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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 176. 



nuded by peculiar conditions of wind and tide. 

 A correspondent, Mr. F. K. Farley, had re- 

 cently described such an exposure occurring on 

 June 16th-21th of last year and had sent him il- 

 lustrations of the carvings, which were exhibited. 

 Mr. Farley describes such portions of the car- 

 vings, mostly crude linear representations of 

 the human figure, as could then be seen, 

 estimates the time required to make them and 

 makes suggestions regarding their origin. The 

 speaker, in continuation, presented philological 

 evidence in support of the belief that Hawaii 

 had been visited by Spaniards at an early date. 



The distribution of Fulgur perversum on the 

 New Jersey coast was commented on by Messrs. 

 Woolman, Pilsbry and U. C. Smith. 



May 3d. Me. Geokgb Vaux, Je. , prefaced a 

 communication on lead minerals by the remark 

 that at a certain gathering of mineralogists a 

 preponderance of votes was given in favor of re- 

 garding Vanadenite and Wolfenite as the most 

 beautiful American minerals, although no one 

 species received a majority of all ■ the votes 

 cast. He then exhibited and described a series 

 of beautiful specimens of lead ores from his 

 private collection and the William S. Vaux col- 

 lection of the Academy, dwelling on the pe- 

 culiarities of the examples displayed and giving 

 the localities represented. 



Me. Joseph Wilcox referred to carbonate of 

 lead from Davidson Co., N. C, and related his 

 unsuccessful effort to buy certain fine specimens 

 from the original owners of the mine, who de- 

 clined parting with them on the ground that they 

 were all they had secured in return for their in- 

 vestment. Except in the case of mica and 

 corundum, and possibly a little gold, he be- 

 lieved none of the mines of the State had paid 

 their owners. 



Me. Lewis Woolman described and illus- 

 trated, by means of microscopic preparations, a 

 number of forms of fossil foraminifera, dwelling 

 on their characters, classification and distribu- 

 tion. Eeferring to the distribution of fossil Ful- 

 gur perversum on the New Jersey coast hequoted 

 from Captain Swain, of the Avalon Life Saving 

 Station, that they were found on the beach dur- 

 ing a strong northeast wind immediately follow- 

 ing a northeast gale. 



Me. F. J. Keelet exhibited under micro- 



scopes and commented on a series of specimens 

 illustrating the mode in which organisms are 

 preserved in fossil form. The exhibit included 

 fossil wood, coal, jet, limestone containing 

 shells, a larva in amber, structure of tooth of 

 Oreodon and bone of Iguanodon, diatoms from 

 Japan, coral, etc. 



Papers under the following titles were pre- 

 sented for publication : ' Materials toward a 

 natural classification of the Cylindrelloid Snails,' 

 by Henry A. Pilsbry and E. G. Vanatta ; ' Notes 

 on Mr. Meehan's paper on the Plants of Lewis 

 and Clark's Expedition across the Continent, 

 1804-06,' by Dr. Elliot Cones; 'List of Bats 

 collected by Dr. W. S. Abbott in Siam,' by 

 Gerrit S. Miller, jr. 



A paper on the vertebrate remains of the Port 

 Kennedy Bone Cave, by the late Professor Edw. 

 D. Cope, was accepted for publication in the 

 Journal. Papers on the summer birds of Cen- 

 tral California, by John Van Denburgh, and a 

 revision of the North American slugs, by Henry 

 A. Pilsbry and E. G. Vanatta, will be printed 

 in the Proceedings. 



Edwaed J. Nolan, 



Secretary. 



BOSTON SOCIETY OP NATUEAL HISTOEY. 



The Society met April 6th ; fifty-seven per- 

 sons present. 



Dr. C. B. Davenport read a paper, ' A pre- 

 cise criterion of species ; its applicability to 

 systematic zoology,' and Mr. J. W. Blankin- 

 ship followed with a paper on ' A precise cri- 

 terion of species ; its application to systematic 

 botany.' These papers will be published in an 

 early number of Science. 



Professor E. S. Morse considered that suc- 

 cess in determining the true relations of species 

 would be attained from methods similar to 

 those of Dr. Davenport and Mr. Blankinship. 

 He discussed at length the characteristics of 

 certain land and marine shells of New England 

 and Japan. 



Dr. B. L. Eobinson said that nutrition in 

 plants was of great importance and rendered 

 measurements of doubtful value ; maturity was 

 also of great importance and promiscuous varia- 

 bility should always be taken into account. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard said that newer forms 



