396 Miscellanies. 



February 20, 1839. — Rev. F. W. P- Greenwood, Vice President, in 



the chair. 



J. E. Teschemaciier, read a report on the fruit coinmonly called 

 Ihe sea-cocoa. It was the fruit of the Lodoicea Secliellarum^ a no- 

 ble palm, found only at the Seychelles Islands, a small rocky and 

 mountainous group, to the northeast of Madagascar. He gave an 

 account of its fabulous liistory, and pf its final discovery at these 

 islands in 1743, after which, it was described by Sonnerat. Previous 

 to this period, it had only been found floating on the sea, about the 

 Maldive Islands. As a medicine, the nut was regarded as a specific 

 for all maladies. It was highly valued, and esteemed one of the most 

 costly of regal gifts. Rochon says, the Emperor Rhodolphus offered 

 4000 fl.orins for one ; and that another was valued at £400. A par- 

 ticular accotu^t was given of the tree, and its mode of fructification 

 illustrated. He also proceeded to demonstrate that the shell of the 

 nut was but a modification of the leaf; and made an interesting dem- 

 onstration of the hilum and the course of the nutritive vessels, which 

 were here exhibited on a large scale. 



Dr. T. W» Harris, had in his possession some notes, which went 

 to show that Sonnerat was not the discoverer of this plant, but that 

 it was discovered by Alexis Marie de Rochon, as early as 1679. 



Mr. Edward Tuckerman, Jr., presented specimens of MarcTiantia 

 polymorpJia, with its fructification, and another specimen of which he 

 had not determined the species. 



March 6, 1839 — Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, Vice President, in the 



chair. 



Dr. A. A. GoxJLDj exhibited specimens of a rare shell from the 



northern Atlantic shores. It was originally described by Becl;, as a 

 fossil shell from the St. Lawrence Bay, and is figured in Guerin's 



Magazin de Zoologie. It is not a fossil shell. It is named Rostella- 

 via (Aporrhals) occidentalism and is frequently taken from the stom- 

 achs of codfish taken on the bank fisheries. A nearly entire one has 

 been found near Portland, one at Saco Beach, and another at Nahant 

 Beach, and numerous tips of the spire at Phillips Beach and other 

 points in our harbor. 



Mr. J. E. Teschemaciier, presented numerous specimens of veg- 



etable impressions from Bridgeport coal mines, N. S. Most of them 

 were ferns, and one of them appeared to be a seed-vessel; — there 

 were also other forms which he had been unaccustomed to see. 



A large and exceedingly valuable collection of zoological speci- 

 mens, recently received from Dr. F. W. Crogin, of Surinam, was laid 

 on the table. It consisted of a great variety of mammalia, birds, rep- 



