Putnam.] 
406 
[February 1, 
lot several split pebbles which closely resemble the scrapers or 
<c teshoas ” made by the Shoshone Indians. 
Mr. S. Garman showed some newts mounted, in alcohol, on 
plaster of Paris tablets, a plan he had recently adopted in the 
Museum of -Comparative Zoology, and which kept tire specimens 
in natural position and condition. The plaster of Paris does not 
discolor in alcohol, and indeed seems to have a beneficial effect in 
keeping the alcohol clear. The stoppers of the bottles are 
waxed to prevent leakage. Mr. Garman also explained his meth- 
ods of labelling and cataloguing the specimens. 
Mr. Garman then showed specimens of the rock wren (Salpinc- 
tes obsoletus), and described its mode of nestling in the cliffs of 
clay, chalk, etc., in the Bad-lands of Nebraska. The nest of 
hair, feathers, etc., is placed at the end of a horizontal hole, dug 
in the cliff, about eighteen or twenty-four inches deep. The 
mouth of the hole is barricaded with small stones so that the 
small owner can just pass in or out. This is apparently done for 
defence against enemies, although what these are Mr. Garman 
did not know, but suggested were possibly small hawks and 
owls. 
Mr. Putnam suggested that the object of the barricade might 
be warmth as well as defence. 
The following note from Dr. M. E. Wadsworth was read: 
I desire to announce to this Society that the grayish crystalline 
feldspathic rock, occurring about Salem harbor, is almost identical 
in macroscopic and microscopic characters with the celebrated 
zircon-syenite of Fredericksvsern, Norway. It is well developed 
about Naugus Head and Fluent’s Point on Marblehead. The dis- 
covery of the nature of this rock is interesting, owing to the 
finding of elaeolite and sodalite at Salem many years ago. 
It is intended to give a full description of the rock and its 
mode of occurrence later. It is sufficient to state for the present 
that the rock consists principally of orthoclase, with hornblende 
and some microcline and plagioclase, together with macroscopic 
and microscopic zircon. The feldspar contains inclusions the 
same as the feldspar in the zircon-syenite from Norway. 
