are Huronian. This paper was referred to the PubHcation Com- 

 mittee. 



A. J. Conant read a paper "On the Mounds of New Madrid." 

 The burial moynd examined by him was found within an enclo- 

 sure of about fifty acres, which is surrounded by earthen walls. 

 Probably a thousand (very inuch decayed) skeletons have been 

 already found. Three pieces of pottery occur usually with each 

 skeleton. Some vessels were more than a foot in diameter, with 

 walls so thin that they could not have been safely moved when 

 filled with water. It was observed that some skeletons were in a- 

 much better state of preservation than others. In some cases the 

 outline of the skull was only shown by a thin white line in the 

 sand. In other cases the usual pieces of pottery were found, but 

 all traces of the skeleton had disappeared. Mr. Conant thought 

 this an evidence that the mounds had long been a place of burial. 



Dr. Geo. Engelmann remarked that the preservation of bones 

 depends upon humidity and the character of the soil. Many 

 bones, vastly older than any of the bones of these mound builders, 

 are found in a state of good preservation, where the external con- 

 ditions are favorable, especially when immersed in saline mud. 



Mr. Conant's paper was referred to the Publication Com- 

 mittee. 



Dr. G. Engelmann made a communication "On North Amer- 

 ican Oaks." The genus Qiiercus is more extensively developed in 

 America than in any other part of the world. In the Carolinas 

 and in the southwest oaks grow as small shrubs. The leaves of 

 different oaks show great variations, some resembling the leaves 

 of the willow, others that of the holly, etc. ; and even the leaves 

 of the same species vary excessively, as he had shown, e.g., in the 

 polymorphous Rocky Mountain oak, Quercus undtdata ; but the 

 fruit is very much the same in all. The typical and probably the 

 primitive oaks of the Tertiary had probably lobed leaves. An 

 oak found in California {Quercus densijiord) has a flower and 

 leaves like a chestnut, but bears acorns like an oak ; the cup of 

 the acorn, however, is spiny like the burr of the chestnut. Dr. 

 Engelmann remarked that this oak may be a hybrid produced 

 between the chestnut and oak in bygone times when these genera 

 were less differentiated, and it is well-known that even now hy- 

 brid oaks are not sterile, like most hybrids, but will propagate 



