Mar. iqo6] proceedings s. i. assn. arts and sciences. 33 



therefore has some interest. The pellets are about the size of English 

 walnuts and break easily when handled. Some of them are composed 

 wholly of soft-clam shells, one or two unbroken shells being occasional- 

 ly included at one end. These, of course, may have adhered when the 

 pellets were first cast upon the beach, though that does not appear to 

 have been the case. The little soft-clam {Mya ai-etiaria Linn.), about 

 one-half inch long and containing the dead animals, were exceedingly 

 numerous at the last high tide marks on the day of our visit. The 

 other pellets found were composed of about eqiial parts of broken mus- 

 sel shells {Mytilus edulis l^rnn.) and broken soft-clam shells, which 

 combination gave them a mottled appearance. 



The specimens of pellets exhibited intact have been soaked in shel- 

 lac, which accounts for their yellow color. 



As several specimens of the surf scoter duck, Oidemia perspicillata 

 (Linn.), were seen in the vicinity at the time the pellets were found, it 

 is possible that these birds may have been responsible for them. 



Specimens Exhibited. 



Mr. Davis exhibited a section of the trunk of a large poison sumac 

 {Rhus Vernix L.) from Clove Lake swamp, and a photograph of the 

 tree from which it was obtained taken by Mr. Romeyn B. Hough on 

 October loth, 1905. 



Also a cocoon of the American silk worm {^Telea Polyphemus Cra- 

 mer), constructed in the nest of a chipping sparrow {Spizella socialis 

 Wils.), and collected by a pupil of Mr. Stafford C. Edwards. 



Mr. Edwards exhibited a series of specimens of fungi having grown 

 around and enclosed various foreign objects, including twigs, grass 

 stems and blades, hickory nuts, moss, a feather and a fragment of rock. 

 Also an abnormal form, apparently of an EUvingia, which had de- 

 veloped peculiar finger-like prongs, probably due to having been in 

 contact with moving leaves while in process of growth. 



Photographs of some of these have been made, two of which are 

 shown in the accompanying plate. 



Mr. Alanson Skinner exhibited a series of photographs illustrating 

 the Iroquois-Algonkin Indians and other'New York tribes, and gave 

 an account of their former wars and migrations and their distribution 

 at the present time. 



Notes and Comments, 

 Mr. James Chapin read a number of records of the recent appearance 



