226 



Prof, Dana, and with those of fishes as observed by himself; 

 and he had no doubt that the mollusks would come under 

 the same law. 



The President read a communication from Francis 

 Lousada^ Esq., British Consul at Boston, accompanying a 

 portion of a meteoric stone, which fell at Dhurmsalla, India, 

 July 14, 1860, and presented to the Society by the Governor 

 General of India. Accompanying it was a printed paper 

 giving an account of the fall. The specimen was referred 

 to Dr. C. T. Jackson for analysis. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson presented numerous fragments of rolled 

 corals from Cumberland County, New Jersey, where they 

 occur loose in large quantities in the soil. 



Prof. Rogers pronounced them tertiary, the remnant of a very ex- 

 tensive sheet in Southern New Jersey, the greater portion of which 

 had been removed by denudation. Prof. Agassiz also pronounced 

 them tertiary- 



The following paper was presented : — 



Homologies of Radiata. By L. Agassiz. 



Having studied the homologies of Radiata for a great many years, 

 I feel now sufficiently acquainted with them to present conclusions 

 which I believe to be new to science. I have studied them in such a 

 manner that I am able to transform the different classes belonging to 

 Radiata one into the other, simply by changing certain similar terms 

 in what I may call the general formula of Radiata, thus showing that 

 these three classes belong to one and the same type. I think I have 

 succeeded in transforming a Polyp into an Acaleph or an Echinoderm, 

 and either of them into the other two, just as formulfe made up of 

 similar terms can be transformed one into the other. 



If what I have attempted to prove is true, ■■ — that the great types 

 which we recognize in the animal kingdom are characterized by the 

 plans upon which the animals of which they consist are built, — that 

 the classes are distinguished by the different modes of execution of 

 that plan, — that the orders are defined by the complication of 

 structure of these modes of execution, — the families by different pat- 

 terns of form resulting from peculiarities of structure, — the genera 

 by structural differences affecting only certain parts, — the species 

 by differences of proportions, size, ornamentation, color, etc., — then 

 we ought to be able to prove beyond a doubt that the different classes 



