108 Proceedings of the Association 
Both specimens are quite flat and the pressure having been ap- 
parently nearly equal in each, this has not been taken into account 
in deciding the identity, for although the form of the shield 
sight have varied, the relative width of the bodies would not 
have been materially altered. 
Future observation must determine how far these species nity 
Seren —— the respective varieties. 
“An attempt to discover some of the laws which govern An- 
prt Torpidity and Hibernation ;” by Prof. Perer A. Browne.— 
Prof. B., after explaining a few technical terms, presented the Asso- 
ciation with a table of the animals which become torpid so far as 
is yet known to Natural History. He then proceeded to examine 
the phenomena of this extraordinary state, under the following 
heads. Ist, the respiration of torpid animals ; 2d, their circula- 
tion; 3d, their digestion ; 4th, their we 5th, their —— 
of relation ; 6th, their organs of respiratio 
Prof. Browne argued that there was.a total extinction of respi- 
ration in perfect torpidity, and hence, the state was neither that 
of life nor death ; but a third intermediate state. 
5...A ie on the Geographical Distribution of Species ; 
by Prof. po oe Apvams.—In illustration of the principles of dis- 
tribution ies as connected with climate, so. ably enforced 
by Prof. ietiain, it was stated that four hundred ; — 
lusea were found in a small part of the island of Jamaica in 
few weeks; that pe of these were land shella; of. eon 
new species were found by the collector with every ten m 
travel. As a remarkable example of the difference of station 
of different species, a small salt pond on the peninsula of Port 
oyal was described, in which Cerithium atratum occurred very 
abundantly from the margin to eighteen inches depth, w 
C. literatum commences and extends to three feet in depth. 
Although the two species approximate to contact at the zone of 
eighteen inches in depth, they do not intermingle. 
On the Taconic Rocks ; by Prof. C. B. Apams.—The nani 
part of Addison county, Vermont, possesses peculiar advantages 
for the study of the so-called ‘Taconic rocks, since here they pass 
from a highly metamorphic to a slightly metamorphic condition. 
and have been much less disturbed. Some of the typical Taconic 
rocks disappear, or more probably pass gradually into anheae tat 
Lower Silurian system. neti 
One of the most conspicuous of the rocks of this ragintsy isa 
red sandrock, which Dr. Emmons regards as at or near nae base 
of the New York a sage but which overlies the 
Division, in the order of red sandrock, Hudson river ‘shales; 
slate, Trenton limestone, and La Motte limestone. | re Seas 
- A section was exhibited of Snake mountain, in which these 
uplift with their relative position una 
