11 



beautiful specimen of "Venus' Flower Basket," Euplectella speciosa, 

 from the island of Zebu, of the Philippine group, presented by Capt. 

 DANIKL H. HUTCHINSON. This is a silicious sponge attached by its 

 expanded base to some marine body, supported by a skeleton, of a 

 cylindrical tubular form, composed of numerous elongated fibres, con- 

 sisting of fascicules of very long slender spicules, forming a square 

 network, which, with its lightness, elegance and rigidity, give the idea 

 of a beautiful, complicated piece of glass lace work. 



Mr. HORACE MANN of Cambridge gave the fourth lecture of his 

 course on elementary Botany. 



He spoke of the growth of the stem, the vascular tissue, medullary 

 rays, the bark and its uses ; cork, which is a growth of the bark of 

 some trees, more especially of the Quercus suber, or cork oak of 

 southern Spain ; the mode of collecting and preparing for commercial 

 uses the liber of some plants used for cordage and various textiles. 

 The deposit of vegetable or mineral matter in the cells gives the dif- 

 ferent degrees of hardness to*the wood, and hence its adaptability 

 for various uses in the arts. He also noticed the uses of pith, as the 

 Sago in some species of Palm ; Rice Paper, obtained from a species 

 of Aralia, and the manner of obtaining and preparing the same by the 

 Japanese. 



He then alluded briefly to the growth of the Endogens, and de- 

 scribed the germination of the cocoanut, one of the largest and 

 noblest of this part of the vegetable kingdom, and closed his remarks 

 by speaking of adventitious roots, and the growth of abnormal stems, 

 as in the Dutchman's Pipe, one of the most simple of these aberrant 

 forms, consisting of alternate layers of wood and bark, the new 

 growth forming outside of the bark instead of pushing the bark out 

 and forming a layer within; another form where the growth fails on 

 one side of the stem and makes the increase on the opposite side, as 

 in some vines. The mention of other forms of peculiar growth of 

 the stems of plants concluded the interesting lecture. 



Joseph Adams, of Salem, was elected a Resident Member. 



MONDAY, MAKCH 23, 1868. Regular Meeting. 

 Vice President GOODELL in the chair. 



Correspondence and donations announced. 



Among the letters read was one from R. S. RANTOUL, Esq., tender- 

 ing to the cabinets the die and wax impression taken therefrom, of the 

 seal of the naval office for the district of Salem and Beverly. This 

 die was given to Mr. R. by a gentleman who bought it in Boston 

 with a collection of rare coins, medals, etc., and desired that it should 

 find its way to the Institute. 



The naval office was abolished by act of Congress, approved Feb. 

 28, 1865. When it was established is not known to the writer. Salem 

 has been a port of entry since Feb. 7, 1683. The die has a pine tree 

 in the centre surrounded by the words "Naval Office, District of 

 Salem and Beverly." The pine tree was a favorite device in New 

 England. It was on the coinage as early as 1652, and on the flag of 



