536 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [June, 1882. 



Dec. 20. — Mr. Martindale read a history of the connection of 

 Dr. Ruschenberger with the academy, as testimony to his ser- 

 vices, on the occasion of his declining re-nomination to the 

 presidency. 



Dec. 27. — As the result of the annual election it was announced 

 that Dr. Jos. Leidy was duly elected president of the Academy. 



Jan. 3, 1882.— Mr. Ryder confirmed, by the result of his obser- 

 vations on additional types, the formation of vacuoles in the noto- 

 chord of teleost fishes; and stated that although the tissue of the 

 neural and enteric portions of the neurenteric canal were contin- 

 uous, no open canal connected those portions. Dr. Leidy called 

 attention to the composition of the gravels of Philadelphia and its 

 vicinity, The commonest pebbles are quartz or quartzite, while 

 those next in frequency are red-sandstone, probably mesozoic. 

 Conglomerates are also found, but fossiliferous pebbles are very 



Jan. 10.— Mr. Heilprin called attention to the tidal theory of 

 Professor Ball, and stated that the existence of life upon the coast 

 tended to nullify some of Professor Ball's conclusions. 



Mr. Potts described a new sponge, Hetcromeyaiia ryden, also 

 a new species of Tubclla, which he named T. pennsylvanica.^ The 

 seed-bodies' of this latter sponge range from bV to 7 V of an inch in 

 diameter. He showed how the statoblasts of sponges like Spon- 

 gilla fragiUs. and Carterella form layers upon rocks, etc., after the 

 spicules of the sponge have been washed away. The subject of 

 the algous parasitic chlorophyll cells in certain sponges, infusoria, 

 and mollusks was discussed by the president and Mr. Ryder. 



Mr. Meehan related an incident which indicated that sparrow- 

 hawks can see mice when perched at a horizontal distance of 500 

 feet. 



Jan. 17.— Papers upon the new Crinoids of the Chemung 

 period from the State of New York, by H. S. Williams, M. D. ; 

 the Species of Odontomya found in the United States, by Dr. L- 

 T. Day, and a new station for CWcma Coumdii, by Aubrey H. 

 Smith, were presented for publication. Mr. Redfield spoke of the 

 extreme rarity of C. Conradii. 



Middlesex Institute. Feb. 28.— L. L. Dame, president, de- 

 livered an instructive lecture, the first in a series of twelve 

 weekly botanical lectures, on the " Growth of the plant from the 

 seed," to a class of nearly fifty members. 



March 7.— Mrs. A. J. Dolbear gave the second in the series, her 

 subject being, " Morphology of roots, stems, and branches." 



March 8.— President Dame briefly reviewed the first year's work 

 of the Institute, and made some excellent suggestions in u-ao- 

 to the best manner of carrying on the work which the Institute 

 rtaken. 



