222 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 
pregnated with this mineral. In some parts the organic tissue has been entirely 
* removed, and nodules of the sulphuret have taken its place ; in others the mineral 
has entered the cells and tubes of the wood, leaving these of their natural forms. 
Occasionally perfect casts of the cells are found detached from the tissue when 
the specimen is mounted in Canada balsam. 
It was of course highly desirable that these woods should be submitted to 
microscopical examination. He found, however, upon trial that it was impossible 
to cut satisfactory sections without removing the sulphuret of iron. This was 
done by macerating pieces of the wood in dilute chlorhydric acid. After this pro- 
cess they were readily cut into sections with a suitable knife, or ground down 
till the requisite degree of tenuity was obtained. 
Sections thus obtained when placed under the microscope showed conclu- 
sively that the wood was of the coniferous family of plants. For some time Dr. 
H. was under the impression that one fragment belonged to an entirely different 
class. This idea arose from the fact that from an examination of eight or ten 
vertical sections none of the characteristic pits or cells could be perceived, nor 
any indication of the existence of medullary rays. Finally, however, he obtained 
a section which exhibited both very clearly, and a transverse section which pre- 
viously he was unable to cut, positively determined it to be of the same 
character as the other pieces. 
Some cause or other, probably the carbonizing process, had entirely destroyed 
the pits which had existed ; a fact of some importance in investigations of this 
nature. All the fragments appear to belong to the same species of conifer, and 
as far as Dr. H. could judge do not differ essentially in microscopic characters 
from the pines which now grow on the locality, 
Mr. T. Edwards Clark had kindly given him some specimens of a fossil wood 
described by linger, which in many respects resembles that referred to, the pits 
being absent from a large portion of the tisgue. 
Oa leave granted, the thanks of the Academy were tendered to his 
Excellency, Wm. F. Packer, Governor of the State, for the donation 
of a White Deer, presented this evening. 
Dec. 2\sL 
Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. , 
Forty-one members present. 
Papers were presented for publication in the Proceedings, entitled : 
Description of new genera and species of N. American Lizards, in 
the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, by Spencer F. Eaird. 
Remarks on the lower Cretaceous beds of Kansas and Nebraska, 
with descriptions of some new species of Carboniferous fossils from the 
valley of the Kansas River, by F. B. Meek and F. Y. Hay den. 
And were referred to Committees. 
Dec. 2Sth. 
Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 
Sixty-five members present. 
The Report of the Biological Department for December was pre- 
sented. 
On report of the respective Committees, the following papers were 
ordered to be printed in the Proceedings : 
[Dec. 
