HO 



flower border. Time and cultivation may produce even this. 



Some fungi, called puff balls, were laid on the table, ^vhich 

 belonged to the genus of Lycoperdon. The Chair explained 

 the internal structure in its cellular tissue, the mode in -which 

 its seed-like bodies were produced, the genesis or generation of 

 its root-like threads {mycelia) from the spores and the disper- 

 sion of the ripened spores and their office in nature as well as 

 in some of the employments in social life. 



On the conclusion of these observations, the Institute was 

 invited to the hearing of a Paper, presented by James J. H. 

 Gregory, of Marblehead, on Indian Relics from that place, 

 and likewise from South Hadley and Greenfield, in the vicinity 

 of the Connecticut River, and elsewhere, as follows, viz : 



The two localities in Massachusetts, Avhere relics of the 

 aborigines are found in the greatest number, are the immediate 

 vicinity of the seashore, the alluvial meadows of the Connecti- 

 cut River, and the gentle swells of land which rise from them. 

 They are seldom met with in the hilly and mountainous 

 districts. We therefore infer that those portions of the State 

 where the masses of the population are now found were likewise 

 favorite localities with the aborigines ; and it is often true that 

 those places in a township where relics of the Indians are most 

 numerous are also the favorite retreats of the refined excursion- 

 ist of lo-day; — a coincidence which would seem to indicate 

 that in the plan of creation the Creator united the greatest 

 utility with the greatest beauty. 



The collection of Relics on which these remarks are based, 

 was made principally during the years 1849-50, when the 

 meadows of Hadley, Hatfield, Sunderland and Deerfield were 

 leisurely traversed on foot and calls made at nearly every house 

 whose farm extended on the Great Meadows. Besides the above 

 towns several excursions were made to neighboring towns, 

 located in the more hilly regions ; and during the same period, 

 and subsequently, the town of Marblehead, Mass , has been 

 thoroughly perambulated, while a somewhat extended search 

 has been made in the town of Ipswich, Mass. 



It may not be out of place to remark, in passing, that one 

 great motive which led me to carry out the plan of collecting 

 these relics on a more extended scale than I at first designed, 

 was, to preserve them from destruction or loss ; for ■ at almost 

 every farm house on the Great Meadows of the Connecticut 



