Bryant.] 248 



diatomaceous deposits from Hartt's Location, including three slides of mounted 

 specimens, and from the summit of Mount Ci'awford, N. H., by Dr. S. A. Bemis; 

 Trepidolepis undulatus, Scincus fasciatus, Corondla getvla, Plethodon glutinosa 

 and P. erythronota^ Rana two species, six other species of snakes and Camharus 

 Bartonif from Danville, Va., by A. S. Packard, Jr. ; two native skeletons and 

 five skulls from the Hawaiian Islands, by Mr. H. Mann; Skull of an Indian 

 from Mendocino Co., Cal., by Dr. Thayer; specimen of Specular Oxide of Iron 

 from the Hudson River, N. Y., by Mr. Charles T. White. 



Nov. 15. Leda truncata from the clay beds of Kennebtink, Me., by Mr. 

 Frederic Ware; Fossil shells from the banks of the Rapidan near Fredericksburg, 

 Va.,by A. S. Packard, Jr.; Tertiary (Miocene) shells of the following species; 

 Turritella pleheja Say? T. Mortoni Conrad, Scajiharca idonea, Dentalium atten- 

 uatum Say, Mercenaria fehrica Conrad, etc., from St. Mary's River, Md., by 

 Dr. J. F. Frisbie; Preparation exhibiting the entire human arterial system, pre- 

 pared and mounted by Mr. W. ]\I. Ogden. 



Dec. 6. A human cranium (young), by Dr. B. Joy Jeffries; Chrysalids of a 

 Sphinx from South Dedham, Mass., by Mr. N. B. White ; SkuU and some bones 

 of an Esquimaux from Hopedale, Labrador, and skull of an Otter from Straits 

 of Belle Isle, Labrador; sections of a " Lignum vitas" tree; Leaves and cones of 

 Finns bankskmus from the Traveller * Mountain in Northern Maine, by A. S. 

 Packard, Jr. ; supposed footprints and fossils in sandstone, Salamanca, N. Y., pre- 

 sented by Uv. T. G.- Bancroft; a Double Rose with green leaf-like petals, by Dr 

 Charles Pickering ; Intestinal worm taken from Leuciscus pulchellus Storer, at 

 Lake Parmachene, Maine, by Mr. F. G. Sanborn. 



January 3, 1866. 

 The President in the chair 



Forty-two members present. 



The following papers were read : — 



A List of Birds from Porto Rico presented to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, by Messrs. Robert Swift and George 

 Latimer, with descriptions of new species or varieties. 

 By Henry Bryant, M. D. 



The collections of Birds presented by Mr. Swift and Mr. Latimer are 

 very interesting, as affording additional proof of the fact that most of 

 the West India Islands possess peculiar forms generally recognized by 

 ornithologists as species, but -which it seems to me more rational, in 

 many instances, to consider as local forms or varieties, the limits of 



