252 



8. The simple and elFective mounting of the achromatic con- 

 denser and the diaphragm attached to it. 



It remains for others to determine if any or all of these inno- 

 vations are improvements. 



August 19, 1857. 



Dr. Chas. T. Jackson, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Dr. D. F. Weinland read a paper entitled — Some Points 

 in the Zoology of Hayti, — as follows : — 



A few weeks since I returned from nearly half a year's so- 

 journ on the southwestern neck of that beautiful mountain-island, 

 (this is the meaning of the Indian name Hayti,) and I wish to 

 communicate to my scientific friends some of my impressions and 

 observations,-"^ whilst they are fresh in my mind, even if they 

 should yet lack the stamp of elaboration. 



I shall speak first of the organic life of the sea-shore, and since 

 this depends upon the geological formation of the coast, and upon 

 the nature of the sea, these subjects will first be introduced. 



I. THE SEA-SHORE. 



The noiihern shore of the southwestern neck of Hayti is 

 mostly cote de fer, that is, an iron-bound coast. There ai-e but 

 few small sandy bays, which serve as landing-places for the fish- 

 ing boats, and near them are generally found huts of fishermen, 

 or a small village. 



The rock which bounds all the rest of the coast is a hard brit- 

 tle limestone, formed very generally of a conglomeration of mad- 

 repores and other corals, as AstrEcae, Mgeandrinas, Milleporse, etc. 

 and of various kinds of shells, cemented with a mass of smaller 

 and formless lime-particles, the powdered particles of the same 

 corals and shells. This rock is full of pores and roundish cavi- 



1 Most of these observations -were made in company with my friend Mr. Ed- 

 ward Habich of Boston, a member of our Society, on our daily walks along the 

 sea-shore, or during our excursions up the rivers or back in the forests of the 

 interior. 



