316 Professor Agassiz's Zoological Researches. 



which would have been required for the purpose men- 



tioned. • ,• i,- 



However this may be, Beudant says, m terminating his re- 

 port, we see, by the short exposition which has been given 

 that M. Ebelmen's idea appears to be a very fruitful one ; that 

 it has been conceived in the sound spirit of natural philosophy ; 

 that it has already furnished the means of verifying doubtful 

 compositions in a great number of minerals, as well as of 

 making many substances which nature has not yet presented 

 to us, and thus filling up important blanks in general classi- 

 fications ; finally, that it has yielded positive and fundamen- 



tal facts for science. , ,, a j 



Agreeably to the conclusions of the report, the Academy 

 decides that M. Ebelmen's Memoir shall be inserted m the 

 Memoires of the Savants etrangers.* 



Zoological Besearches, By Professor AgaSSIZ. 

 M. Duvernoy communicated a letter from M. Agassiz, 

 dated Boston, 30th September 1847, and addressed to M. 



Alex. De Humboldt. . n • 



The zoological part of this letter relates to the inferior 

 n.arine animals, and more particularly the Actinia Lucerna- 

 ri^, and some points in the anatomy of the Asterias and 



^Tlikewise contains many theoretical developments of the 

 bilateral, from which M. Agassiz thinks he has discovered 

 and demonstrated in Echinodermes, and which he supposes 

 he has detected in anew species of Actinia, whichhc dredged 

 from a depth of 140 feet. This species, which he proposes 

 to dedicate to Captain Davis, under whose guidance he 

 inade an exploratory voyage of a month^s duration, along the 

 shores of Nantucket, is remarkable for the size of its tenta- 

 cula, which are few in number, and widely open at their ex- 

 tremity. 



* From L'lnstitut, No. 731, January 1848, pp. 1-2. 



