102 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. [Octng 
The name Sayzz has been very generally adopted by recent writers 
on the mollusca, in honor of the well known naturalist Thomas Say, a 
leading American conchologist of the last generation. 
The allied species are WZ. profunda, thyrotdes and albolabris. 
Why this Helix should be so scarce may perhaps be explained by 
the following incident : 
“On the 3d day of July, 1836, Dr. Binney discovered an individ- 
‘ual of this species in the act of laying its eggs in a damp place under 
“a log; he transferred them, with the animal, to a tin box filled with 
“wet moss. *  *  =* They were white, adhering together very 
“slightly, flaccid, and apparently not entirely filled with fluid. During 
“the succeeding night the number had increased to about fifty, and in 
“a few hours they became full and distended. As the sual now began 
“to devour the eggs, he was obliged to remove it. On the 29th of July 
“all the eggs were hatched.” 
We hope during the present camping season to test the embryoci- 
dal propensities Of Jesodon Sayit, and if able to do so, will report 
accordingly. 
In March last while Mr. S. G. Crump and myself were shell hunt- 
ing in a piece of woods at Pittsford, N. Y. he had the good fortune to 
find one specimen of this Helix alive, under a log. It was a great 
stimulus. to us, and we searched diligently for hours, in the hope of 
finding more specimens, but in vain; although we gathered scores of 
the other allied species. 
Since that time we have made several trips together to this and 
other localities, but have not yet succeeded in finding a second Sayizz, 
although we have added to our collections several forms that-we had 
not found previously in this neighborhood. 
‘ 
Rev. C. B. GARDNER and the PRESIDENT described a day’s excur- 
sion through the gas territory of Indiana, in August last, with the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
The PRESIDENT gave an account of the gas well in Stony-Brook- 
Glen, Steuben County. 
Pror. A. L. ArEy reported finding selenite at Jefferson Avenue 
Quarry ; Phacops trisulcatus at Lower Falls ; Lichas Lottont at the Lower 
Falls, three feet below the graptolite layer; and at Lime Rock a 
Dalmanites aspectans, which measured 5% x 3% inches, an entire spec- 
imen of which had never before been found. 
Pror. Henry A. Warp mentioned a peculiar phenomenon 
observed by him at the Grotto del Cane, near Naples, Italy, in which 
