JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ESSEX COUNTY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



THIRD AND LAST NUMBER. 



IN bringing the Journal to a close, a few words may be 

 expected by way of preface. 



Since the issue of the second number, materials of vari- 

 ous character have been from year to year collecting. These 

 were offered at the annual and other meetings of the Socie- 

 ty in the form of verbal and written Reports. From them 

 the present number has been compiled, by reference to the 

 Specimens in the Cabinets, to the Records and to the files 

 in which memoranda as well as the reports had been pre- 

 served. 



The collections have increased within the last twelve 

 years to a gratifying extent. Each department of Natural 

 History has its Representatives. The Herbarium is rich 

 in native and foreign species. The Conchological cases ex- 

 hibit our own Mollusca arranged side by side with British 

 cospecies. Other foreign species of Shells have been secur- 

 ed by private generosity or by a system of exchanges. The 

 same may, in fine, be said of all the other departments. Of 

 the natural history of Essex County much knowledge has 

 been gained. The geological features of a section in the 

 immediate vicinity of the City of Salem have been rendered 

 interesting by the Society's possession of a natural curiosity, 

 familiarly known as Ship Rock, a massive boulder, to 

 which reference may be made in this number. The Mi- 

 croscope has likewise been employed, and some of the ear- 

 liest instances of Silicious Earths, containing infusorial re- 

 mains, occurred within our immediate neighborhood. 



We have called this the third and last number, and we 



