168 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[November, 1890. 
composed of the limestone of the water lime group 
(in this locality the highest group of the Silurians). 
The rock is crossed by two sets of vertical seams, or 
joints, crossing each other at right angles. The 
planes of these fissures are from a quarter of an 
inch to half a foot or more apart, the fissures being 
usually filled by sand or other loose material. Into 
one of these fissures the stream falls, and the bed 
of the creek, for nearly a quarter of a mile from 
here, is completely dry, save for a few pools of stag- 
nant water. The creek makes a circuitous bend to 
the right, but the water takes a shorter underground 
course. On examination of the bed further down, 
we found it again filled with water, and a closer 
examination disclosed a current in the stream. The 
water might have remained here from the spring 
floods — but where did the current come from.? This 
question we were determined to solve. Cautiously 
making our way up stream, and closely inspecting 
the banks, we soon found its origin. From the 
right bank, and out of the crevices on the right 
side, the water issued, spring-like, in §reat quantity. 
At every step, springs issued, flowing from the 
bank, and welling up out of the crevices with such 
force that everything placed into them was again 
brought up by the water. These springs we traced 
nearly to the bend of the stream. Examining the 
left bank, we found it completely dry, and no water 
issued from the crevices on this side. This clearly 
proves that the water, after disappearing near the 
bridge, finds its way underground, saturating the 
rock down to the impervious shale bed, and issuing 
again, at a lower level, from the rock, filling its bed 
anew. The water does not follow the course of its 
former channel, but takes a more direct course. It 
does not all appear again ; some of it continues its 
underground course, and probably issues with the 
drain of the surrounding country, at the foot of the 
terrace, five miles to the north. 
Formation of the Upper Falls of the Gene- 
see River at Portage. (A vacation study.) — 
Probably no portion of the Genesee River is more 
interesting to the geologist than the dry gorge 
extending from Portage to Mt. Morris, in which 
are situated the three celebrated Portage falls. 
Attempting to trace the history of this gorge, we 
must go back to the Ice Age, when the world was 
locked in the cold embrace of glaciers, which have 
wrought such a change in its appearance. Like 
many others, the ancient channel of the Genesee, 
from Portage to Mt. Morris, was closed by a deposit 
of drift. The closing of this channel, of course, 
caused the Genesee to fill its bed to overfiowing, and 
the valley south of Portage was transformed into a 
lake. The Genesee continued to carry its waters 
into this lake, which they filled to overflowing, thus 
being compelled to seek an outlet at the lowest 
point, which seems to have been just to the left 
of the old gorge. Flowing along this new bed for a 
short distance, the river met with a portion of the 
old valley, which had been cut off from the main 
valley by an immense clay deposit nearly 300 feet in 
depth. This valley, if not already filled by the 
waters of the melting glacier, was now filled by 
the waters of the Genesee. Of course, this valley 
was soon filled to the same height as the first one, 
and the constantly accumulating water again had to 
seek an outlet, and they continued their way to Mt. 
Morris. As the glacier receded northward, it filled 
all the valleys to the north with its waters, — Lake 
Ontario, we krK)w, was also raised to a higher level ; 
— and thus we had a continuous chain of lakes con- 
nected by the Genesee. The elevation at Portage, 
however, is by far greater than the highest elevation 
that Lake Ontario ever attained, and, consequently, 
a considerable current existed between these two 
points. As soon as Lake Ontario subsided ever so 
little, the current which carried the waters from 
Lakes Portage and the other lakes into it, com- 
menced to wear down the rock. As, however, the 
distance between the two Portage lakes was but 
small, and as both were of a similar elevation, no 
current — or but a very weak one — could have existed 
here. The second Portage lake must have been 
more rapidly drained than the first one, as more 
water was carried down to Lake Ontario than could 
possibly have been brought in by the Genesee, 
whose entire bed resembled a lake, probably to near 
its source. As soon, therefore, as the second Portage 
lake subsided, — in consequence of the lower channel 
being worn down faster by the rapid current, — a fall 
came into existence opposite Glen Iris of today, 
which carried the waters of the first into the second 
lake ; and thus the upper falls at Portage were 
created first. The first lake subsided slowly, as 
testified to by its beaches. When it was totally 
drained, its bed was still much higher than the 
former level of the river, it having received a con- 
siderable deposit of sand, gravel, and clay; and 
hence the upper falls of sixty feet today carry the 
water but to the level of its pre-glacial bed. 
NATURAL HISTORY OBSERVATIONS- 
SUMMER OF 1890. 
BY WILLARD N. CLUTE, 
BINGHAMTON, N. V. 
With us, the first days of May were made mem- 
orable by the presence of an unusual number 
of warblers. Several cold storms north of us 
served to hold the advance birds in check till the 
main body arrived. Warblers were everywhere, 
especially in open, deciduous woods. The most 
prominent of these were the summer yellowbird, 
golden-crowned thrush, Maryland yellow-throat, 
redstart, and the yellow-rump, black-throated blue, 
black-throated green, blue yellow-backed, chestnut- 
sided, bay-breasted, Blackburnian, and mourning 
warblers. The last five were first noted this year. 
