ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 243 



Again, it is frequently the Ctise that the lower branches are 

 trimmed off to a mischievous extent, which also is a mistake ; 

 for where a tree has sufficient space to grow in, but little trim- 

 ming is necessary, and it is a false taste which seeks to improve (?) 

 upon nature by depriving a tree of its normal physiognomy and 

 distinctive character by carving it into grotesque or inappropriate 

 shapes ; it is simply mutilation, and is certain to result in the 

 premature decay and death of the victim. The flattening of the 

 head by certain aboriginal tribes, and the distorted feet of the 

 Chinese ladies, are further and pertinent illustrations of analogous 

 hideous violations of natural form. 



Professor Bolander said the trees should be allowed to grow nat- 

 urally, and the lower branches should never be cut off. At Gen. 

 Naglee's place in San Jose, where he raised about sixty acres of 

 trees of all kinds, the pruning knife is never used. 



Dr. Blake stated, that in a recent visit to the northern part of 

 Humboldt County, Nevada, he had been able to corroborate the 

 statement he made at the Academy some few weeks ago, as to the 

 position of the divide between the waters of the Great Basin and 

 the Columbia River. He had found it, as before stated, some fifty or 

 sixty miles further south than it is at present located on our maps. 

 Not having any means of determining the exact latitude or longi- 

 tude, he was unable to give the exact geographical position of the 

 divide, but computation from the nearest point (Fort Smith), the 

 position of which had been astronomically ascertained, would place 

 it about in latitude 41.40 S. and longitude 117.53 E. The divide 

 was found to be higher than he had thought before actual measure, 

 ment. Although the barometrical measurement had not yet been 

 calculated ; yet he believed the height of the divide would be from 

 450 to 480 feet above the level of the Humboldt valley, on about 

 the same meridian. From the northern side of the divide the 

 waters all flowed north, and although they did not directly reach 

 the Owhyee, a tributary of the Columbia, yet there was no marked 

 divide between the flats where they were lost and the streams flow- 

 ing directly into the Owhyee. 



Mr. John Hewston, Jr., exhibited some limbs of a species of 

 Australian acacia, from San Mateo, which were infested by a 

 species of Coccus, and stated that the insect had not only been 



