162 



He took up and described some fresh water clams, which had been 

 found during the forenoon, and explained their difference from the 

 common salt water clams. 



Rev. T. G. GHASSIE, of Methuen, alluded to the reputation of Essex 

 County, and spoke of the necessity of the meetings of the Institute 

 being held in the same place often, and the oftener the more success- 

 ful. He thought that these meetings were just what was needed. 

 He alluded to science and religion, and said that as a religious man he 

 did not fear science, for if there was anything in religion that science 

 could correct, it should be corrected. He mentioned a new machine 

 now in operation in this town for making wheels, and spoke of its 

 great utility. 



Mr. C. M. TRACY, of Lynn, in speaking of the pleasure it gave him 

 to visit Methuen, said that he was convinced that a plain, unpretend- 

 ing New England town often had more of comfort and thrift in it 

 than many other places which were dignified by the name of cities. 

 Proceeding to examine the botanical specimens on the table, he re- 

 marked that the Sarracenia, or Pitcher Plant, fine samples of which 

 lay before him, was one of the most remarkable things to be found 

 among our vegetation. Differing so largely from all other plants as 

 to constitute a separate family of its own, it included only one or 

 two genera and a few species, real eccentrics of the floral world. 

 One species is with us, another fti the South, a third, of a different 

 genus, in South America, but there are not many more. The vasi- 

 form leaves are a constant character, and it is no small problem 

 among the scientific, to find how it happens that they are always sup- 

 plied with water even in the severest drought. Such a drought is 

 now raging, almost without precedent, yet the friend who brought 

 these found them half full, while the peat moss around them was so 

 parched as to crackle undj^the feet. It is always so. It is plainly no 

 catching and saving of rain, for none has fallen. Some have thought 

 it a secretion f,rom the plant itself; but the speaker inclined to as- 

 cribe it to the condensation of dew on the upper part of the leaf, run- 

 ning down to supply the tank below, which is kept cool for the pur- 

 pose by the slow evaporation through the permeable sides. But any 

 way considered, it is a beautiful and curious plant, wholly American, 

 and fitly known as the Huntsman's or Forefather's Cup. 



In exploring about the Falls to-day he had found some good speci- 

 mens of the Blue Gentian (G-. Andrewsii or saponaria}. This is not 

 the lovely Fringed Gentian of Bryant's well known poem, though it 

 comes at the same season and is almost as beautiful. This species, 

 as well as one or two others, is remarkable for never expanding its 

 flowers ; so that what appear here as full grown buds are rarely per- 



