182 BULLETIN OF THE 



Mr. Theodore Gill made* a commuuicatioQ on 



A NEW SPECIES OF CHIMERA FOUND IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



One of the most unexpected discoveries recently made in 

 American ichtliyology is that of a species of the genus chimaura, 

 of which a specimen has lately been sent to the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. It was caught southeast of the La Have bank, in lat. 

 42° 40' N., Ion. 63^ 23' W., at a depth of 350 fathoms, with a 

 bait of halibut. An attentive comparison of the specimen with 

 individuals of the European chimsera monstrosa, renders it evi- 

 dent that it does not belong to that species, but is an entirely 

 distinct specific form. It may be named chimaera plumhea, and 

 diagnosed as follows : — 



Chimsera plumhea. 



A chimaey^a with the snout acutely produced ; the ante-orbital 

 flexure of the suborbital line extending little above the level of 

 the inferior margin of the orbit; the dorsals close together; the 

 dorsal spine with its anterior surface rounded ; the ventrals tri- 

 angular and pointed ; the pectorals extending to the outer axil 

 of the ventrals ; and the color uniformly plumbeous. 



By these characters the species is readily separable from the 

 chimsera monstrosa and other species of the genus. 



Mr. J. W. Powell made remarks on 



POISONS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, 



regarding the tale of their dipping arrows in deer's liver poisoned 

 by the bites of rattlesnakes as a myth. He spoke also of arts 

 among the South American Indians as derived from a higher 

 state of civilization than those found among the North American 

 Indians. 



Mr. Woodward quoted Dr. Hoffman, IT. S. A., as having seen 

 Indians poisoning their arrows in the way described, and as 

 having been informed by some of them that they carried different 

 arrows for destroying animals and their enemies. 



He also, on the authority of Dr. Coues, U. S. A., spoke of 

 poisoned wounds from arrows of the North American Indians. 



* Received hy tlie Secretary of the meeting, December 17. 



