174 



September 2, 1846. 



T. Bulfinch, Esq. in the Chair. 



In consequence of the absence of several members at- 

 tending the meeting of the Association of American Geolo- 

 gists and Naturalists in New York, no business was trans- 

 acted. 



September 16, 1846. 



Mr. Thomas T. Bouve in the Chair. 



A communication was read from Dr. William Wood, of 

 Portland, Me., containing a description of a species of Shark 

 supposed by him to be hitherto undescribed. 



The specimen was taken about eighty miles east of Portland 

 to which place it was brought. It was skinned and stuffed with 

 out any accurate drawing or measurements having been taken 

 and was not seen by Dr. W. until several days after its prepara 

 lion. Dr. Wood having found it difficult to place the species un 

 der any recognized genus, proposes to establish a new genus for 

 its reception. It approaches nearest the genus Scymnus, of Cu- 

 vier, but differs widely from it in the characters of the teeth, and 

 in the absence of the temporal orifice. The principal distinctions 

 are that the teeth in the present genus are quadrilateral in the 

 upper, and not crooked in either jaw, are lancet-shaped in the 

 lower, and not divergent from the centre, and differ from every 

 species in being smooth in both jaws. Dr. Wood proposes for 

 the new genus the name of Leiodon} 



Leiodon echinatum. Head prominent, muzzle blunt, body 

 subtriangular to posterior line of first dorsal. Skin densely 

 covered with conical, curved, long points or spines. A lateral 

 line of oblique dark spots, running the whole length of the body. 

 Color of pecies, lilac. Length, 16 feet. 



> JE102 OJOY2. 



