_* dee 
* seas sige & 
oo Proceedings of Scientific Sotietics, 
Jan. 20th, 184] —GQito. B. Emerson, Esq., President, in the chair. 
The President exhibited the seed vessel of the Nelumbium luteum from 
the Missouri river. The WV. luteum belongs to the natural order of the 
Nymphyeacee of De Candolle, of which. the number of species is small, 
It is mentioned by Pursh as occurring in ponds in the® neighborhood of 
Philadelphia, where from its isolated situation, he supposed it must have 
been carried by the Indians. It is mentioned by Prof. Hitchcock as oc- 
curring in Haddam, Conn. The seed vessel is of a conical shape, the 
base being perforated by about twenty orifices opening into as many cells, 
each containing a single seed resembling an acorn in shape. This is well 
figured by Bauhin, and is designated by him as the Faber Egyptiaca. 
The WN. luteum is described by Mr. Nuttall as bearing the largest of Amer- 
ican flowers, the magnolia excepted. Dr. F. A. Eddy states that from 
descriptions given him by others, he had no doubt that this plant ex- 
isted in Smithfield, R. I. 
Dr. J. Wyman exhibited the cranium of the Stenorhynchus leptonyz of 
Blainville, recently presented to the society’s cabinet by Dr. J. B. John- 
son of New Bedford. his species is well distinguished from all the 
other Phocide, by the remarkable form of its molar teeth, all of them 
having the crown deeply trifid, so as to form three sharp conical points, 
the two exterior of which are bent towards the median line, and the cen- 
tral and longest one having its point curved backwards. ‘The cranium of 
this species was first figured by Sir Everard Home in his Comparative An- 
atomy, and in the Philos. Transactions, for 1822. It was afterwards 
more accurately described by Blainville, by whom it received the specific 
name of leptonyx; his description was drawn from another specimen in 
one of the French museums. ‘The animal to which this cranium belongs 
is an inhabitant of the southern Pacific seas, and its habits are not 
known. : : 
Mr. J. E. Tescuemacuer exhibited the following specimens of mine- 
rals lately received from Dr. Monticelli, some of which are entirely new 
in this country, viz. Gismondine in Thompsonite, regarded by Brooke 
and acknowledged by Monticelli as synonymous with Phillipsite and Aris- 
ite; Christianite which, according to the Berlin mineralogists is synony- 
mous with Fosterite; Humite; Biotine in brilliant white crystals; Mon- 
ticellite, of which there is no description; Hauyene in dodecahedral crys 
tals; chloride of copper. Mr. Teschemacher had also been informed by 
Dr. Monticelli, that the sulphurets of zinc and lead had been met with 
in lava; it was difficult to account for the presence of these substances, 
ok as they are volatilized by a temperature equal to that of melted 
ava. : os = 
= 
