1884.1 213 [Proceedings. 



guine hopes, have impelled me to go on with my work. And 

 when, again, after years of comparative inactivity, I have under- 

 taken to complete a work, to which, with the knowledge and expe- 

 rience of years, should be added the vigor of youth for its accom- 

 plishment, I sometimes fear that its consummation will be rather 

 an apology for what ought to have been done, than the expression 

 of an achievement. I cannot find language to express to you the 

 great gratification it has given me to receive this mark of the 

 approbation of my services to science by men whom I esteem and 

 honor and who have been my co-laborers for many years. 



Coming from your Society, it reminds me of my first feeble ef- 

 forts to learn something of natural science and of the time when I 

 received help and encouragement from the founders of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, among whose earlier and later mem- 

 bers I have counted many dear friends, — some of whom have 

 passed away and some who still live to do noble work in the cause 

 of science. 



It comes to me like a distant, pleasant echo, almost from the 

 home of my childhood and youth, and brings up the recollections 

 of my associations with men and with nature which will ever re- 

 main with all the freshness of life's earlier years. 



Please present to the Council of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History my warmest thanks for the honor thus conferred upon 

 me, and believe me, 



With the most sincere regard, 



Very truly yours, 

 [Signed] James Hall. 



Mr. S. Garman spoke of an Indian hiding-place in the heart of 

 the "bad land" of Missouri. A ring of stones, heaped around 

 the edge for protection from the weather, marks the position of 

 each lodge. Mr. Garman also described some Indian burial places 

 of the western coast of South America, illustrating the different 

 aboriginal methods of burial. He thought the varying circum- 

 stances of the various tribes had induced the different customs he 

 had noticed, each adapting itself to the accidents of environment. 



Professor Hyatt discussed the affinities of Beatricea, a fossil 

 variously regarded as a sponge, a coral, a cephalopod and even a 

 plant. It seemed to him to be probably a foraminifer. 



