174 



cies at two widely different seasons ; early in June at Fitchburg, in 

 this State, and in the middle of August at the White Mountains. 



Prof. Agassiz referred to the difference in the time of development 

 in Rana lemporaria, in the Alps and Lowlands, in the latter of which 

 the eggs are laid in March and April, and attain their development 

 the same season, while on the mountains they are laid in June, and 

 remain in the tadpole state during the winter. . 



The President alluded to a remarkable case of poisoning, which 

 had occurred, as was alleged, by the introduction of the anther of a 

 tiger lily (^Lilium tigrinum) into the nostril of a child, causing inflam- 

 mation, followed by vomiting, and finally by death. 



Upon request. Prof Agassiz gave an account of the conclusions at 

 which he had arrived by the study of tertiary fossils in reference to 

 the division of the strata in wliich they occur. He was satisfied that 

 the primary divisions given by Lyell were natural, although the sub- 

 divisions are much more numerous, and the basis upon which the 

 larger groups had been founded was erroneous ; the relations of 

 one group of beds to another being correctly based upon a percent- 

 age of species, representative of, rather than identical with, those 

 now living. He was further satisfied that the principles upon which 

 fossiliferous deposits of distant regions had been synchronized, namely, 

 by the similarity of their organic forms, was entirely erroneous, since 

 such fossils, even when unquestionably cotemporaneous, showed fre- 

 quently, when compared together, greater differences than the fossils 

 from successive horizons in the same country. 



November 5, 1862. 

 The President in the chair. 



The committee appointed at the previous meeting to take 

 suitable action with reference to the decease of Dr. B. D. 

 Greene, being called upon, — 



Dr. A. A. Gould offered some preliminary statements with 

 regard to Dr. Greene's connection with the early history of 

 the Society, and then gave place to the introduction of reso- 

 lutions by Professor W. B. Rogers. 



Professor W. B. Rogers said that before submitting to the Society 

 the resolutions which he held in his hand, he was desirous of making 

 a few remarks pn the important services and peculiar virtues of our 



