Tracts. N. V. Ac. Sci. 24 Nov. 14, 



South American continents, in a course imperfectly parallel to that on 

 the western border of these continents, with the gulf lying enclosed 

 between these two great ranges. This axis has been the scene of 

 violent volcanic action and has been supposed to mark the place of 

 that mythical area of sunken land, styled Atlantis by the ancients, 

 A tradition long current, recorded by Herodotus and others, points 

 to a densely populated land west of Europe, covered with cities, and 

 threatening the civilization of the Eastern hemisphere, which was 

 punished by the gods by being sunk beneath the sea. According to 

 the recent observations of an English geologist, Mr. Thomas Belt, this 

 legend may have had some foundation in the former existence of a 

 continent, now submerged beneath the Caribbean sea, through which 

 the peaks represented by the Lesser Antilles constituted a mountain 

 chain. Local disturbances have certainly affected this area, but we fail 

 to find any evidence of corresponding disturbance in the Cretaceous 

 strata of our southern States, except perhaps in continental elevations 

 and depressions. Messrs. Guppy, Gabb, and others have studied the 

 rocks of the region, but, up to this time, no one trained to the exam- 

 ination of the difficult phenomena and problems under discussion. 



November 14, 188 1. 

 Section of Geology. 

 The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. 

 Twenty-four persons present. 

 A paper was read by Dr. Alexis A. Julien on 



THE excavation OF THE BED OF THE KAATERSKILL, N. Y. 



(Abstract.) 

 This paper was supplementary to one read before the Academy tw& 

 years ago, concerning the phenomena of erosion, glaciation, etc., in the 

 Catskill Mountains, in the vicinity of the Kaaterskill Clove. 



Flexure of Strata.— V\oi. James Hall has indicated the existence of 

 four Hues of flexure, running from N.E. to S.W., the synclinals occupy- 

 ing the summits of ranges, and Prof. Arnold Guyot locates one of these 

 at SUde Mt. The dips at the entrance of the Clcve vary from 8° to 

 10° to the W.N.W., becoming only 3° four miles to the westward, 

 i. e., more nearly horizontal towards a shallow synclinal fold supposed 

 to occupy Hunter Mt. 



One of the most interesting discoveries of Guyot was the linear 

 series of three maxima of altitudes above 4000 teet , Slide Mt., Hunter 

 Mt., and Black Dome. The gentle flexure of the whole stratum required 

 to produce this line of maxima may be shown as follows, in the range 



