NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 213 
On leave granted, the Report of the Biological Department for Novem- 
ber was presented and ordered to be printed, with the Proceedings of 
last meeting. 
Dec. I4:th. 
Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 
Sixty-seven members present. 
The following papers were presented for publication in the Proceed- 
iags: 
Ichthyological Notices, by Charles Grirard, M, D. 
Prodromus Descriptionis Animalium evertebratorum, quae in Expe- 
ditione ad Oceanum Pacificum septentrionalem, a Kepublica federata 
missa, Cadwaladaro Ringgold et Johanne Rodgers ducibus observavit 
et descripsit W. Stimpson ; pars septima, Crustacea Anomoura. 
And were referred to Committees. 
Mr. Wm, Parker Foulke made a statement respecting the fossil bones, shells 
and wood presented by him to the Academy this evening. 
Passing the summer and autumn at Haddonfield, Camden County, New Jersey, 
Mr, Foulke learned that one of his neighbors, Mr. John E. Hopkins, while 
digging marl upon his farm, about twenty years ago, had found some bones. 
These were described as vertebrse, and as being of large size, and very numer- 
ous. Mr. Hopkins being young at the time of the discovery, and not specially 
interested in such subjects, had permitted visitors to carry away the fos- 
sils ; so that none remained in his own possession, nor could he remember the 
names of any of the persons by whom the vertebrae had been taken. Accord- 
ing to his recollection, no head had been found, nor any other bones than those 
of the spine, except one, which was said by him to have resembled, in general 
respects, a ^' shoulder blade." It appeared, then, not improbable that upon dig- 
ging around the old pit, (which was sixteen feet long and eight feet wide,) a 
head, or at least a portion of one containing teeth, might be obtained. Consid- 
ering the geological age of the formation upon which Haddonfield stands, and 
that specimens of Mosasaurus have been discovered in places not very remote 
from the village, there appeared sufficient motive for exploration. Mr. Hopkins, 
with an intelligent appreciation of the object proposed, gave to Mr, Foulke, with 
prompt liberality, permission to dig in any part of the farm, and to take away 
whatever fossils might be thus procured. There was some diflSculty in ascer- 
taining the place of the old excavation. It had been made in the bed of a 
narrow ravine, in which a brook flows eastwardly into the south branch of 
Cooper's Creek ; but the pit had long since been filled to the common level of 
the bed, and it was in like manner overgrown with grass, shrubs, and young 
trees, so as to be undistinguishable by the eye. After conference with one of 
the diggers who had been employed at the time of the discovery, (whose indica- 
tion proved to be inaccurate,) and after a careful survey of the vicinage by Mr. 
Hopkins, a party of experienced marl diggers were set at work ; and after one 
day's preliminary trial, the eastern side of the old pit was detected. In confor- 
mity with Mr. Hopkins' recollection of the manner in which the vertebr£e lay, 
the party of diggers was shifted to the western side of the old pit. The super- 
ficial deposit overlying the marl here, was only about four feet thick; the ravine 
being between twenty and thirty feet deep. At nearly four feet further depth, 
a thin stratum of decomposed shells was passed ; and at about two feet below 
this, overlying and intermixed with another stratum of shells, the workmen 
came upon a pile of bones — the same now before the Academy. The total depth 
from the surface was between nine and ten feet. 
1858.] 16 
