13 



Monday, April 2, 1866. Regular Meeting. 



James Kimball, Esq., in the Chair. 



Letters were announced from Prof. Henry How, King's College, Wind- 

 sor, N. S. ; W. S. West, Salem; Prof. Robert BeU, Kingston, C. W. ; Prof. 

 Jos. Moore, Richmond, Ind. ; Mrs. O. Marcy, Evanston, HI. ; B. P. Mann, 

 Cambridge ; G. K. Gilbert, Rochester, N. Y. ; Rev. Samuel Lockwood, 

 Keyport, N. J. ; Prof. J. H. Salisbury, Cleveland, Ohio ; I. A. Lapham, 

 LL. D., Milwaukee, Wis. ; S. B. McMillan, East Fairfield, Ohio ; C. D. 

 Marshall, Corresp. Sect. Buffalo, Soc. Nat. Sciences; Dr. Wm. Sharswood, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. ; Dr. James Knapp, Louisville, Ky. ; Dr. Theodatus Gar- 

 lick, Cleveland, Ohio; Prof. Theo. Gill, Smithsonian Institution; P. R. 

 Uhler, Cambridge ; Prof. Robert Peter, Lexington, Ky. ; Prof. Theo. Par- 

 vin, Iowa State TJniver:^ity; 0. C. Marsh, New Haven, Ct. ; Dr. Edward 

 Ravenel, Charleston, S. C. ; George W. Holden, Dayton, Ohio ; Dr. A. S. 

 Packard, Boston Soc. Nat. History ; Rev. J. A. Swan, Kennebunk, Me. ; 

 Prof. A. E. Verrill, Yale College ; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 

 D. C; Prof. F. S. Holmes, College of Charleston, S. C. ; Prof. S. Ten- 

 ney, Vassar College, N. Y. ; Christopher Johnson, Baltimore, Md. ; Geo. Pea- 

 body Russell, Haverhill ; R. Damon, Weymouth, Eng. ; A. C. Chandler, New 

 Gloucester, Me. ; Tiiomas BLaad, New York ; Iowa State Historical Socie- 

 ty; Nevvburyport Public Library ; New York Lyceum of Natural History; 

 Dr. S. A. Green, Boston ; Minnesota Historical Society; A. Agassiz, Cam- 

 bridge; Isaac Lea, LL. D., Piiiladelphia ; Prof. Geo. J. Brush, New Haven, 

 Conn ; E. F. Beadle, New York ; L. A. Swasey, Salem ; Prof. W. H. Brew- 

 er, Yale College ; Thomas H. Webb, Boston ; Boston Public Library. 



James Kimball read a communication relating to the witchcraft papers 

 in the Salem Court House, Boston and other places; copies of many of 

 which have been made by order of the County Commissioners of Essex Co., 

 and are now deposited in the Salem Court House, forming a valuable addi- 

 tion to the records of those trials. 



Mr. Kimball also read the petition of George Herrick, of Salem, for 

 services relative to witchcraft as Marshall and Deputy Sheriff of Essex 

 County ; also the Inventory of the Estate of Philip English, which was 

 confiscated at the time of his prosecution for witchcraft. 



The propriety of printing all papers that can be obtained relating to the 

 Witchcraft trials in this County was discussed, and a motion was adopted 

 appointing a Committee of three to take the subject into consideration and 

 report at a future meeting. Messrs. H. M. Brooks, W. P. Upham and 

 James Kimball were chosen as the Committee. 



J'rancis G. Sanborn, of Andover, gave an account of the method of 

 communicating ideas among insects by means of their antennae. He stated 

 that while collecting in Norfolk County early in the spring of 1865, his at- 

 tention was called to an irregular black mass about the size of one's doubled 

 fists, apparently resting on the top of the spires of grass, then about four 

 inches high, in a pasture. On approaching, it was found to consist of small 

 black ants clinging to each other, and supporting the mass by their united 

 strength, so that it rested on the ground only at its centre. On separating 

 them gently with the fingers, an oval cluster of eggs was revealed, which 



