51 



July 16, 1845. 



Mr. Binney, President, in the Chair. 



Dr. D. H. Storer read a description of a fish from Ala- 

 bama river, forwarded, with a drawing, by Charles A. Hentz, 

 Florence, Alabama. 



P^ciLiA OLiVACEA. Body oblong, head flattened above. All 

 upper portion of the body olive-colored, sprinkled with minute 

 black dots ; a light spot on the top of the head ; a broad black 

 band, commencing at the angle of the jaws, is continued the 

 whole length of the body to the caudal rays ; throat and abdomen 

 white. Fins yellowish green. Caudal rounded, spotted like the 

 upper portion of the body. Caught at all seasons, swimming on 

 the top of the water, catching at floating objects. Commonly 

 called Top minnow. 



D. 9 ; P. 13 ; V. 6 ; A. 12 ; C. 19. 



Length 2^ inches. Florence, Alabama. 



Dr. Storer mentioned that he had recently obtained a 

 specimen of Prionotus tribulus, Mitch., from the waters of 

 Massachusetts Bay. He had never before been able to ob- 

 tain authentic evidence of the existence of this fish in Mas- 

 sachusetts. The specimen was presented to the Society by 

 the Hon. Daniel Webster, who procured it in an early morn- 

 ing visit to the Boston market, where his accurate knowledge 

 of our fishes enabled him at once to distinguish it as a spe- 

 cies he had never before seen. It was taken north of Cape 

 Cod. 



Dr. J. B. S. Jackson exhibited a collection of marine ob- 

 jects and fossils, collected by him during a recent visit to 

 Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. 



Dr. Jeflfries Wyman stated that, while examining micro- 

 scopically the structure of Actinia, he had noticed, in the 

 extremities of the tentacles, the existence of minute spiculae, 

 having an elongated form slightly curved, with the extremi- 

 ties rounded. He had found similar spiculae existing in 



