17 



Mr. James H. Emerton exhibited a series of preparations of the oak- 

 leaf galls and remarked upon the insects by which they were formed, and 

 others that inhabited the galls, mentioning several parasites on the form- 

 er. He also exhibited Lepidopterous larvae which he had found feeding on 

 the pith of the galls. 



Mr. Putnam exhibited a recent addition to the cabinets of a specimen of 

 Platurus fasciatus, from the Bay of Bengal, and remarked on the group of 

 Sea Snakes to which it belongs. 



Donations to the Museum and Library were announced. 



Aaron Perkins, John Janes, James Gedney King, Nathaniel G. Simonds 

 and E. R. Perkins, all of Salem, were elected Resident Members. Hon. Mar- 

 shal P. Wilder, of Dorchester ; Samuel A. Green, M. D., of Boston ; and 

 W. H. Niles, of New Haven, were elected Corresponding Members. 



TUESDAY, MAT 1, 1866. Social Meeting at Hamilton Hall. 

 Vice President GOODELL in the Chair. 



The object of this meeting was to bring together all the microscopes 

 which could be conveniently obtained, for the purpose of interesting the friends 

 of the Institute in this department of Science ; also to celebrate in an appro- 

 priate manner, the ancient festival of the first of May. 



The meeting proved a decided success, over three hundred members and 

 their friends being present, beside a number of invited guests, among whom 

 were Prof. O. W. Holmes of Boston ; Dr. A. A. Gould, Vice President of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History, and Messrs. Bouve, Wilder, Bicknell 

 and Sanborn, of the same Society. 



The Chairman said that members of the Institute and those present who 

 had attended its meetings need not be informed, but those of our friends not 

 members of the Institute who had honored us with their presence this eve- 

 ning, from abroad, might be interested to learn , that the objects of our so- 

 ciety were two fold, historical and scientific ; and that, as we were about to 

 celebrate one of the most ancient gala-days of old England, it might be and 

 undoubtedly was expected, by some present, that an historical account of the 

 day and its observance would be given to-night ; but, it would be remembered 

 that two years ago an evening was principally devoted to this subject, and, 

 therefore, as the field selected for this evening's discussion was wide enough 

 and sufficiently interesting, it had been determined to devote the evening to 

 a notice of the early wild-flowers of this region, and of the history and 

 uses of the microscope, an instrument which had proved so useful to the bot- 

 anist and had so largely increased our knowledge of the structure and growth 

 of plants, as well as thrown light on all other branches of science. The 

 Chairman then introduced Mr. C. M. Tracy, of Lynn, the Botanical Curator 

 'of the Institute, who said that being too late to express the delightful wish of a 



PROCEEDINGS ESSEX IN8T. VOL. V. 3 MAT, 1866. 



