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of the location ; where may be found the comparatively 

 well preserved dwelling given away as u marriage present 

 from a fond father to his daughter in 1666. Many cour- 

 tesies were also rendered by Mr. William D. Norlhend 

 and Mrs. E. D. Kimball, who are spending the summer 

 at this cool and pleasant retreat. At the close of the 

 rambles lunch was spread in an unoccupied cottage owned 

 by Thomas Ryan, Esq. 



The afternoon session was held in a small hall, recently 

 erected by the liberality of the summer residents and 

 friends, at 2.45 o'clock. After the reading of the records 

 of the preceding meeting, the PKESIDKNT opened the dis- 

 cussion with allusions to the manner of studying the 

 marine fauna and the various systems of classification 

 based either upon anatomical structure, geological peri- 

 ods or geographical distributions. He spoke of his own 

 experience in collecting specimens some thirty or forty 

 years since, by an examination of the stomachs of fishes, 

 or by the hand dredge from a dory or sail boat, and con- 

 trasted the same with the present method, by which, with 

 the use of a donkey engine in a government steamer, ex- 

 tensive collections can be obtained and a vast amount of 

 information elicited. 



Mr. JAMES II. EMEKTOX, of Salem, being called upon, 

 said that during the last month some interesting dredg- 

 ings have been made in this neighborhood for Prof. 

 Spencer F.Baird, United States Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries. In the year 1871 Prof. Baird was appointed 

 by Congress to collect information in regard to the sup- 

 ply of fish in the United States waters, to ascertain 

 the causes on which the fish supply depends, and to see 

 what can be done to increase its value and prevent its 

 waste. Several state governments had already begun the 



