Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 571 
of China. The yield of tubers seemed to be very large, but they 
were intensely bitter. 
December 13, 1887.—Dr. Leidy, in speaking of the presence of 
parasites in fish, mentioned the fact that the drum fish (Pogonias 
chromis) seemed in some cases to owe its flavor to a parasitic worm, 
Acanthorhynchus reptans. He also mentioned the occurrence of the 
larvæ of bot flies in terrapins. 
December 20, 1887.—Prof. Heilprin discussed the rate of for-. 
mation of deep sea deposits, and concluded that there were probably 
unknown factors that involved deposition in past ages at a greater 
rate than at present. Dr. Dolley remarked that in the Bahamas 
foraminiferal deposit was comparatively rapid ; some of the smaller 
ys are being filled up by such material. He also spoke of what 
are called by the natives “ banana holes,” small pits with a deposit 
of soil and red earth, which may have been formed by the solution 
of the lime by the carbonic acid of vegetable matter. 
January 10, 1888.—Dr. Leidy described the cranium of a puma 
recently found under about thirty feet of earth in the bed of the 
Kaskaskia river, Illinois. It differed from the cranium of recent 
animals in having a higher inter-parietal crest, a narrower outline, 
and a flatter forehead. 
e yoke 
ra awed that, contrary to the dictum of Hertwig, it differed from 
at of t ; 
„January 31, 1888.— Prof. Heilprin communicated the results of 
his studies of the geology of Nantucket, in 1886. The beds at 
Totty had yielded about fifty-five species of fossil mollusks. 
e, and the disposition of the strata indicates a pre-glacial date. 
rof. W. J. Brooks gave the life-history of a jelly-fish, the mode 
of reproduc 
forms hith 
emselyes 
selyes started. 
on tubes h. 
Prof. Wilson stated that the so-called sprouts or corky roots of 
