Scudder.] 14 



seemed to be in the way of the insect ; both the sides and 

 the back were undennined in every direction, evidently by a 

 scolytideous larva, and the back frequently riddled with the 

 holes whence the perfect insect had made its escape ; the 

 injury done was not of recent date, and no traces of the in- 

 sect living in any stage were discernible. By the character 

 of its bm-rows and its mode of attack the insect would aj^pear 

 to be very closely allied to the Tomicus eruditus described by 

 Westwood in the Transactions of the Entomological Society 

 of London, Vol. I., p. 34. 



T. J. Whittemore, Esq., of !N"ew York, was elected a Cor- 

 responding Member, and the following gentlemen Resident 

 Members : — Dr. George J. Arnold of Roxbury, Messrs. Fred- 

 eric Ware, George P. Huntington and Constant P. Davis of 

 Cambridge, and Messrs. Henry Endicott and James B. Fran- 

 cis of Boston. 



January 20, 1864 

 The President in the chair. 



Present, sixty members. 



Mr. Alex. Agassiz made a few remarks on the habits of a 

 species of Pteropod {Sjnrialis Flemingii?) which had oc- 

 cuiTcd in great abundance at Nahant during the summer of 

 1863.* His observations of the habits of these animals agree 

 with those of Rang and Souleyet. 



They come to the surface of the water about an hour after dusk ; 

 they do not remain long, and after ten o'clock at night were rarely 

 met with. He succeeded only once in finding a few isolated speci- 

 mens during the heat of the day ; while at full tide, soon after dark, 

 they were very often found in abundance. These animals are very 

 easily kept in captivity, and their habits, which can then be care- 

 fully watched, may explain in a very satisfactory manner their 

 sudden appearance and disappearance. As was already previously 

 known, these animals can creep about by means of their wing-like ap- 

 pendages. When kept m captivity, it was noticed that they but rarely 



♦The shell of this rteropod resembles more S. Fleminjrii than the Spinalis 

 Gouldii of Stimpson. Tliis is the lirst time that a living rteropod of this family 

 has been observed on this coast. 



