﻿July, 1856.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



39 



Stem two to three feet high, diffusely branched, glabrous. Leaflets 

 roundish-obovate, strongly reticulated on the under side, glabrous on both 

 surfaces. Stipules large, roundish and unequally cordate at base, sessile 

 and embracing the stem, persistent. Flowers yellow, pedicellate, axillary 

 and forming short racemes at the extremities of the branches (like those of 

 B. tinctoria), the upper leaves sometimes becoming unifoliolate and bract 

 like. Teeth of the calyx short, triangular. Legumes short, inflated, on pedicel 

 half inch long, pointed with the long recurved indurated style. Plant not 

 blackening in drying. Flowers in June and July. Root perennial. 



Professor John McCrady introduced for publication, in the 

 proceedings, a paper on the Naked-eyed Medusa, of Charles- 

 ton harbor. Ordered to be registered. 



JULY 30th, 1856. 



President L. B. Gibbes in the chair. 



The Committee of Curators to whom was referred Prof. F. 

 S. Holmes' paper on a new genus of Kaiidae, etc., recom- 

 mend the same for publication in the Proceedings. 



Contributions to the Natural History of the American Devil Fish,with descrip- 

 tions of a new genus from ihe harbour of Charleston, South Carolina. 

 By F. S. Holmes. 



READ BEFORE THE ELLIOTT SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, JUNE llTH, 1856. 



The Devil-fish or Sea-Devil, as known to the planters of the sea-board of 

 South Carolina, appear in great numbers in our bays and harbors about the 

 first of June. They enter the inlets, from the ocean, at half-tide, feed upon 

 the shrimps and small fish that abound along the shores, and retire again to 

 sea on the ebb tide. They disappear from the coast towards the early part 

 of September. 



These fish are viviparous, producing only one at a birth, and it would ap- 

 pear that it is for this purpose they visit our shores. 



The author of " Carolina Sports," the Hon. Wm. Elliott, of Beaufort, has 

 captured a greater number than perhaps any other man, and has had ample 

 opportunity, of which he always availed himself, to observe their habits and 

 characteristics. "Some years back," he observes, "the Devil-fish were 

 sought for only in August. Last year, (1843) for the first time, in July, and 

 now, it appears, they may be taken in June. I am convinced, from what I 

 have myself observed, that they visit our inlets not occasionally only, and in 

 limited numbers, but annually, and in considerable shoals. They feed most- 

 ly upon the windward shores of the inlet, where the small fish chiefly con- 



