58 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 29. 



1867, and sixth edition in 1890 ; the treat- 

 ment of the CompositEe, Filices and Equis- 

 etacese to Dr. Sereno Watson's ' Botany of 

 King's Expedition ' in 1871 and of the 

 Ferns and Higher Crj^ptogams to the same 

 author's ' Botany of California ' in 1880. 

 He was early associated with Dr. W. G. 

 Farlow and Dr. C. L. Anderson in the 

 preparation and distribution of ' Algse Bo- 

 reali- Americans,' the first consecutivelj' 

 numbered sets of N'orth American algffi of 

 any considerable extent that has been 

 issued. Recently his attention has been 

 specifically given to the Sphagna, and in 

 conjunction with IMi". C. E. Faxon he was 

 preparing sets of these plants for distribu- 

 tion, a most important work, which, it is 

 sincerely hoped, will not be suspended on 

 account of his untimely death. 



Personally Professor Eaton was generoiis 

 to a fault, alwaj'S most willing to aid his 

 students and correspondents in any way in 

 his power, and beloved by all who were 

 favored hj his acquaintance. 



N. L. Beitton. 



Tffi: UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

 In his monthly report for May, 1895, the 

 manuscript of which has been recently sub- 

 mitted to the Secretary of the Interior, Di- 

 rector Walcott, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, remai'ks on the earlj' com- 

 mencement of field work this season as 

 compared with former j'ears, with the pros- 

 pect of a longer season and more abundant 

 results. The topographic parties nearly all 

 took the field during May, as did also a 

 number of geologic parties. Such topog- 

 raphers and geolgists as were detained in 

 Washington bej^ond the close of the month 

 have since taken the field from time to 

 time, as the exigencies of the work already 

 in hand permitted. This early commence- 

 ment of the field work of the Survej' is at- 

 tributable in the main to the action of Con- 



gress in pro^^ding in the last Sundry Civil 

 bill that the appropriations for the Survey 

 for the fiscal year 1895-1896 should become 

 available before the first of July. 



In view of the importance of the Geologi- 

 cal Survey as an instrument for the advance- 

 ment of science and the development of the 

 resources of the country, and the fact that 

 the present report shows to a large extent 

 the work planned for the current year, we 

 give in some detail the difl:erent directions 

 in which operations are in progress. 



Of the geologists working in New Eng- 

 land, Prof. N. S. Shaler was engaged 

 principallj- in the preparation of his report 

 on the Narragansett Basin, and in investi- 

 gating, through the aid of Assistant Wood- 

 worth, certain morainal belts in Rhode 

 Island. Prof. B. K. Emerson, working 

 also in a New England area, gave two 

 days of each week to field work for the Sur- 

 vey, mapping the geology of the Barre and 

 Marlboro' sheets, of Massachusetts. In his 

 study he was doing microscopic work and 

 making drawings for his report. Prof. 

 T. Nelson Dale reports that such part of 

 the month as he was actually in the emploj^ 

 of the Survej' was given to work on the 

 Cambridge, N. Y., sheet. 



In the State of New Jersey, Professor J. 

 E. Wolflf continued, with the assistance of 

 Mr. Brooks, the survey of the areal geologj'^ 

 of the Lake Hopatcong sheet. Dr. W. B. 

 Clark, the other geologist who is working 

 in New Jersej^ geologj', continued the sur- 

 vey of the Bordentown sheet and the con- 

 tiguous region. This area was taken up 

 late in April. While in Baltimore, Dr. 

 Clark continued his office work upon the 

 Eocene fauna of Marj'land and Yh-ginia. 



Mr N. H. Darton spent the greater part 

 of the month in the continued preparation 

 of the report on artesian well prospects of 

 of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Ten days 

 were spent on Long Island, N. Y., for the 

 purpose of obtaining data regarding wells 



