4 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 
OF PHILADELPHIA. 
1858. 
January 5, 1858. 
Dr. Ruschenberger, in the Chair. 
Thirty-two members present. 
Mr. Slack presented for publication in the Proceedings a paper en- 
titled Catalogue and Notes on the Egyptian Antiquities in the collec- 
tion of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by J. H. 
Slack/' which was referred to a committee. 
Dr. Uhler exhibited a specimen of nitre which had occurred sponta- 
taneously in large quantity, upon the wall of a dwelling formerly 
used as a stable. It was remarkable for its purity, being free from 
lime, ammonia, magnesia and nitrate of soda. 
Mr. Cassin called attention to the specimen of Falco polyagrtrs, pre- 
sented this evening by Mr. J. D. Sergeant, who had obtained it east of 
the Mississippi. Mr. Cassin had described the species from a specimen 
brought from Oregon by Mr. Townsend, but the present specimen was 
the first he had known to be found east of the Rocky Mountains. 
January 12th. 
Vice-President Lea in the Chair. 
Thirty-four members present. 
Dr. Leidy exhibited two plates of Urnatella gracilis, formerly described by him 
in the Proceedings. He said the stomachs of these animals contained certain 
voluntarily moving bodies which he had supposed to be parasites, but which 
might prove to be generative bodies. Mr. Lea had recently given him a 
Unio from the Scioto, upon which this species of Urnatella had been detected — 
the former specimens were from the Schuylkill. 
Dr. Leidy announced the return from Nebraska Territory of Dr. F. V. Hayden, 
bringing an important collection of fossils, among which were a number of 
mammalian remains from a supposed pliocene deposit, of the Niobrara River, 
(L'eau-qui-court.) 
January l^th. 
Yice-President Bridges in the Chair. 
Forty-three members present. 
