18 



THE WEST-AMEBICAN SCIENTIST. 



SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The regular meeting was held 

 Friday evening, Feb. 9th, the 

 president, Dr. G. W. Barnes, in 

 the chair. The formation of a sec- 

 tion adjunct to the Society, coin- 

 dosed of the San Diego Historical 

 Society, was consummated. The 

 following publications were re- 

 ceived: Proceedings and Trans- 

 actions of the Nova Scotia Insti- 

 tute of Natural Sciences of Hali- 

 fax, by Mr. Simon D. McDonald; 

 also by the same, a pamphlet by 

 himself on Sable Island and its 

 attendant phenomena; Meteorol- 

 ogy of Oakland, by J. D. Trembly 

 M. D. ; Transactions of Yassar 

 Brothers Institute and its Scien- 

 tific section, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 

 1833-1884; Bulletin of the Minne- 

 sota Academy of Sciences, Janu- 

 ary 1882; official document — en- 

 grossed on parchment — of the Ha- 

 waiian Council in 1864, by E. W. 

 Hendrick; a check-list of the 

 flowering plants and ferns of 

 Southern and Lower California, 

 by C. K. Orcutt; Bevision of 

 the Stenini of America north of 

 Mexico, from the author, Thos. 

 L. Casey. Miss Bosa Smith exhib- 

 ited the egg and young of a Swell 

 Shark — Scylliorhinus ventriosus. 

 Dr. Barnes exhibited a specimen 

 of turquoise — the sacred stone of 

 the Aztecs — from the mine near 

 Cerillos , New Mexico, stating his- 

 torical and scientific facts connect- 

 ed with it. Four new members 

 were elected. 



Specimens of the fruit of all 

 our manzanitas ( Arctostaphylos ) 

 can now be had with many other 



I 



INQUIRIES. 



Mr. Geo. F. Kunz desires to 

 learn of any mention made of 

 pearls in any paper — either as a 

 newspaper item, or in a popular 

 or scientific work. 



Lovers of flowers are requested 

 to note the first appearance of 

 blossoms in their immediate neigh- 

 borhood of all the varieties they 

 can; also duration of the time of 

 blossoming, peculiar conditions, 

 etc. 



California Erythraeae wanted by 

 the publisher — 30 or more fine 

 specimens of every species except 

 E. venusta and E. Douglasii; will 

 give liberal exchange. 



MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



Some fine specimens of Laevi- 

 cardium elatum, Sby. are now on 

 hand at prices from 50 cents to $3 

 each. 



Two or three specimens of 

 Chlamydoconcha orcutti, DalL can 

 be had at $1 each. 



Dr. Frank Cowan a member of 

 the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Science, gave an entertaining and 

 instructive lecture on India, the 

 evening of the 9th instant, under 

 the auspices of the San Diego 

 Society of Natural History. He 

 was a guest on the U. S. survey- 

 ing steamer, Carlisle P. Patterson 

 on her voyage from the east on 

 her way to Alaska where she is 

 ordered. Dr. Thos. H. Streets 

 and Messrs. Niblock and Marsh 

 are stationed on this vessel and 

 attend to the Natural History de- 

 partment, Lieut. Clover command- 



