58 



(about sixty) lie found little holes, or channels, from one to three 

 lines in length, piercing the epidermis, and presenting sharp 

 edges, such as would not have been likely to result from a chemi- 

 cal process. Moreover, he found in many of these holes small 

 worms, and therefore he was inclined to suppose that they com- 

 mence the process of corrosion in the shell ; that they perforate 

 the epidermis, and after the removal of this, the chemical process 

 above alluded to may take place. How far the same supposition 

 may prove true with regard to sea-shells he was not prepared to 

 say. 



The President offered some remarks on the morphol- 

 ogy of the urinary bladder of Batrachians. 



Fi'om observations which he had recently made, he thought it 

 questionable whether they belonged to the group of Anallantoi- 

 dians, with which they had been generally classed. He com- 

 pared the urinary bladder of Frogs with that of Fishes and Scaly 

 Reptiles, and showed that structurally it resembled that of the 

 latter group. He was inclined to regard it as a rudimentary 

 allantois, inasmuch as it had the same anatomical relations to the 

 intestine and vascular system that the allantois has. 



Mr, C. J. Sprague exhibited specimens of Cyclomyces, 

 recently collected by Mr. Denis Murray in the vicinity of 

 Boston, and made some remarks upon the peculiarities 

 of this genus of Fungi. 



There are three principal arrangements of the spore-bearing 

 apparatus in the common table-formed fungi, which are so dis- 

 tinct as to be generally known to unscientific observers ; viz : in 

 radiating, thin plates, as in Agaricus ; in vertical pores, as in 

 Pohjporits ; and in vertical spines, as in Hi/dnum. The genus 

 Cyclomyces exhibits a series of narrow concentric plates from 

 the stipe to the margin, like seats in an amphitheatre. The 

 genus comprises but very few species, only one of which has 

 been detected in America, the Cyclomyces Greeneii found by Mr. 

 B. D. Greene in Tewksbury. A concentric arrangement of 

 spines is sometimes observed in some Hydnums. 



Dr. Darkee exhibited a specimen of Goliathus gigan- 



