132 Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, 



of a committee who should draw up a series of points of obser- 

 vation, to be presented to the Secretary of the Navy, with the 

 request that they may form a part of the instructions to our naval 

 commanders. 



The committee consists of Lieut. Maury, Mr. W. C. Red- 

 field, Prof. H. D. Rogers, Prof. Hitchcock, Mr. J. P. Couthouy, 

 Mr. J. D. Dana, and Mr. Espy. 



The Rev. Titus Coafi, of Hilo, Hawaii, Sandwich Islands, 

 Rev. J. H. Van Lennep, of Smyrna, Lieut. Johnston, U. S. 

 Army, Fort Washita, frontier of Texas, were elected members. 



Mr. Silliman and Dr. Houghton made an oral communica- 

 tion on the connection of metallic copper with the trap of Con- 

 necticut and Michigan, being the subject of reports of those gen- 

 tlemen, according to a resolution of last year. 



Both gentlemen were agreed in the similarity of the phenom- 

 ena in the two cases, they being much more largely developed 

 in Michigan than in Connecticut. Mr. S. was of opinion that 

 all the copper in the red sandstone of Connecticut had been de- 

 rived from the adjacent primary. The most valuable deposite of 

 copper in the secondary of Connecticut is found at Simsbury or 

 Granby, on the western border of the secondary, and is imme- 

 diately contiguous to the granitic basin of Bristol, (in the primary 

 formation G. W, of Dr. Percival,) in which a great amount of 

 variegated sulphuret of copper is found. He called attention to 

 several large veins of barytes in the town of Cheshire, Ct., cut- 

 ting across the red sandstone parallel to a trap dyke at a little dis- 

 tance, one of which had given abundant indications of copper, 

 (green malachite and variegated sulphuret of copper beautifully 

 crystallized.) 



Evening session. — Mr. Hall read a "Report by Prof. Em- 

 mons on Drift." An interesting discussion then arose between 

 Mr. Hall and Prof H D. Rogers on this subject. 



Pi'of Hitchcock then read a paper on a singular case of the 

 dispersion of blocks of stone at the drift period, in Berkshire 

 County, Massachusetts. 



Berkshire County is traversed by several high ridges of mountains, 

 branches of the Taconic and Hoosack ranges, running northeasterly 

 and southwesterly. Across these ridges, and over the intervening val- 

 leys, and passing through the town of Richmond, there are two trains 

 of angular blocks of stone, not more than thirty or forty rods wide, ex- 

 tending in a southeasterly direction, not less than fifteen miles, over the 



