145 



Mr. F. W. PUTNAM then described certain specimens 

 which were placed upon the table, consisting of the egg 

 case of a species of Buccinum ; a stone bored by a Pholas ; 

 a sponge found. on the shore; and a mass of clay in the 

 form of a tube, which was probably the case of a large 

 marine worm. 



Hon. JAMES KIMBALL read the following communica- 



o 



tion from Mr. J. B. Wardwell, of Methuen, Mass., giving 



A DESCRIPTION OF AX INDIAN RELIC 



Recently found on the farm of Mr. Wm. Hutchins, in 

 Methuen, and near the New Hampshire line. A rock of 

 gray, compact sandstone, with a broad, flat surface, and 

 estimated to weigh nearly half a ton, was dug up in rising 

 ground bordering meadow land, where, no doubt, once 

 existed a small pond. Mr. Hutchins was digging large 

 stones from this pasture for building purposes, which led 

 to its discovery. The rock was bottom up, and so bedded 

 that but a small portion of it was visible above ground, 

 and this part was covered with a close, filmy, gray moss. 

 It was hauled to the road (an eighth of a mile) where it 

 was to be used in a cellar wall, and on removal of the 

 dirt from the flat side, about three-fifths of a circle was 

 discovered. To the eye this appears to be a perfect 

 circle. It measures twenty inches in diameter, and from 

 a half inch to three-quarters of an inch in depth. It was 

 accomplished by drilling holes as near together as pos- 

 sible, and then removing the intervening portions. The 

 instrument, or drill, appears to have been between a 

 quarter and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and the 

 markings number one hundred and twenty, and are sug- 

 gestive of the use of the bow, as a means of moving the 

 drill. These markings bear the impress of great age. 



