Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia. 



June 1. — Mr. Thomas Meehan called the attention 

 of the academy to a so-called crow's-nest growth, or 

 fasciated branch, from a cherry-tree. Each species 

 of tree seems to have a special form of such abnor- 

 mal growth peculiar to itself. In the cherry it takes 

 the form of a largely increased number of branches 

 hanging from a slender stem, in the case exhibited 

 about four hundred such pendants occurring in a 

 space which would nominally bear no more than 

 twenty. He had found that the affected branch was 

 attacked by a fungus, Exoascus Wilsneri, a species 

 allied to that which produces the curl in peach-leaves. 

 The development of the fungus seems to so modify 

 the growth force of the tree, that axial branches are 

 produced instead of the usual flower-buds. The 

 fungus does not spread to other branches or trees, 

 thus indicating that, in certain cases at least, there is 

 less danger of the dispersion and growth of fungoid 



germs than we are usually led to suppose. Mr. 



John Ford reported the finding of a half-grown 

 specimen of Modiola tulipa, a mollusk new to our 

 coast, near Cape May, on the 16th of last month. 

 As the species is essentially a southern one, it was 

 first believed that the specimen had been carried 

 north on the bottom of a ship. The discovery by 

 Mr. Ford, however, two weeks later, of a dozen or 

 more adult specimens at Anglesea, ten miles farther 

 north, seems to prove that the species has entered 

 upon its new conditions in large numbers, and with 

 the purpose of making its new home a permanent 

 one. There is no record of this mollusk having be- 

 fore been found north of South Carolina. Mr. 



Uselma C. Smith recorded the recent finding of 

 Pholas truncata, another mollusk new to the locality, 

 at Anglesea. He had been assured that the marsh- 

 grass with which the specimens alluded to by Mr. 

 Ford were associated was the species common in the 

 locality, and had not been washed up from the 

 southern coast. The president, Dr. Leidy, ex- 

 hibited a portion of a collection of fossils from the 

 northern part of Nicaragua, which he had been in- 

 vited to examine by Mrs. Dr. B. F. Guerrero. The 

 specimens consisted of remains of megatherium, 

 elephant, mastodon, horse, ox, toxodon, and capy- 

 bara. The association of these animals is another 

 illustration of the extension of the early South 

 American quaternary fauna into North America, the 

 former connection between the two continents be- 

 ing, no doubt, wider than at present. A fragment 

 of the lower jaw of a capybara did not differ essen- 

 tially from a similar part of the existing species, but 

 it indicates a much larger and more robust animal. 

 Considering the difference in size and age of the 

 fossil, it was probably a distinct species, for which 

 the name Hydrochoerus robustus was proposed. 

 The most interesting fossils of the collection were 

 remains of a toxodon, an extinct hoofed animal re- 

 lated to the rodents. They indicated for the first 

 time the former existence of this remarkable mam- 

 mal in North America. The best preserved speci- 

 mens consist of a nearly complete lower molar 

 tooth and two fragments of a lower incisor. They 

 agree in form and size with the corresponding teeth 



of Toxodon Burmeisteri. Professor Heilprin 



spoke of the age of South American beds contain- 



ing fossils related to those of North America. He 

 considered Dr. Leidy's suggestion of a migration of 

 southern forms to northern regions to be based on 

 better evidence than is the opinion of certain geol- 

 ogists vvho regard the migration to have been from 



north to south Dr. Leidy stated that his belief 



was consequent on the occurrence of a large number 

 of edentates and allied forms in South America, 

 while there were comparatively few such to be found 

 in North America. The correlation of the northern 

 and southern beds containing allied species was, 

 however, at present obscure. He further illustrated 

 his views on the subject by discussing the geographi- 

 cal distribution of the extinct peccary. He had 

 recently examined the lower jaw of one of these 

 animals from Mexico, which closely resembled that 

 of the northern form, except that it was much more 

 robust, thus indicating that the northern animals 

 were degenerate descendants of those from Mexico. 



Royal meteorological society, London. 



May 19. — Mr. C. Harding read a paper on The 

 severe weather of the past winter, 1885-86. The 

 author showed that the whole winter was one of ex- 

 ceptional cold, not so much on account of any ex- 

 tremely low temperatures experienced, but more from 

 the long period of frost and the persistency with 

 which low temperature continued. In the south- 

 west of England there was not a single week, from 

 the commencement of October to March 21, in which 

 the temperature did not fall to the freezing-point. 

 In many parts of the British Islands frost occurred 

 in the shade on upwards of sixty nights between the 

 beginning of January and the middle of March ; and 

 during the long frost which commenced in the mid- 

 dle of February, and continued until March 17, the 

 temperature fell below 32° F in many places on more 

 than thirty consecutive nights. At Great Berk- 

 hamsted, in Hertfordshire, frost occurred on the 

 grass on seventy-three consecutive nights, from Jan. 

 5 to March 18. The winter of 1885-86 was the only 

 one in which there was skating on the water of the 

 London skating club, in Eegent's Park, in each of 

 the four mouths December, January, February, and 

 March, since the formation of the club in 1830 ; and 

 there are but four records of skating in March dur- 

 ing the fifty-six years, and none so long as in the 

 present year. With regard to the temperature of 

 the water of the Thames at Deptford, it was shown 

 that the total range from Jan. 8 to March 20 was 

 only 6°, while from March 1 to 19 the highest tem- 

 perature was 36°. 5, and the lowest 35°. The tem- 

 perature of the soil at the depth of one foot was gen- 

 erally only about two degrees in excess of the air 

 over the whole of England, and from March 1 to 17 

 the earth was colder than usual by amounts varying 

 from 6°. 3 at Lowestoft, to 8°. 5 at Norwood. The 

 facts brought together showed that the recent 

 winter was one of the longest experienced for many 

 years, and that in numerous ways it may be charac- 

 terized as 1 most severe.' Mr. L. M. Casella gave 



a description of an altazimuth anemometer for re- 

 cording the vertical angle as well as the direction 

 and force of the wind. The author described an 

 anemometer he had made, which records continuous- 

 ly on one sheet the pressure, direction, and inclina- 

 tion of the wind. Mr. W. Marriott presented a 



discussion of the observations of the temperature of 

 the soil at various depths below the surface, which 

 have been regularly made at 9 a.m. at several of the 



