1897. J NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 365 



ing the general biological environment and the nature of the 

 fauna in the Sitka harbor. He also spoke of the wreck of the 

 steamer Mexico, by which the bulk of the summer's work was lost 



In the absence of Dr. Strong, Mr. H. E. Crampton reported on 

 the line of work followed at the Marine Biological Laboratory at 

 Wood's Holl during the summer of 1897. 



Gary N. Calktns, 



Secretary. 



Section of Geology. 

 October 18th, 1897. 

 The Academy met with President Stevenson in the chair. 



There being no business the Section of Geology immediately 

 formed, with twenty-four members present. 



The minutes were read and approved. 



Professor Stevenson then gave an interesting and careful ac 

 count of the International Congress of Geologists at Saint 

 Petersburg, and summarized the work done by the Congress 

 in the way of discussion, appointing committees, etc. Ad- 

 ditional notes were given by Professor Martin, who spoke 

 particularly of the handbook for the excursions, which summar- 

 izes the geology of Russia, and gives access to much material 

 which has hitherto been hard to reach. 



The second paper of the evening was by Mr. Charles Bullman 

 and was entitled " The Auriferous Gravels of Colombia, South 

 America." Mr. Bullman spoke particularly of the distribution 

 and richness of the deposits of gold and platinum, which seemed to 

 him, from his examinations, to be much more extensive and valu- 

 able than had been reported by Mr. Nicholas in a previous paper 

 before the Section. 



In the opinion of Mr. Bullman, the gold deposits are still be- 

 ing accumulated in the river valleys, and are as rich now, with 

 few exceptions, as they were before they were first worked 



