390 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 



Jan. 20th, 1841. — Geo. B. Emerson, Esq., President, in the chair. 



The President exhibited the seed vessel of the Nelumbium lute.um from 

 the Missouri river. The N. Ivtnim beloncrs to the natural order of the 

 Nymphyaiacese of De Candolle, of which the number of species is small. 

 It is mentioned by Pursh as occurring in ponds in the neicrhborhood of 

 Philadelphia, where from its isolated situation, he supposed it must have 

 been carried by the Indians. It is mentioned by Prof Hitchcock as oc- 

 curring in Iladdara, Conn. The seed vessel is of a conical shnpe, the 

 base being perforated by about twenty orifices opening into as many cells, 

 each containing a single seed resembling an acorn in shape. This is well 

 figured by Bauhin, and is designated by him as the Fabtr Egrjptiaca. 

 The N. luteiim is described by Mr. Nuttall as bearing the largest of Amer- 

 ican flowers, the magnolia excepted. Dr. F. A. Eddy states that from 

 descriptions given him by others, he had no doubt that this plant ex- 

 isted in Smithfield, R. I. 



Dr. J. Wyman exhibited the cranium of the Stenorhynclius Icptonyx of 

 Blainville, recently presented to the society's cabinet by Dr. J. B. John- 

 son of New Bedford. This species is well distinguished from all the 

 other Phocidae, by the remarkable form of its molar teeth, all of them 

 having the crown deeply trifid, so as to form three sharp conical points, 

 the two exterior of which are bent towards the median line, and the cen- 

 tral and longest one having its point curved backwards. The cranium of 

 this species was first figured by Sir Everard Home in his Comparative An- 

 atomy, and in the Philos. Transactions, for 1822. It was afterwards 

 more accurately described by Blainville, by whom it received the specific 

 name of leptonyx; his description was drawn from another specimen in 

 one of the French museums. The animal to which this cranium belongs 

 is an inhabitant of the southern Pacific seas, and its habits are not 

 known. 



Mr. J. E. Teschemacher exhibited the following specimens of mine- 

 rals lately received from Dr. Monticelli, some of which are entirely new 

 in this country, viz. Gismondine in Thompsonite, regarded by Brooke 

 and acknowledged by Monticelli as synonymous with Phiilipsite and Aris- 

 ite; Christianite which, according to the Berlin mineralogists is synony- 

 mous with Fosterite ; Huniite ; Biotine in brilliant white crystals ; Mon- 

 ticellite, of which there is no description ; Hauyene in dodecahedral crys- 

 tals; chloride of copper. Mr. Teschemacher had also been informed by 

 Dr. Monticelli, that the sulphurets of zinc and lead had been met with 

 in lava; it was difficult to account for the presence of these substances, 

 inasmuch as they are volatilized by a temperature equal to that of melted 

 lava. 



