September 21, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



371 



made by a meteor striking the eartli. The 

 bottom of the pit is filled with fossiliferous 

 fresh-water deposits to a depth of about 

 eighty feet. 



Messrs. Barringer's and Tilghman's 

 paper was discussed by Messrs. J. C. Bran- 

 ner, A. C. Lane and E. 0. Hovey. 



Recess was taken from 12 :45 to 3 :45 on 

 account of lunch and the dedication of 

 Rockefeller Hall. 



Saturday, June 30. Excursion to Union 

 Springs under the leadership of Professor 

 G. D. Harris, of Cornell University. This 

 was participated in by thirteen members 

 of the section. The stratigraphy, paleon- 

 tology and physiography of the region were 

 studied. 



Monday, July 2. An excursion by boat 

 to various points of interest at the southern 

 end of Cayuga Lake under the leadership 

 of Professor G. D. Harris, which was par- 

 ticipated in by eighteen members of the 

 section and association. The succession of 

 Devonian beds along the lake shores was 

 noted; peculiarities of shore-line and delta 

 formations observed and the erosion of the 

 strata as exemplified in the Taughannock 

 Palls studied. The Glenwood intrusive 

 dike was visited. 



Tuesday, July 3, An excursion to En- 

 field Glen under the leadership of R. H. 

 Whitbeck of the State Normal School, 

 Trenton, N. J., which was participated in 

 by fifteen members of the section and asso- 

 ciation. The glacial phenomena of Cayuga 

 Valley, the geology of the lateral valleys, 

 the jointed structure of the rocks and the 

 Enfield Falls, were the natural features of 

 particular interest. 



After lunch at the Enfield Glen Pro- 

 fessor C. R. Dryer, of the State Normal 

 School, Terra Haute, Ind., gave, by invita- 

 tion, a carefully prepared paper upon ' The 

 Geologic Features of the Finger Lake Re- 

 gion, New York.' 



Western New York may be divided into 

 four physiographic regions: (1) the Iro- 

 quois plain, (2) the drumlin belt, (3) the 

 Finger Lake belt, (4) the Allegheny Pla- 

 teau. The Finger Lake belt lies on the 

 northward slope of the plateau and is 

 trenched by numerous north-south valleys, 

 many of which contain lakes. The valleys 

 are long, narrow, straight or but slightly 

 curved, flat-bottomed, from 1,500 to 2,500 

 deep and partly filled with sediment. The 

 rock floor of the Cayuga Valley is 55 feet 

 below the sea level and that of the Seneca 

 Valley at least 556 feet. The slopes of the 

 valley walls are smooth, symmetrical, de- 

 void of spurs, and below the 900-foot level 

 are sharply oversteepened. The wide, 

 open, mature valleys of the tributary 

 streams are, with a few exceptions, 'hung 

 up' at the edge of the steepened slope and 

 the streams drop by rapids and falls 

 through narrow rock gorges, to the lake 

 level. Enfield Creek has in its upper 

 course a fall of about 30 feet to the mile, 

 then it makes a nearly vertical fall of 210 

 feet and descends 450 feet in one mile and 

 a half to the level of Cayuga Inlet. If the 

 slope of the upper part be extended out 

 into the air it would pass 500 feet above 

 the present mouth of the stream. Within 

 sight on the southern horizon is a notch or 

 gap 600 feet deep and one fourth of a mile 

 wide which leads from the head of this 

 stream through to the Chemung drainage 

 without any definite divide. 



The physiographic problems of this re- 

 gion are many; but the features just enu- 

 merated can have but one meaning. Main 

 valleys oversteepened, overdeepened and 

 too straight and smooth to be the work of 

 streams alone, tributary valleys hanging 

 hundreds of feet above their immediate 

 baselevel, a main divide notched by 

 through-going gaps — these are as character- 

 istic of glaciated and ice-shaped regions as 



