600 Proceedings of the Club 



remnants of the tertiary Mississippi delta ; they average only two 

 feet above water, with a ridge a foot higher on the seaward side, 

 composed of shell-fragments and continually shifted inward by the 

 wind, the waves meanwhile gnawing off the seaward edge at the 

 same rate. 



Professor Burgess reported his continued observations on cer- 

 tain asters at stations near Lake Erie, Boston, the White Moun- 

 tains, New York City, etc., at each of which he has kept certain 

 varying species under scrutiny for some years to determine their 

 range of variation under unchanged environment. 



Professor Underwood reported herbarium work at Kew, the 

 British Museum, and Paris, with particular reference to the Cosson 

 herbarium which contains Fee's types and is very rich in ferns espe- 

 cially of South America and the West Indies. A week was given 

 to a trip to Biarritz, France,*and San Sebastian, Spain, and an ac- 

 count was given of the turpentine industry now flourishing among 

 the pine forests of the Landes originally planted as a protection 

 from the shifting sands. These pines average about ten inches in 

 diameter. Maize was commonly cultivated in the Basque prov- 

 inces, the tops being cut off to favor the ripening of the ears, as in 

 our South. 



Adjournment followed. 



E. S. Burgess, 



Secretary 



