Intelligence and Miscellanies. 207 



the Lyceum, a mass of pure native copper, the property of 

 H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq. This mass weighs 47 lbs. and was 

 obtiJined at the mouih of the Ontonagon river. It is not to 

 be confounded with the larger mass lying higher up the river, 

 and which is composed in part of serpentine disseminated 

 through it in veins. — Dr. Dekuy read a description of a new 

 species of reptile from Paza, belonging to the genus Lepos- 

 ternon of Spix. It was thus charact«;rized. h. oxyrhinchiis. 

 L. f]avido-a!bidnm ; sulcis tnbus longitudinalibus dorso late- 

 ribusque. Rostro acuminato non mucronato. — Dr. Torrey 

 read an extract of a letter from Prof. Thomson of Glasgow, 

 containing analyses of several American minerals. That of 

 Siilimanite corresponds in the mam with that of Mr. Bowen, 

 but contains 18 pr. ct. of zircon. Cummingtonite is un- 

 doubtedly a new mineral species allied to Karphohte. Prof. 

 T. has also made a partial analysis of Disluite. It is not an 

 aluminous mineral, but a new species allied to spinelle. — Dr. 

 Torrey announced that he had received from Mr. Nuttall, a 

 mineral from Nova Scotia, which he is inclined to believe 

 will prove to be Nepheline, a new mineral species for this 

 country. It is the same mineral which has been considered 

 as a new species and termed Lederite. — Dr. Hosack pre- 

 sented the hydrophytologia of Lyngebye with other valua- 

 ble works; also a rich collection of marine plants from the 

 coast of Sweden, illustrating the work of Lyngebye. — Dr. 

 Mitchill read a portion of a paper entitled " a notice of oc- 

 currences in natural history and the sciences connected with 

 it, for the last few years in the U. S. — Mr. Henry Carey was 

 elected a resident member. 



October. — Mr. Reynolds rend a communication contain- 

 ing the result of his enquiries among the whalers and sealers, 

 and the observations and discoveries made by this class of 

 citizens in the Southern Seas. About 10,000 whales are 

 supposed to be annually destroyed. Mr. R. has collected 

 and embodied a mass of evidence sufficient to show the pro- 

 bable existence of nearly two hundred islands, rocks and 

 reefs not laid down in any chart.— Specimens of phyllite 

 from Lancaster, (Mass.) described in vol. 3d, of the annals, 

 and crystals detached and mounted, of the American topaz 

 from Monroe, (Con.) were presented by Dr. Torrey. — Dr. 

 Dekuy read a paper entitled, "description of a fresh water 

 fish of the Linnean genus Gadus, from Lake Superior." — Mr. 



