224 



at Mineral Point and at Prairie du Chien, the copper ore was found 



to give out at a very moderate distance from the surface. 



In the course of the discussion whicli followed, Dr. Jackson alluded 

 to the lead ore of Shelburne, N. H., which bears unmistakable proofs 

 of particil fusion in place, since its deposition, and attributed this semi- 

 fusion to the hot vapors which brought up the materials of the copper 

 pyrites, which incrusts the crystals of the partially fused galena. 



Rev. Mr. Denton made some statements confirmatory of Dr. Jack- 

 son's views as to the sublimation theory, and also as to the age of the 

 rocks presented ; he having travelled through the lead regions of the 

 Western States, and viewed the fossils in the rocks and the lead ores 

 in the mines. He stated that he had seen a cavern incrusted with 

 crystallized galena, having a deposit of iron pyrites on its surface, 

 so thick as to require it to be removed by the hammer, in prepara- 

 tion of the lead ore for reduction in the furnace. 



Dr. B. J. Jeffries presented a specimen of the little brown 

 snake {Storeria Dekayii Baird and Girard), captured in 

 Newport Harbor, at least four or five hundred feet from the 

 nearest wharf, although the species is strictly terrestrial in its 

 habits. 



Mr. Putnam remarked that in the State Cabinet there is a 

 specimen of Grystes fasciatus Ag., which is said to have been 

 taken from Massachusetts Bay, but which he thought could 

 not have been the case, as the species has hitherto been 

 found only in fresh water, and no nearer than Lake Cham- 

 plain. He investigated the contents of the stomach of the 

 sj)ecimen, hoping to find there the remains of some animal, 

 an inhabitant either of salt or fresh water, but the only 

 things found were the scales and a ventral fin of a fish, which 

 proved to be the Alewife {Alosa tyrannus Dek.) ; thus noth- 

 ing was gained, as this species, though an inhabitant of the 

 salt water, ascends rivers leading into ponds and lakes to 

 deposit its spawn. 



Dr. J. B. S. Jackson presented, in the name of Mr. Francis 

 H. Jackson, a hair-ball from the stomach of an ox, and ex- 

 hibited a number of other specimens. 



The general form of these bodies is round, though occasionally 

 oval, very compact, and with no admixture of foreign substances ; 

 they almost invariably have a thin, smooth coating of a dull brownish 



