79 [Sheafe. 



Mr. C. C. Sheafe remarked that he had recently been mak- 

 ing some experiments with Borax as a means of driving away 

 cm- " water bug," the Ectohia germanica. He had placed 

 two specimens in a bottle with a couple of drachms of the 

 powder, and found them both dead, one at the end of twenty- 

 four and the other after thirty-eight hours confinement ; by 

 sprinkhng half a pound about his house he had quite driven 

 them away. 



Messrs. William R. Dimmock and Stillman E. Chubbuck 

 were elected Resident Members. 



December 7, 1864. 

 The President in the chair. 

 The following communications were read : 



Kemarks on some facts connected with the Development 



OF Frogs, observed at Waterville, Maine, by C. E. 



Hamlin. 



In accordance with a suggestion made to me by Professor Agassiz, 

 I have observed a few facts relating to the development of Frogs in 

 this vicinity, which I beg leave to present to your notice. 



In the first two weeks of June last, among very small tadpoles, evi- 

 dently produced from the egg since the opening of spring, a few indi- 

 viduals were found of three inches or more in length, and having the 

 body and posterior limbs so weU developed that it seemed improbable 

 that so great an amount of growth had taken place since the close of 

 winter. I was inchned to consider them to be the young of the pre- 

 vious year. 



During the fall of this year, from October 5th to November 10th, 

 great numbers of small tadpoles were noticed in several difi'erent 

 places where water had been abundant throughout the season. Of 

 these I made collections on October 12th, 17th, 22d and 31st, and 

 again on November 10th. The specimens taken on October 12th meas- 

 ured from one to one and three-quarters inches in total length ; and in 

 the largest of them the hind legs were but minute huds. Specimens 

 taken from the same pools, on October 31st and November 10th, show 

 an increase of about half an inch in average length, and the rudi- 

 mentary legs were a little larger. On these last two dates six speci- 



