112 PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Feb., 1886. 



period of life, the velvety appearance was attributed to an epithelial growth. 



After this careful but too short examination, no opportunity was offered at 

 that time for another, the child leaving for Florida with its parents, whence it 

 did not return until August, 1885, following, being then about two years old. 



Another examination was then made on board the steamer about to leave for 

 New York. The velvety surface had by this time completely disappeared and 

 had given way to one smooth and white, dotted in a radial direction with spots 

 of a duller aspect and as though thinner. But a short hne of pigment was vis- 

 ible at the right outer border of each iris. Pupil still black, vision good. The 

 two zones of the iris, internal and external, now distinguishable. 



Being then informed by the father that a photograph had been taken of the 

 child in Jacksonville about two weeks before, Dr. Chazal asked for and obtained 

 a copy, that shown to the meeting. 



On examining each iris with a good achromatic lens, a cluster of pigment 

 scales is seen at a short distance from the right outer border of either iris, so 

 that in the interval of two weeks the scales had moved close up to the edge. 



What had become of the velvety epithehal growth, of nearly all of the pig- 

 ment scales so abundant in brown eyes ( blue and grey eyes being said to have 

 none according to Heule ) ? Probably washed away or atrophied in part, but 

 Dr. Chazal had not the leisure to look for fragments if such there were. 



During the past winter wliile on a visit to Charleston the father informed Dr. 

 Chazal that the child's irises were apparently getting to be of a light grey color 

 like those of his mother, hence the child's grandmother. 



It is much to be regretted that the opportunities for examination were so 

 limited but Dr. Chazal is satisfied that the facts are carefully stated as he wit- 

 nessed them. 



The following paper was read: 



THE PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, 

 Protonotaria citrea, TBodd.) Baird. 



BY AKTHUK T. WAYNE. 



This beautiful little bird is an inhabitant of certain gloomy swamps near 

 Charleston, being found in large numbers in Caw-Caw swamp, near the Charles- 

 ton and Savannah Kailroad, twenty-eight miles from Charleston, and in some 

 n ambers in the "Nine Mile Bottom " North of the same city. The earliest ar- 

 rival that has come to my notice was on the 14th April, 1885. On that day I 

 secured the handsomest male that I have ever seen, those of that sex usually 

 arriving the first, as is the case with most birds. It confines itself during the 

 breeding season to the dense swamps along the seaboard of South Carolina, 

 where there is generally an abundance of moisture, and to enter which it is al- 

 ways difficult, on account of the depth of water in many places, and also on 

 account of the treacherous nature of the soil below. The only way to study 

 its habits to advantage in those localities is by means of a light canoe. In this 



