1878.] 809 . [Wadsworth. 



20. Tachypetes aquilus Vieill. Conn.; accidental. 



21. Sterna fuliginosa Gm. Conn., Mass.; very rare, proba- 

 bly accidental. 



Taking from the previous catalogue Sterna portlandlca Ridgway, 

 ■which is only a synonym for St. macroura, there will remain three 

 hundred and thirty-five birds given in that list. With the above 

 additions, we have in all three hundred and fifty-six recognized forms 

 that have been taken within our limits. To show the zeal and indus- 

 try with which the knowledge of our fauna has been studied and 

 extended, it needs only to be mentioned that the list now contains 

 the names of not less than forty species not positively known to occur 

 in New England prior to 1874, although the occasional appearance 

 of some five or six had been looked for by several prophetic observ- 

 ers. This does not include seven species whose names had been 

 borne on previous lists, but without any recorded evidence of their 

 right to be there. It moreover includes two or three forms that some 

 do not recognize as of specific value, and one Avhose very existence 

 as a species appears to call for more evidence before its reality can be 

 fully admitted. 



General Meeting. February 20, 1878; 



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

 four persons present. 



Mr. C. S. Minot gave a sketch of the histology of the 

 grasshopper. 



The following papers were read : — 



Notes on the Petrography of Quincy and Rockport. 

 v By M. E. Wadsworth. 



The stone that is quarried in Quincy for building purposes, is 

 mainly a dark bluish and reddish gray syenite. 1 Its constituent feld- 

 spar varies in color, being of bluish, brownish, reddish, or ash gray 

 shades, and commonly occurs in simple twins. The quartz is color- 



i See Memoirs American Academy, 1st Series, Vol. m, page 137, and Vol. iv». 

 page 205. 



