32 PROCEEDINGS S. I. ASSN. ARTS AND SCIENCES. [VoL. J 



{Proc. vol. iv, p. 7), and is now in our museum. 



In connection with this subject, the following^ note on p. 401 of the 

 Mineralog-y of New York, by Lewis C. Beck (Natural History of New 

 York, Part iii, Albany, 1842), is of interest: 



" Chrome-Iron Ore ^ ^ "^ Richmond County. Octahedral crys- 

 tals of this mineral have long- been credited to the serpentine at the 

 Quarantine and elsewhere in this county. It is probable that they have 

 sometimes been nothing more than mag^netic iron ore." 



Mr. William T. Davis exhibited specimens of fresh water sponges 

 and read the following^ paper : 



Fresh Water Sponges from a Pond near Ricpimgnd. 



On the i8th of February, Mr. James Chapin and I found a g-reat 

 many sponges in a swamp or shallow pond near Richmond. The water 

 had been low before the pond was frozen over, and consequently the 

 sponges were above the ice on the twigs and prostrate branches that 

 had been submerged last summer. We saw about fifty of the dried 

 sponge masses, and from those exhibited it may be seen that some are 

 of considerable size. About three inches long and an inch and one- 

 half in diameter seemed to be the average dimensions. 



Some rather large gray sponges, probably of the same species, 

 were found several years ago in Martling's pond in the Clove Valley, 

 and with Mr. Thomas Craig and Mr, Frederick F. Hunt we col- 

 lected what were probably two species in a small pond near Gififord's 

 Lane at Green Ridge. Sponges have also been found in Silver Lake, 

 and indeed may be discovered in most any of our ponds, but not in 

 such abundance as in the little pond near Richmond. 



Mr. Davis and Mr. James Chapin exhibited several shell pellets and 

 submitted the following account of their occurrence : 



Shell Pellets Found on the Beach near Oakwood. 



On the I2th of last February, we found on the beach near Oakwood 

 a number of pellets, consisting of broken clam and mussel shells, which 

 had apparently been disgorged by some birds after the manner in which 

 owls disgorge pellets. Herring gulls rose in numbers near the place 

 where the pellets were found, and we also saw several ducks in the vicin- 

 ity. The pellets have been shown to several well known ornithologists, but 

 they have been unable to say what bird produced them, and the matter 



