تاره

OF THE

Academy of Natural Sciences

OF

PHILADELPHIA.

PART I.-January, February, March, 1874.

NOLD

ARBORETUM

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SNCRECEIVED

Corner of Broad and Sansom Streets.

1874.

APR 16 1956

LIBRARY

THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

OF PHILADELPHIA.

Seven volumes of the New Series of the JOURNAL and Vol. VIII., Part I. (Quarto) have been issued-1847 to 1874. The price per volume of four parts is $10.00, or $3.00 per part, to subscribers; and to others, $12.50 per volume, or $3.75 per part. Vol. 7 contains "The Extinct Mammalian Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska, with a Synopsis of the Mammalian Remains of North America." Illustrated with thirty plates. By JOSEPH LEIDY, M.D., LL.D.

The FIRST SERIES OF THE JOURNAL, 1817 to 1842, in eight volumes, octavo, may be obtained at $40.00 to members, and to the public, $48.00.

The FIRST SERIES OF THE PROCEEDINGS of the Society, published in octavo, 1841 to 1856, of which eight volumes were completed Dec. 31, 1856, may be obtained at $24.00, to members; and to the public, $30.00.

The SECOND SERIES OF THE PROCEEDINGS, commencing January 1, 1857 (of which fourteen volumes were completed Dec. 31, 1870), may be obtained at $42.00, to members, or $3.00 per volume separately; and to the public, $3.75 per volume.

The THIRD SERIES OF THE PROCEEDINGS, ILLUSTRATED, commencing January 1st, 1871, is published at $5.00 per annum, payable in advance, to members; and to the public, $6.25.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, 1865-71. Seven vols. 8vo. Containing 2500 pages, illustrated by one hundred and fifty plates, many of them colored, besides about a thousand wood engravings. Published at $70.00. Price reduced to $42.00 for the set. Separate volumes $10.00 each.

BOOKS FOR SALE.

The ACADEMY have the following works for sale at the prices affixed :DESCRIPTION OF SHELLS OF NORTH AMERICA, with 68 colored plates. By THOMAS SAY, 1830-34. $10.50.

MONOGRAPH OF THE UNIONIDE OF NORTH AMERICA. By T. A. CONRAD. 60 uncolored plates, octavo, 1840. $8.00. MONOGRAPH OF THE TERRESTRIAL MOLLUSCA OF THE UNITED STATES. With Illustrations of all the Species. By GEORGE W. TRYON, Jr. Fine edition, plate paper, with duplicate plates, colored and tinted, $20.00; colored edition, $13.50; plain edition, $8.50. Only one hundred copies printed, which have been mostly sold. MONOGRAPH OF THE FRESH-WATER UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA OF THE UNITED STATES. By S. S. HALDEMAN, 1840-44. With CONTINUATION to 1871. By GEORGE W. TRYON, Jr. 2 vols., with many colored plates. Fine edition, duplicate plates, $40.00; with colored plates, $25.00; with plain plates, $18.00.

Either the original work or the continuation furnished separately, if desired. NOTICE TO BOOKSELLERS.-All the Publications of the Society will be supplied to Booksellers at a discount of 20 per cent. on the prices charged to the public.

Application to be made to WM. S. VAUX, Chairman of the Publication Committee, 1702 Arch Street, or to the Librarian, at the Hall of the Academy, corner of Broad and Sansom Streets.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

OF

PHILADELPHIA.

1874.

JANUARY 6, 1874.

The President, Dr. RUSCHENBERGER, in the chair.

Thirty-two members present.

Dr. J. G. HUNT remarked that the structure of the Schizæa pusilla differed widely from that of our other indigenous schizaceous ferns, viz., Lygodium palmatum, and its morphological elements are unlike those of our ferns in general. The barren frond of Schizæa pusilla is marked on its epidermal surface with a double line of stomata, and these organs extend the entire length of the frond. The cells which make up the interior of this delicate fern are cylindrical and vary in size, but their distinctive characters lie in minute projections or outgrowths from all sides of the cells, and these projections meet and are articulated with corresponding outgrowth from adjoining cells, so that the cells of Schizæa have penetrating between them in every direction intercellular spaces and channels of remarkable regularity and beauty, and so characteristic is this plan of cell-union that the botanist need find no difficulty in identifying the smallest fragment of the plant. This morphological peculiarity has not been noticed before.

Dimorphous Flowers in Passiflora.—Mr. THOMAS MEEHAN exhibited some flowers of Passiflora quadrangularis, in which some of them had the pistils almost wanting, while the flowers were

2

perfect in all other particulars. A large plant running along a rafter in his greenhouse, and producing hundreds of flowers, bore these dimorphous ones in about equal proportions. He said it was well known that in cultivation this plant never produced fruit unless by artificial cross-impregnation, but he thought the tendency to abort in the female flowers, and thus approach the classes which were in structure as well as practically uni-sexual, had not been noticed before. There was a species in New Zealand, however, known to be monoecious, and it might be just possible that the Passifloraceæ, with mostly hermaphrodite flowers, were following in the wake of the allied Cucurbitaceæ, in which a complete separation of the sexes was the rule.

JANUARY 13.

The President, Dr. RUSCHENBERGER, in the chair.

Twenty-six members present.

Remarks on Hydra.-Prof. LEIDY remarked that two species of Hydra were common in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. One is of a light brownish hue and is found on the under side of stones and on aquatic plants in the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and in ditches communicating with the same. Preserved in an aquarium, after some days the animals will often elongate the tentacula for several inches in length. The green Hydra is found in ponds and springs attached to aquatic plants. It has from six to eight tentacles, which never elongate to the extent they do in the brown Hydra. In winter the animal is frequently observed with the male organs developed just below the head as a mammalike process on each side of the body. He had not been able to satisfy himself that these Hydra were different from H. fusca and H. viridis of Europe. Prof. Agassiz had indicated similar colored forms in Massachusetts and Connecticut, under the names of H. carnea and H. gracilis. Of the former he remarks that it has very short tentacles, and if this is correct under all circumstances, it must be different from our brown Hydra, which can elongate its arms for three inches or more.

JANUARY 20.

The President, Dr. RUSCHENBERGER, in the chair. Thirty members present.

Prof. E. D. COPE described some species of extinct tortoises from certain formations of Northeastern Colorado, which had been previously found in the Fort Union or lignite beds of the Missouri river region by Dr. Hayden. He had in 1868 recognized