Ree A ie is irk iis te ee Daten os 
Se SA) Cee eee 
Tee Se eee iE Zire oh 
A od fap k= Se Re NC Ch eS eet ee See et ee 
NOTES. 575 
Mr. C. S. Minot presented specimens of stratified sand and 
other soils from Nashaurna Islands. The remarks called out by 
this item caused a digression to the subject of glacial scratches 
upon which Prof. Agassiz made a few suggestions. 
Mr. Straight offered a note upon the Supinator longus muscle 
of vertebrates. According to both Meckel and Huxley, this 
muscle is not found in dogs. Huxley mentioned it with a list of 
muscles which are generally represented in the vertebrates above 
fishes and which are well developed in man. Meckel names 
various of the mammalia in which it is found, but says it is absent 
in bats, the hyena, dog and some others. In dissecting the muscles 
of the forearm of a Newfoundland dog, July 19th, his attention 
was attracted by a peculiar strip of muscular fibre, scarcely three- 
eighths of an inch in width. In tracing it out to its distal end it 
was found to terminate in a small tendon, fully one-fourth the 
length of the entire muscle. J udging from the position of this small 
muscle Prof. Wilder unhesitatingly pronounced it the rudiment of 
the muscle known to anatomists as the “ Supinator longus.” It 
was so small that it would have been of very little if any use to 
the dog. It will be of interest to ascertain in what races of dogs 
this muscle is present, and in what absent, as we must admit it 
was absent in those dogs examined by Meckel and Huxley. 
e President hoped that sometime the club would possess 
a library of reference and a cabinet for comparison. Prof. Agassiz 
explained in reply, that by the terms of Mr. Anderson’s gift, it 
Was possible to make the library and collections of the Museum 
at Cambridge, at some time, available to the Anderson School. 
Professor Fernald made some interesting statements on the 
habits of Crepidula formicata Lam., upon being irritated. 
Miss Shattuck reported the addition of Betula alba, var. to the 
list of the flora of the island. 
Is it not a little strange that we should not have in this country 
4 first class zoological garden? The nearest approach is the 
Collection of animals in the Central Park, New York. Between 
April 1, 1870, and April 1, 1871, there were about 175 animals in 
this collection; they were placed in a series of buildings which 
- Surround the Museum and comprise one for the carnivora, one for 
the birds and monkeys, open air sheds for the bears, wolves, 
ete., roomy and open air cages for the eagles, domestic fowls, ete., 
