1877. ] | Proceedings of Societies. 511 
was not so dense nor the quantity so large in proportion as in the other 
graves, so that most of the upper parts of the skeleton were exposed 
to view upon lifting the covering slab. In addition to the human 
remains nothing was found except four large marine shells, known as 
the Busycon perversum of Linneus. The position of each of these in 
relation to the bodies was the same. ‘The canal or smaller end of the 
shell had been placed in the right hand of each individual, while the 
larger portion rested in the hollow above the left hip. But more re- 
markable than this was the fact that within each of the shells had been 
packed what appeared to be the bones of a child, the skull, which evi- 
dently had been crushed before burial, protruding beyond the aperture. 
It was difficult to resist the conclusion that these infants were sacrificed 
as offerings to the spirits of the dead whom the living desired to honor. 
Dr. Leidy remarked that while strolling along the sandy beach at 
Cape May, N. J., he observed that in a number of places, where the 
water of hollow beds had sunken away in the sands, a thin, yellowish- 
green film colored the surface. A portion of this green matter was 
scraped up and put in a bottle with sea water. The heavier sand sub- 
sided and the green matter remained in suspension, giving the water an 
olive-green color, reminding one of the colored turbid liquor decanted 
from a jar of stale preserved olives. The color was suspected to be due 
to the presence of diatoms, but on microscopie examination it proved to 
be caused by multitudes of a greenish monad, probably pertaining to the 
genus Chilomonas. The minute flagellate infusorian is discoid oval in 
form, with a slight emargination laterally. This emargination seems to 
indicate the position of the mouth, and from it projected a single delicate 
flagellum, or thread, scarcely distinguishable. The little creature moved 
active forward, rolling over from one side to the other, and rapidly vi- 
brating the flagellum. Under a high power the animal appeared trans- 
parent and nearly colorless, with two or three balls, of yellowish green 
ue, and several transparent, colorless, and well-defined globules. The 
size of the monad ranged from 1-4000 to 1-2400 of an inch in length, 
but what they lacked in size they made up for in numbers, large patches 
of the beach being colored by them. 
Catirornia AcApemy or Sciences. — May. By Mr. J. A. Hosmer 
a skull and stone mortar was presented. They were found on Anacapa 
Island, at the base of an artificial shell mound, the mound one of a num- 
ber, and the shells chiefly those of abalone (Haliotis) and (Mytilus) mus- 
sel. F ragments of flint were scattered around, evidently left there by 
arrow-makers. Fossils of leaves from the intercalated clays in the au- 
riferous gravels, near Blue Tent, Nevada County, were presented by D. 
P. Hughes. Mr. $. B. Christy, of the University of California, read a 
paper entitled Some Notes on the Mount Diablo Coal Mines, ete. Tt 
gave an analysis of the various grades of coal in the Mount Diablo field, 
and in those of Livermore Valley, California, and Washington Territory. 
