289 



Ruins of a Trading House erected by the Pilgrims at 

 that place. The communication was presented, upon 

 motion of Dr. Jackson, to the Massachusetts Historical 

 Society. 



Prof. Theophilus Parsons presented a section of an 

 Elm, which exhibited a singular involuted growth ap- 

 pearing after the falling of a large limb. 



The growth occurred at the edge of a hollow in the trunk, and 

 presented the appearance of a curling inward of the edge of the 

 cavity, — by which it was several times rolled upon itself, the 

 bark following the curl to its termination. Prof. Parsons, in 

 reply to a question from the Corresponding Secretary, stated that 

 this curl, if unrolled, would more than span the gap on the edge 

 of which it was found. 



Mr. Sprague thought that the curvature of the tree admitted 

 of simple explanation. The falling of the large bough had car- 

 ried with it a considerable portion of the heart wood of the tree, 

 leaving the centre exposed to decay. As, year after year, this 

 central portion disappeared, the outer, living shell became thin- 

 ner and thinner, and began to assume a convolute form, from the 

 growth being always on one surface only. The shrinking and 

 drying of the internal part, joined to the swelling and increasing 

 of the external part, had gradually curved the rim of wood, like 

 the convolute estivation of some corollas. As the tree grew in 

 height, the aperture left by the fallen bough, and increased by 

 the subsequent decay, gradually became narrower by the shrink- 

 age and inward growth of the margins. 



Prof. Parsons concurred with Mr. Sprague in this expla- 

 nation. 



The Corresponding Secretary read the following letters, viz : 

 From the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, April 7 ; 

 the Academy of Science of St. Louis, June 6, and September 11 ; 

 the American Philosophical Society, Sept. 10 ; the Academic 

 Royale, &c. de Belgique, Bruxelles, January 15, 1856, and Feb- 

 ruary 6, 1857 ; K. Akademie der Wissensehaften, Wien, April 

 10, 1857; Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingen, April 18, 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. VI. 19 .TANITARY, 1858. 



