THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 135 



examine more closely the cause of the panic. Well, there on the 

 very margin, depending from the branch of a plant, was another 

 member of the family to which my unwelcome acquaintance belong- 

 ed, fixed by the tail. 



On relating my adventures to an old friend of my father's sub- 

 sequently, he seemed highly amused, and told me what I thought 

 was a plant was a live animal called "a hydra," that if its body was 

 cut into small pieces, each after a short time became a complete an- 

 imal. Then he informed me the name was derived from the myth 

 of a serpent with many heads slain by Hercules — as fast as he cut 

 them off they put in a fresh appearcnce. 



The famous naturalist Louis Agassiz, was, I think, the first to 

 transfer not only the graptolites but some of the lower forms of corals 

 to the hydrozoa, while the elder Sars boldly asserted that the 

 modern sertularia, tubularia, campanularia, commonly called ''sea- 

 wreaths," "sea-feathers," "sea-bells," all closely allied to graptolites, 

 are merely alternating generations of the medusse, that these 

 hitherto supposed polyps and their numerous united families 

 proceed from a single medusa larvae, and that they in their turn 

 produce complete and perfect acalephse ; that however unlike they 

 may seem to be they are identical. Few of us, perhaps, may ever 

 be afforded an opportunity of studying the lower forms of marine life. 

 This, if it can be proved, seems very wonderful. 



Several years ago the Italian naturaUst Chamisso asserted of 

 the linked salpa, composed of chains of individuals united, which 

 glides like a snake through the blue water of the Mediterranean, 

 every link a distinct animal, but moving as if actuated by a common 

 impulse, and pursuing the same course as if controlled by a united 

 will, that each separated link gives birth to a chain of linked individ- 

 uals, while the chain itself produces but a solitary salpa. This 

 extraordinary statement is now a well authenticated fact. 



Graptolites. — Although it was known to many in Canada and 

 the States that the local rocks of this city are rich in these remains, 

 the circumstance does not appear to have attracted much attention 

 elsewhei:e. 



Dr. Spencer, F. G. S , in 1884 described and figured in the 

 Bulletin of the Museum, Columbia (Mo.) University, several fos- 

 sils from the neighborhood of Hamilton, previously unknown, in- 

 cluding about thirty new graptolites, remarking that he was in pos- 



