motion of Mr. Binney, that the an- 

 nual assessment be raised from three to five dollars. 



Mr. Sprague presented, in book form, 160 of the 194 

 grasses of the northern United States. 



The thanks of the Society were voted to Drs. Storer, 

 Borland, and Dm'kee, and Mr. Whittemore, for their 

 long and valuable services as Vice-President, and Cura- 

 tors of Herpetology, Microscopy, and Conch ology, respec- 

 tively. 



The following communication was read : — 



ON SOMJ: sub-peat deposits of DIATOMACE^E. by ARTHUR 



M. EDWARDS, NEAV YORK. 



In June, (1859,) I presented to the Society a paper on a semi- 

 fossil deposit of fiuviatile Diatomacea3 from near the city of 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; I have since learned the following par- 

 ticulars respecting the position of that deposit. A railroad 

 embankment was carried through a bog ; the embankment set- 

 tled, crowding up and inverting the bog, — a common occurrence. 

 For this information, as well as for the specimens, I am indebted 

 to Mr. Stodder, and from him I have received specimens of three 

 other deposits, — one from Bemis Lake, N. H., discovered by Dr. 

 S. A. Bemis, one from Hingham, Mass., discovered by T. T. Bouve, 

 Esq., and one from Cambridge, Mass., discovered by Mr. Stodder 

 himself. I am also indebted to Mr. E. Samuels and Dr. A. 

 Shurtlefffor specimens of a deposit discovered by the last-named 

 gentleman at Brookline, Mass. Mr. Samuels has also sent me 

 mounted specimens of deposits from Deny and Maidstone, Vt., 

 from the Bailey collection in the possession of the Society. To 

 these I have to add a deposit of Diatomaceae which I have de- 

 tected at Baisley's Pond, Long Island, N. Y. The consideration 

 of such forms, occurring in the deposits, which I have, as yet, 

 been unable to identify, I will postpone until some future time. 



The Bemis Lake earth is a true sub-peat deposit, and much 

 resembles those found in different parts of this country ; as that 

 discovered by Bailey at West Point, and those from different 

 parts of Massachusetts, discovered by Hitchcock. Of this Bemis 



