918 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. (October, 1886, 
north of South Carolina. Mr. U. C. Smith reported Pholas E 
truncata, another mollusk new to the locality, from Anglesea. 
ee eidy exhibited fossils from the northern part of Nica- , 
ragua, consisting of remains of megatherium, elephant, mastodon, 
horse, ox, toxodon and capybara. The association of animals 
further illustrated the extension in North America of the South 
American Quaternary fauna. The capybara jaw, more robusti 
than that of the recent form, might belong to a distinct species. 
It was the first time that remains of toxodon had been obtained 
in North America. The teeth agreed with those of Toxodon Bur- 
meistert. 
June 8.—Dr. Benjamin Sharp reported that while studying 
the eyes of serpents he had found that in the poisonous snakes « 
the pupils were elliptical, while in the harmless species they were 
circular, The only exception he was aware of was in the Ela- 
pide.’ 
The same speaker also stated that he had found that the reason 
that only the anterior face of the crystalline lens moves in the 
act of accommodation to distance, lies in the fact that upon pres 
sure the elongated cells of the posterior wall of the lens become 
compressed in the direction of their long axis, and when 
— pressure is removed these simply straighten ou 
Dr. Foote described the mines of Queretaro, noted for the | 
quantity and quality of the precious stones yielded by ine 
=- ` Opal has been found in varying quantity over the entire area S : 
a district twenty-five aE by six, In color the opals equ 
best Hungarian o E 
ssor Heilprin called attention to the fact that specimens © 
- Nassa obsoleta and Littorina saxatilis, collected at Atlantic oT i 
year ago, were stated by the lady who gathered them to be 
alive, yoi iy for several months they had been near a hea r 
wall surfa e 
os D H. ‘Alex stated that in no case could aini be properly 
' said to be fused. The biceps of the cat simply overgrows 
Some originally allotted to it, and takes advantage of an mages ‘ 
- titious surface of insertion. The pectoralis of man is comp 
of a single sheet folded on itself. 
” Pr C = Dolley read a paper on Salpa. 
dentata, one specimen of which he succeeded in raising ten 
. It was a Mi cork feet high, and probably the o 
5 in 
IWE P. Gibbons, of Alameda, Cal., spoke of the viviparous 
is known that — non staal alit sre as 
the serpents nak. the per eh “Proteroglypha have the 
