486 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1351 



and can always obtain expert advice in any 

 particular problem of special difficulty. 



COLLECTION OF BIRDS FOR THE CALIFORNIA 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Anothee well-known ornitbological collec- 

 tion has been added to tbe rapidly increasing 

 collections in tbe Museum of the California 

 Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Cali- 

 fornia — the W. Otto Emerson collection. 



Mr. Emerson began his bird studies in Cali- 

 fornia some forty years ago, at that time lay- 

 ing the foundation of one of the most com- 

 plete local collections of birds assembled in 

 this state. His studies have been maintained 

 in his spare time to the present date, and the 

 results of his bird studies and observations are 

 apparent in his notes and carefully selected 

 series of specimens of local species. As Mr. 

 Emerson has lived at Hayward, Alameda 

 •county, California, practically all of this 

 period, his collection and notes have especial 

 value from the standpoint of local occurrences, 

 ■distribution, changes, etc. 



In this collection are some most useful 

 series of ducks in the first stage of juvenile 

 plumage, carefully identified, which, added to 

 such material as is adready in the academy 

 •collection, will be of much value for compari- 

 sons, and the study of plumage. Besides the 

 series of birds of especial local value, there 

 are a good series of warblers from various parts 

 of the United States, and some rare records 

 from California in the line of warblers, and 

 some original record specimens for the state 

 of several species of sparrows, etc. 



The academy suffered the loss of its very 

 valuable collection of birds in the fire of 1906, 

 and, while the series of sea and shore birds 

 has been more than replaced, the land birds 

 have had but little effort expended upon them. 

 The addition of the Emerson and Mailliard 

 collections, which consist principally of land 

 birds, has very materially assisted in bringing 

 the academy collection nearer to its old basis. 



In addition to the collection of bird skins, 

 some valuable manuscripts of Dr. James G. 

 Cooper, such as those of " The Ornithology of 

 California, Land Birds, 1870," and "The 

 Eirds of Washington Territory, 1860-65," to- 



gether with some of Dr. Cooper's note books, 

 dating back to 1853, have accompanied the 

 collection. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



The thirty-third annual meeting of the Geo- 

 logical Society of America will be held Tues- 

 day to Thursday, December 28 to 30, at Chi- 

 cago by invitation of the University of Chicago 

 and in affiliation with the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science. The 

 scientific sessions will be held in Eosenwald 

 Hall on the university campus. 



The address of the retiring president. Dr. I. 

 C. White, will be delivered in the Eeynolds 

 Club building at 8 o'clock p.m., Tuesday, De- 

 cember 28, 1920. The annual subscription 

 smoker will be held at the Eeynolds Club at 

 the conclusion of President White's address. 

 Tickets, $1.00 each. The annual subscription 

 dinner will be held at the Chicago Beach 

 Hotel, 51st Street and Lake Michigan, Wed- 

 nesday evening, December 29, at 7 o'clock. 

 Hotel headquarters will be established at the 

 Chicago Beach Hotel. 



The Paleontological Society will hold its 

 twelfth annual meeting at Chicago in conjunc- 

 tion with the Geological Society of America. 

 Full information regarding this meeting may 

 be obtained, as usual, from the society's secre- 

 tary. Dr. R. S. Bassler, U. S. National Mu- 

 seum, Washington, D. C. 



The Mineralogical Society of America will 

 hold its second annual meeting at Chicago in 

 conjunction with the Geological Society of 

 America. Full information regarding this 

 meeting may be obtained from the society's 

 secretary, Mr. H. P. Whitlock, American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, New York City. 



The Society of Economic Geologists will 

 hold its initial meeting at Chicago in conjunc- 

 tion with the Geological Society of America. 

 For further information regarding this meet- 

 ing, address Professor J. Volney Lewis, secre- 

 tary, New Brunswick, N. J. 



Edmund Otis Hovey, 

 Secretary 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, 