By the first of June all these, save the yellowbird, 
redstart, golden-crowned thrush, yellow-throat, and 
black-throated green warbler, had gone further north 
to breed. 
During May and June the green heron was heard 
in the swamps, making a'peculiar choking noise, 
which sounded like "cow-wow." It may be exactly 
expressed by drawing in the breath with a rasping 
noise in the throat, at the same time pronouncing 
the word. Occasionally the noise is heard from the 
bird in flight. It seems to be a sort of call-note, 
and, if given when the herons are in the mood, it 
will be taken up by one after another, and go the 
rounds of the swamp. 
About the middle of May I found the painted 
trillium in blossom. It is a rare plant with us, 
being found in only one wood within a radius 
of five miles. It may be distinguished from the 
white trillium, which it resembles, by the deep 
purple lines on the inside of the corolla, and by the 
leaves, which are petiolatf in this variety, but sessile 
in the others. The mealy bell-wort, the rarest of its 
genus here, was discovered in the woods on a 
southern slope. It gets the "mealy" part of its 
name from the fact that the inner surface of each 
petal is covered with shining yellow grains, some- 
what resembling meal. This is the only one of the 
bell-worts having a perfume. It is strong and 
sweet, and resembles that of the lily-of-the-valley. 
When the lupine began to blossom, I noticed a 
curious alternation in the colors of the flower, 
which is shaped like a pea blossom. The lower 
petals are invariably blue ; the two upper ones are 
of the same color, but darker, except the front (or 
anterior) half of each, which is either white or 
deep pink. Neither color predominates, but both 
appear, not only on the same plant, but in the same 
raceme. The flowers are faintly fragrant. Tlie 
Mitchella, or partridge-berry, and the bluet, — both 
madder-worts, — usually have regular four-parted 
flowers ; but this year they were found with five, 
six, and often seven petals. I found patches of the 
Mitchella, yards in extent, in which this variety was 
the rule and not the exception. The stamens, which 
are borne on the corolla tube, always equalled the 
petals in number. 
A heavy h«il-storm on the fourth of June showed 
two forms of hailstones :■ globular, and round and 
flat. The flat ones, which were the larger, were 
nearly transparent, and in their structure presented 
exactly the same light lines that may be seen in a 
cup of water frozen solid. The round hailstones, 
while often clear, were usually partly white, like 
" snow-ice." 
The next day I found an oriole's nest and five 
eggs not ten feet from the ground. Contrary to 
all rules of oriole nest-building, the nest was sus- 
pended from some little twigs which grew from an 
upright limb, instead of out on the tips of a long 
branch. 
In June certain fields hereabouts were bright with 
the blossoms of two plants that have escaped from 
cultivation. They are the high cinquefoil and the 
musk-mallow. They were found in only a few 
fields, but there they fairly ran riot. I found and 
analyzed the true forget-me-not, which grows wild 
in wet places. The flowers are very small, but 
remarkable for their color, which is one of the 
purest blues in nature. The Medeota in blossoming 
showed some curious ways. From the center of its 
top whorl of leaves spring several small greenish- 
white flowers. These, when open, are deflexed 
beneath the leaves; but, when the petals have 
fallen, the peduncles straighten out, lifting the 
ovaries above the leaves again, where they ripen. 
In this position, the round ovary, tipped with the 
three long red stigmas, looks not unlike a dumpy 
spider, minus half of its legs. In August a crimson 
flush creeps outward from the stem nearly to the 
middle of the upper whorl of leaves. 
On July flrst a rare hawk-weed was found. It is 
not mentioned in the botanical works of either 
Wood or Gray. I think it is the Uieracium aurian- 
tiacum of which John Burroughs speaks in the 
Century for June, 1887. The plant is densely hairy, 
and the orange-red blossoms rise on a slender stalk 
from a rosette of leaves flat on the ground. 
While paying a visit to Three Lakes, Pa., I 
noticed an interesting step in land-making. At 
one end of the upt>er lake appears a level stretch 
of what seems to be firm land; but, upon examina- 
tion, this is found to be a mass of floating vegetable 
matter, on which grass and weeds grow, the racemed 
loosestrife being especially abundant. Although 
floating, this stratum is thick enough to bear a 
man ; but it trembles perceptibly at every move. 
A pole may be thrust through this stratum, and 
down through three or four feet of water and mud 
to the bottom. 
Upon opening the pointed bud at the crown 
of the trillium"s rhizome, in August, I found the 
preparations for winter nearly completed. This 
plant does not blossom till May, and yet the flower 
was complete ; even the stamens could be seen with 
the naked eye. The Erythroniiims and spring 
beauties had gone still further, all trace of them 
having disappeared from the surface of the ground. 
Digging down, I found them. The spring beauty's 
life is wrapped up in a round, flat tuber, from the 
edges of which the stems will ascend. The Ery- 
thronium will rise from a small bulb, which is now 
buried deep in the earth. 
