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ties in the county. In this connection he alluded to the 

 importance of preserving specimens of our most common 

 fishes, wliich are found in the waters of our county. There 

 are probably two distinct species of pickerel (Esox) within 

 its limits, though they may have been mistaken for one and 

 the same. It is a matter of some importance to be able to 

 indentify such a fact as this, and the only way to do so, is 

 by collecting as many as possible of all sizes, from the small 

 and young ones, to the adult and oldest, and then by 

 critically comparing them. Mr. W. thought that there exists 

 too little knowledge of our own species, and urged upon the 

 meeting and especially upon anglers, the presentation to 

 the Institute of specimens, no matter how common they may 

 seem to be, nor how many. 



B. F. Mudge alluded to the existence of the extensive salt 

 marshes in the neighborhood and to their interest in a geo- 

 logical point of view. From an examination into their 

 nature and composition he believed that this part of our 

 coast was gradually settling at the rate of two feet in a cen- 

 tury. The occurence of stumps of large trees several feet 

 below the surface of the marsh, and which must have grown 

 there when it was dry land and of course when it was above 

 sea level, seemed to furnish proof. Hon. Allen W. Dodge, 

 dissented from this theory, thinking it possible that such a 

 subsidence might be true of certain circumscribed localities, 

 but could not be so general. To this it was rephed that such 

 subsidence was no novelty in geological science ; and that, 

 were other proofs requisite, it could be shown from old title 

 deeds of real estate in Lynn for instance, dated back one 

 hundred and fifty years, that such was really the case. It 

 was clear to Mr. Mudge that the salt-grasses would readily 

 appear upon the sunken upland, and in time completely 

 usurp all the saline soil around. 



C. M. Tracy of Lynn, offered additional testimony in the 

 digging up a stump of a tree within the limits of that city, 



