PROCEEDINGS 



BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



TAKEN FROM THE SOCIETY'S RECORDS. 



General Meeting, October 4, 1876. 



The President, Mr. T. T. Bouve, in the chair. Twenty- 

 nine persons present. 



Mr. Chas. S. Minot gave an account of the investigations 

 of Semper, Balfour, Schultz, Dohrn, Miiller, Meyer, Spengel, 

 Brown, Rolph, and others, tending to prove a close relation- 

 ship between Worms and Vertebrates, and the necessity for 

 a new group, Protochordatce. 



Mr. Minot spoke of the bigeminal evolution in Annelids, and of 

 the Annelidan character of the segmental organs of the Vertebrates. 

 He then discussed the segmentation in Worms and other classes, and 

 the removal of Amphioxus and the Ascidians to a side branch, away 

 from the main stem of the Vertebrates. He finally mentioned the 

 difficulty of explaining the origin of the limbs and the position of the 

 mouth in Vertebrates. He concluded that the nearest relatives of 

 the Vertebrates are not the Molluscs, but the Annelids. 



A letter was read from Mr. C. F. Winslow, relating to the 

 occurrence of Alasmadonta in the Warm Spring Lake, a mile 

 or two north of Salt Lake City. 



The tepid water of the lake is impregnated with sulphur. Be- 

 sides Alasmadonta, several Helices, as well as diatoms, etc., are 

 found. Specimens of the former, and also some Artemias from the 

 Great Salt Lake, were presented to the Society. 



PKOCEEDI^GS B» S. N. H. — VOL. XIX. 1 M^JBCH, 1877. 



