60 



SCIENCE. 



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



der the Dii-ector's orders, he made a trip 

 to Boston, to consult with Dr. J. E. Wolff 

 concerning oificial work. He returned on 

 the 29th and resumed the work above 

 mentioned. 



The report on the gold resources of the 

 Southern Appalachians, upon which Dr. G. 

 F. Becker had been engaged all winter and 

 spring, was completed about the 10th of 

 May and placed in the Director's hands for 

 publication. Bj' the 14th Dr. Becker had 

 received and corrected the printed proof of 

 this work, and on the 16th he started, in 

 company with Dr. W. H. Dall and Mr. 

 Purington, for Alaska, to make the investi- 

 gation toxiching gold and coal resources, 

 which Congress specially authorized and 

 provided for at its last session. As con- 

 templated in the plans for this work, Dr. 

 Becker will himself make the gold investi- 

 gations and Dr. Dall those relating to coal. 

 Advices ft-om Dr. Becker, dated June 1st, 

 show that the party had reached Sitka and 

 had actually begun work. 



As regards the office work relating to the 

 mining districts of California, it may be 

 stated that Mr. W. Lindgren was occupied 

 with the microscopic study of the specimens 

 collected at Nevada City and Grass Valley, 

 as well as with the preparation of the de- 

 scriptive text to accompany the sheets rep- 

 resenting those districts. 



Mr. H. W. Turner left Washington in 

 May. His first work of the season wiU be 

 the completion of the Bidwell Bar sheet 

 surveyed in part last season in central Cali- 

 fornia. Mr. J. S. Diller spent the last half of 

 the month in the study of geologic material in 

 preparation for his field work this season in 

 Oregon, and in attending to matters con- 

 nected with the Educational Series of rocks. 

 Under his direction 285 thin or microscopic 

 sections of rocks were made, about 300 speci- 

 mens were either cut or polished, or both, 

 and 2,150 specimens of the Educational 

 Series were labeled. The work of Mr. T. 



W. Stanton consisted principally in the re- 

 vision of a paper on the fauna of the Knox- 

 ville beds. This paper was submitted for 

 publication as a bulletin on May 30th, on 

 which date Mr. Stanton left Washington, 

 under orders, for field work in Texas, in 

 accordance mth the plans for the ensuing 

 fiscal year. As stated on a previous page. 

 Dr. W. H. Dall was assigned to special 

 work in Alaska. 



Prof. L. F. Ward was preparing his paj)er 

 on some analogies in the Lower Cretaceous 

 of Europe and America, and upon this he 

 was engaged nearlj' the entire month. He 

 stated under date of June 6 that the task 

 was nearing completion. He gaA'^e much 

 attention during the month to work relat- 

 ing to cj'cadean remains, visiting Baltimore 

 and making photographs of some important 

 specimens for illustrative purposes. Dr. F. 

 H. Knowlton reports that with the excep- 

 tion of three daj'S, which he gave to the 

 study of a small collection of fossil wood 

 from the Isle of Wight and the Island of 

 Portland, England, in connection with Prof. 

 Ward's investigations, his whole time in 

 May was given to the study of the fossil 

 plants of the Yellowstone Park as reported 

 in previous months. 



Prof. O. C. Marsh and his assistants 

 continued the work on North American 

 Dinosaurs, attention being directed during 

 the month especiallj^ to the illustrations 

 and text for the paper ou the subject, de- 

 signed for the Sixteenth Annual Report. 



The field work of the Division of Hydrog- 

 raphy, under Mr. F. H. Newell, was 

 advanced in a fairlj^ satisfactorj^ manner. 

 The field of operation of this Division is so 

 vast, and the work that is being done in the 

 different sections of the country and on the 

 different streams is so varied in character 

 and aiiected so much by local conditions, 

 that it is quite difficult to state in general 

 terms and few words the condition of that 

 work at anv given date. 



