ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 193 



Mr. Charles F. Hoffman was elected a resident member. 

 Prof. J. D. Dana, of Yale College, was elected a Corres- 

 ponding member. 



Prof. W. P. Blake communicated the following- : 



New mineral Oil Regions in the Tulare Valley. 



BY WILLIAM P. BLAKE. 



Eecent examinations of prospecting parties, have added largely to the well- 

 known oil-bearing portions of the State. A district some sixty miles in length, on 

 the inner slopes of the Coast mountains, towards the Tulare Valley, has been 

 found to abound in oil springs, or indications of oil. Oil exudes lrom the surface 

 in large quantities, and collects rapidly in small pits sunk by prospectors. The 

 soil about these pits is very black and saturated with oil. The gases escaping 

 from this soil are inflammable, and many of the prospectors have been startled to 

 see flames spreading over the ground, beyond their camp fires. In digging pits 

 about these springs, large quantities of bones of various kinds have been thrown 

 out, and all are wonderfully well preserved. These bones appear chiefly those of 

 the horse, deer, and elk, though there are many others which I have not been 

 able to recognize. The teeth of the horse, sent to me, are of unusual size, and 

 induce the question, whether they are not of greater antiquity than the present 

 race of horses. I am assured that the variety of bones and teeth of many kinds 

 is very great. 



The oil found gives an excellent article for lubricating purposes, and must be 

 very similar to the oil found near Zanesville, Ohio, according to the descriptions 

 given of the latter. 



Note upon the occurrence of Sphene in the Granite of 



the Sierra Nevada. 



BY WILLIAM P. BLAKE. 



Sphene, in small hair-brown or amber-colored crystals, appears to be abund- 

 antly distributed in the granite of the Sierra Nevada. It may be found at the 

 sources of the American River, in the exposures of granite about Slippery Ford, 

 and other points, and upon the Mokelunme River, further south. The crystals 

 are seldom more than the thirty second part of an inch in diameter, and are not 

 conspicuous, but may be found in almost any specimen of the rocks. 



It appears, that this mineral is also of common occurrence in the granite of the 

 British Islands. In a report to the British Association, (1863) upon the com- 

 position of the granite of Donegal, it is stated, that the rock contains, almost 

 universally, small crystals of sphene, in some varieties so abundantly, as to induce 

 the authors of the Report to term it " sphene granite." It is also observed that 

 this mineral has long been known to exist in the granite of parts of Scotland, and 

 in that of Galway. 



Pkoc. Cal- Acad., vol. in. 1" Feb. 1865. 



