375 



inches, and such a shaft, he supposes, would have sup- 

 ported a very high stem, so that the rate of growth might 

 have been perhaps half an inch a year. 



Prof. Agassiz remarked that the observation of rapid 

 coralline growth alluded to by Dr. Weinland, at the last 

 meeting but one, was made upon a species of Madrepore 

 likewise. In all the branching corals examined by him, 

 such as Oculinas and Millepores, a wide expansion was 

 formed at the base before the stem was elevated. He 

 thought that the age of corals should not be estimated 

 by their height or thickness, on account of the varieties 

 of manner in which the stem rises from the base. 



Dr. J. Mason Warren presented the brain of a Chim- 

 panzee, the skeleton and skin of which are already in the 

 Society's Museum. The animal was thirteen months 

 old, and twenty-six inches in height. The measurements 

 of its head were almost the same as those of the so-called 

 Aztec children exhibited in Boston several years ago. 



The Cabinet Keeper called the attention of the So- 

 ciety to an Aquarium, which had been temporarily 

 deposited in the Museum by Mr. Tufts, of Swampscot, 

 Mass. 



Dr. S. Cabot, Jr., presented in the name of Henry D. 

 Morse, Esq., specimens of a full-plumaged, male, Black- 

 masked Ruddy Duck, Erismatura Dominica^ and Euro- 

 pean Widgeon, Mareca Penelope, and read the following 

 extract from a letter of Mr. Morse : — 



" The former Duck {Erismatura Dominica) I procured on the 

 26th of September, 1857, on my arrival at the hotel at Alberg 

 Springs, Missisquoi Bay, Lake Champlain. It was shot by a 

 boy who had just returned from a day's sport on the opposite 

 side of the bay." " The particular locality is an overflowed 

 meadow covered with wild rice, a famous resort for the Black 

 Duck and Teal." The boy informed Mr. Morse that the bird 

 was alone, and that he was flying past him when shot. 



