Regular Meeting, May 16th, 1864.
President in the Chair.
Fourteen members present.
Rev. Mr. Neri, of Santa Clara, was elected a corresponding member.
Donations to the Cabinet: Volcanic cement, from Sierra County, containing fossil wood; also a magnesian mineral, from a cavity in a quartz vein near Nebraska, Sierra County. Mr. Clayton stated that when found it was gelatinous, semi-transparent, and mixed with loose quartz crystals; but on drying it shrank greatly in bulk and became fibrous, like fine Asbestos. The miners say that it is not uncommon in that locality.
Seeds of a large Melon Cactus, from the Colorado deserts; also seeds of a fine nutritious “bunch grass,” from the dry foot hills near Fresno river, by Mr. J. E. Clayton.
Mr. Brewer stated that he had obtained further information regarding the coal brought before the Academy Feb. 15th, by Prof. Blake. On the authority of J. Ross Browne and another gentleman, he had learned that no coal occurs in the locality near the Colorado River then mentioned, and that the specimens were English coal carried up the river by speculators for the purpose of swindling the public by selling stock in a fictitious coal mine.