Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Natural science association, Staten Island. 



March 13. — Mr. Gratacap presented a list of fifty- 

 one fossils, compiled from the material collected in 

 the drift at different parts of the island. It is ex- 

 pected to add still further to the list during the 

 present year, when it will be printed for distribution. 



Mr. Hollick called the attention of the members 



to the efforts now being made to protect the birds of 

 the United States from destruction ; and extracts 

 from Science supplement of Feb. 26, 1886, were read, 

 relating to the subject. The following resolution 

 in relation thereto was adopted : That the Natural 

 science association of Staten Inland heartily sympa- 

 thizes with the efforts now being made to protect the 

 birds of the United States from destruction, and 

 offers its earnest co-operation with any organization 



or individual having the desired object in view. 



Mr. Davis stated that up to the present time sixty 

 species of butterflies had been found on Staten Island, 

 the following having been added to the printed list 

 of 1884 during the past year : Feniseca tarquinius 

 F. ; Pomphila massasoit Scad. ; P. pontiac Edw. ; 

 P. otho, var. egeremet, Scud. ; and P. metacomet 

 Harr. He further stated that he had obtained 

 reliable information concerning the occurrence of 

 the opossum on the island in years past. Several 

 farmers had seen them, and Mr. Prall, living near 

 New Springville, killed one about fifteen years ago. 

 He had also been informed that Mr. David Simonson 

 found a dead raccoon under a hay-stack which he 



removed during the past winter. Mr. Hollick 



showed a stone axe, club-head, two hammer-stones, 

 and several arrow-heads, from new localities in the 

 neighborhood of Eichmond and Green Eidge. The 

 localities are of interest from the fact that they are 

 not near the salt water, and are not shell mounds like 

 those at Tottenville, Kreischerville, and Watchogue. 

 They probably represent the sites of old camps. 

 The probable presence of Indian implements at each 

 locality was first suspected from the number of flint 



chips scattered over the fields. A nest of the 



carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) was exhibited. 

 The boring or tunnel was five inches and a fifth long, 

 and contained six bees, — three males and three 

 females. Tl e specimen was obtained this past win- 

 ter while trimming a larch-tree. 



Engineers' club, Philadelphia. 



March 6. — Mr. W. H. Dechant presented a de- 

 scription of a practical test to operate a distant sig- 

 nal by a wire run through a pipe filled with oil. 

 The distance from the operating -office to the sema- 

 phore signal-post, in the case described, was eleven 

 hundred feet, and part way along a four and a six 

 degree curve. Instead of leading the wire through 

 a long wooden box, supported on small pulleys, as is 

 usually done, a trench averaging fifteen inches in 

 depth was dug along a carefully laid out line ; stakes 

 eight feet apart were driven along the bottom of this 

 trench, so that their tops should come to a uniform 

 grade-line, which, in this case, was about sixty-six 

 feet per mile ; upon the tops of these stakes a 3-4 

 inch galvanized iron pipe was fastened, so as to hold 

 it in as true a position as possible. A No. 15 iron 

 wire was strung through each piece of pipe as they. 



were screwed together, so that it might be used to 

 draw the signal- wire through the pipe lino after it 

 was all laid. The pipes were all carefully examined 

 and cleaned. After the pipe was all laid, the 3-16 

 inch iron signal-wire was stretched out with block 

 and tackle to straighten it and take out all short 

 kinks, and was then pulled through into its proper 

 position in the pipe, by the smaller wire that had 

 been strung through during the laying of the pipe. 

 A small brass stuffing-box was screwed to each end 

 of the pipe, through which the ends of the leading 

 wire were passed : these stuffing boxes prevent the 

 escape of the oil. The ends of the pipe being thus 

 closed up, it was filled with common car lubricating- 

 oil, mixed with about one-quarter part of refined 

 coal-oil to keep it from thickening in cold weather. 

 The filling was done through a short upright branch 

 pipe attached at the highest end of the pipe. The 

 lever, by which the distant signal is operated at the 

 signal office, by the same movement turns four sig- 

 nal-boards on the tower, and during the summer the 

 usual counterbalance on the semaphore signal post, 

 adjusted to exert its least weight, would operate the 

 arm on the signal-post and revolve the signal boards 

 on the tower. During the colder weather the lubri- 

 cation is possibly slightly stiffened, so that this same 

 counterbalance barely turns the signal-boards in the 

 tower, and must have slight assistance. The experi- 

 ment has proved very successful thus far in the 

 severe weather of this winter, and has required no 

 attention since being placed in position. The appar- 

 ent advantages of this plan are, a very permanent 

 and lasting arrangement, with freedom from disturb- 

 ance or accident to the signal-wire ; entire freedom 

 from the difficulties caused by expansion, if the pipe 

 is laid below the frost-line, and subject to but slight 

 changes caused by change of temperature if laid only 

 one foot under ground ; obviation of the necessity to 

 provide angle fixtures to change the direction of the 

 wire around curves. The difference in cost of 

 materials per hundred feet is but a trifle, being $5.38 

 for the pipe, plan, and $5.42 for the wooden-box plan. 

 The difference in labor would depend upon the 

 character of the ground, but in most cases it would 



be nearly the same. Prof. L. M. Haupt stated 



that during the past forty years there has been a 

 deposit of over eight million cubic yards inside the 

 harbor at the Delaware Breakwater, due chiefly to 

 the checking of the currents by the ice-breaker, 

 which is placed athwart them. The closing of the 

 gap is indorsed, and it is further recommended to 

 remove the ice-breaker, and thus augment the ebb 

 scour. If necessary, floating ice-breakers, or cais- 

 sons, may be substituted ; but, as a matter of fact, 

 there are but few days in the year when the harbor 

 is encumbered by ice-floes. The damage produced 

 by this structure is very much greater than the bene- 

 fits it confers. The effects of the breakwater in 

 producing a scour at the gorge, and maintaining 

 a 30-foot channel to deep water, the deep holes 

 scoured by the eddies at the ends of the structure, 

 and the relative costs of various plans, were 

 presented, and compared with that of the plan pro- 

 posed, which, it was thought, would produce a much 

 better result at less than one-half the expense. The 

 number of wrecks on the Atlantic, between New 

 York and Hatteras, in the past two months, is 

 reported by the hydrographic-office chart as twenty- 

 two. 



