December 28, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



1009 



Barbour on ' Sand-lime Crystals. ' This latter 

 paper was certainly an important contribution 

 to the subject of crystallography, and will be 

 received by geologists as a permanent contribu- 

 tion to the subject. Immediately following this 

 paper some time was spent by Robert E. Moritz 

 in presenting a discussion on the ' Extension of 

 the Differential Processes ' in a manner approved 

 of by the mathematicians in attendance. Robert 

 H. Wolcott then read by title a rather technical 

 paper entitled ' A Review of the Genera of 

 Water Mites,' in which the auther critically 

 reviewed all the former attempts at the classi- 

 fication of these animals. He also suggested in 

 that paper a more natural scheme of classifica- 

 tion based on the derivation of the diflTerent 

 forms aside from their chance present external 

 resemblances. 



Another paper of .more than ordinary inter- 

 est was that of Professor William Hastings, 

 entitled ' The Nebraska Type or Norm for 

 each School Age, and Vitality Coefficients.' 

 ' Thunder Storms ' was the title of a paper by 

 J. H. Spencer, in which the author gave a 

 very concise description of what constitutes 

 such a storm, its cause, method of develop- 

 ment, extent, importance, and the compara- 

 tive annual number of such storms for the State 

 of Nebraska and surrounding regions. 



The feature of the 'evening session was the 

 presentation of papers of a more general 

 nature. Some of these were ' Notes on the 

 Occurrence of Asparagus Rust in Nebraska,' 

 by J. L. Sheldon ; ' The Determination of the 

 Longitude of the University of Nebraska Ob- 

 servatory,' by G. D. Swezey ; 'A Report on 

 the Morrill Geological Expedition for 1900,' by 

 E. H. Barbour ; ' Additional Observations on 

 Plant Movements,' Wm. Cleburne ; a paper on 

 the ' Delimitation of the Field of Pedagogy, ' 

 by W. A. Clark, and one on 'Degeneracy,' 

 by Dr. H. B. Lowry. In his presentation of 

 this latter subject the doctor dealt chiefly with 

 the criminal phase. It is needless to state that 

 this paper will form very interesting reading 

 when published. 



The papers presented at the session on the 

 morning of December 1st were ' The Geology 

 of Saunders, Lancaster and Gage Counties,' by 

 C. A. Fisher ; ' North American Bees of the 



Genus Agapostemon,' by J. C. Crawford, Jr. ; 

 ' The Work of the State Geological Survey 

 during the Summer of 1900,' 'Bone Tissue, 

 Recent and Fossilized,' and one on the 'Ex- 

 tent of the Fiberous Arikaree Beds,' by E. H. 

 Barbour; 'Some Tests of Camera Shutters,' 

 G. D. Swezey ; ' Notes on Beet Diseases in 

 Nebraska,' Geo. G. Hedgecock ; ' A Brief Ac- 

 count of some Rare Alaskan Worms,' H. B. 

 Ward ; ' Observations on Species of Nebraska 

 Water Mites,' Robert H. Wolcott ; ' Report on 

 the Botanical Survey of Nebraska,' Roscoe 

 Pound ; '^Additions to the List of Nebraska Fos- 

 sils,' Carrie A. Barbour, and ' Some Impressions 

 of Biological Conditions in Arizona,' A. A. 

 Tyler. As nearly all these papers were more 

 or less technical in their nature, or of minor 

 general interest, they were presented by their 

 authors in abstract. 



The officers elected for the ensuing year are : 

 Ellery W. Davis, President ; J. H. Powers, 

 Vice-President ; Robert H. Wolcott, Secretary 

 and Custodian ; G. A. Loveland, Treasurer ; 

 Board of Directors : William Cleburne, C. H. 

 Gordon, H. B. Lowry and L. Bruner. 



On motion of the chairman of the commit- 

 tee on publication it was decided to publish at 

 once the proceedings of the present meeting, 

 also the proceedings of the last two meetings, 

 which have been held in abeyance awaiting the 

 publication of the report of the Nebraska His- 

 torical Society with which they are to appear. 



A committee of three was also appointed to 

 await upon the members of the coming legis- 

 lature for the purpose of securing any possible 

 State aid in the future publication of the Acad- 

 emy's proceedings. 



Lawrence Beuner, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



A GASOLINE LAUNCH FOE FIELD WORK. 



To THE Editor of Science : Three years ago 

 I published in your columns a few brief state- 

 ments regarding the feasibility of using gasoline 

 for motive power in conducting geological work 

 in the Eastern United States, and more partic- 

 ularly in New York. Since then several long, 

 and I may venture to say successful, excursions 

 have been made. It is, however, to show the 



