1 882.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1047 



United States. Having bunodont teeth, and five toes on each 

 foot, they are the most generalized of the sub-order, but have 

 left no unchanged descendants. 



The Rev. H. C. McCook described some interesting variations 

 in the forms of the nest of Epeira stnx. The ordinary nest of 

 this spider, when in open wood or field, is a rolled leaf fastened 

 by adhesive threads. A second form consists of two leaves lashed 

 together; a third of small holes in wood or stone, lined with 

 web; a fourth (one example found) was a silk-lined cavity in a 

 ball of sawdust, made by the carpenter ant; a fifth, or rather a 

 whole series of variations was exhibited by a colony domiciled 

 among fallen timber; a sixth form was a cavity in a bunch of 

 parasitic moss ; and a seventh is that made when the spider 

 weaves her orb on the exposed portions of human habitations, 

 and consists of a stiff cylinder of silk lashed strongly to the 

 surface. This form js taken only in new buildings, which afford 

 no crevices. In view of these adaptations to the environment, 

 the spider must be credited with no small degree of intelligence. 



March 28.— Professor H. C. Lewis gave the analysis of Helvite 

 from the mica mine near Amelia Court House, Va. The result 

 differs from the usual analysis of Helvite, which has not previously 

 been found in America. 



April 18. — Professor Kcenig described some crystals of orthite 

 from the mica mine, at Amelia Court House, Va. 



May 2.— Professor Leidy called attention to Filaria Armani, an 

 entozoan that takes up its residence in the brain of the darter, 

 Plotus anhinga. Professor Wyman found this worm in seventeen 

 out of nineteen birds examined, coiled up on the back of the 

 cerebellum between the arachnoid and pia mater, from two to 

 eight or more in each bird. The specimen exhibited by Dr. 

 Leidy had a single worm enclosed between the two laminae of the 

 dura mater in the internal of the cerebrum and cerebellum. 



obtained from th stomach- ot /'/, ' s auhui^ > (i \ u us ,/i/of/ws 

 Pelecanus trachyrhynchus and P. fuscus. Dr. Leidy exhibited a 

 specimen of the irregular phosphntic nodules, probabiycoprolitesof 

 a zeuglodont or cetacean, brought from Ashley river. S. C, to 



rolled pebble with a groove round the. middle like that of the 

 stone hammers found in the ancient copper mines of Lake Su- 



Mr.Meehan gave an account of the supposed reasons why 

 Thuja occideuta/is gained the name of Arbor ViTe, and suggested 

 that the tree might be the "Annedda." a decoction of which' saved 

 the lives of Cartier's band in 15 ^4. The Annedda is usually iden- 

 tified with the white spruce i Abies aiba), from the \ oung tops and 

 leaves of which, according to Rafinesque, the Indians obtained a 

 spruce beer, that was one of their famous remedies for scurvy. 



