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their real character may be, they certainly point to somelarge 
species, probably undescribed, in the Miocene beds of the 
East, which as yet have yielded few reptiles or mammals, and 
no birds, at least of any great size. 
THE PRESIDENT gave the society some accounts of the 
session of the National Academy of Science, held during the 
previous week at Washington, and summed up the principal 
points of scientific importance. He dwelt particularly on the 
two series of government explorations in the far West, those 
of the War Department, under Lieut. Wheeler, and of the 
U. 8. Geological Survey of the Territories, under Dr. Hayden. 
The results attained, in the knowledge of the physical history 
and structure of these vast portions of our continent, can- 
not be at all appreciated in their real value and extent, 
without an inspection of the many views, sections, maps, etc., 
which are in preparation for the forthcoming volumes of re- 
ports. These he described as of the highest order and of the 
greatest importance. 
The report of Dr. Bessels, of the Polaris expedition, has 
likewise developed some very remarkable facts. Chief 
among these are the evidences of great and recent elevation in 
the far North, and the direction of glacial transportation in 
Smith’s Sound. On Polaris Bay (Hall’s Land) occur Cham- 
plain beds, with their characteristic fossils, identical species 
with those now inhabiting the boreal waters, at a hight of 
1800 feet. These and other indications show that the coast of 
northern Greenland has undergone great elevation, and this 
within a recent period; while the southern portions are well 
known to be sinking. All Greenland appears therefore to 
be tilting upon an axis, which crosses it in about the latitude 
of the Humboldt glacier. 
The remarkable fact observed concerning the drift, is that 
the boulders on the shores of Smith’s Sound, between lat. 
81° and 82°, came from rocks that lie to the southward, in 
some cases as much as 20°. This anomalous exception to all 
familiar facts of the northern drift, may be due simply to 
local glaciers at the close of thegreat ice period. Dr. Bessels 
