January 17, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



mian age. These beds are separable, on litbo- 

 logical grounds, into three divisions, desig- 

 nated as the Eed Series, the Chocolate Series, 

 and the Vermillion Series. Lenticular de- 

 posits of salt and gypsum are frequently found 

 at the top of the lower or Eed Series, and evi- 

 dence was produced to show that the Saline 

 Basins under consideration occur at this 

 horizon. The facts were noted that Triassic 

 types have been described from some part of 

 the Eed Beds (presumably the upper), while 

 a characteristic Permian fauna has been re- 

 cently found near the base of the Eed Series. 

 In view of these facts, and since no horizon of 

 marked transition other than the salt and 

 gypsum deposits occurs, it was suggested that 

 these deposits might possibly mark the bound- 

 ary line between the Jura-triassic and Per- 

 mian in central New Mexico. 



Dr. D. S. Martin presented a paper entitled 

 'Some Geological Notes on the Neighborhood 

 of Buffalo, N. Y., made in the Summer of 

 1901.' Dr. Martin did not claim any special 

 novelty for the data presented, but judged that 

 they might be of interest to any members not 

 acquainted with that region. Dr. Martin first 

 outlined roughly the distribution of the series 

 from the Medina to the Corniferous Lime- 

 stone, and then mentioned in detail certain 

 special features. He particularly noted cer- 

 tain joint seams in the Niagara Limestone 

 near Lockport, N. T., which have been much 

 eroded and decomposed, and which are now 

 filled with a dark brown claylike material, con- 

 taining numbers of half decayed modern land 

 shells, such as Helix albolabris. He then de- 

 scribed the series of rocks exposed in the 

 quarries found on North Main street, Buffalo, 

 which are the source of the famous Euryp- 

 terus specimens. This series extends from 

 the Corniferous Limestone to the Saline series 

 and is divisible into five members, known as 

 the Corniferous Limestone, the Blue Lime- 

 stone, the Bullihead Eock, the Water Lime- 

 stone, and the Salina. Dr. Martin particu- 

 larly emphasized the contact between the 

 Bullhead Eock and the overlying Blue Lime- 

 stone, and noted the occurrence of a sandstone 

 dike extending to the top of the Bullhead 

 series. 



Mr. A. J. Queneau, in a paper entitled 

 'The Grain of Igneous Eocks,' said that a 

 general observation might be made in regard 

 to intrusive dikes. Near the margin the rock 

 is dense, often glassy without any appreciable 

 grain, whereas the grain begins to grow coarse 

 according to some definite law, progressively 

 as the distance from the wall increases. The 

 present paper is based on the study of the laws 

 governing siich increase. It appears that the 

 loss of heat is of paramount importance.* The 

 problem taken up is very analogoxis to the one 

 presented by the cooling of a slab of finite 

 thickness and of great length and depth with 

 respect to the first dimension, viz., the thick^ 

 ness. The method followed rests on the Theo- 

 rie de la Chaleur of Fourier, and on the gen- 

 eral theory of cooling by Professor E. S. 

 Woodward.t The following laws have been 

 deducted : (1) The zone of varying grain will 

 vary indirectly as the initial temperatiire. 

 From this follows that (a) Platonic rocks 

 very deeply seated will not present a zone of 

 varying grain to any extent. (I) Eocks which 

 come to rest at a temperature nearing their 

 consolidation point will present a wide zone of 

 varying grain. (2) The time of cooling, other 

 conditions being the same, varies as the sqiiare 

 of the thickness of the dike.:|: From this last 

 law it is assumed that the size of the crys- 

 tals vary as the square of their distances 

 from the nearest margin ; then the square root 

 of their area, which can be measured, varies 

 directly as the distances from the margin. 

 Thus we have a simple law of easy application. 

 EicHAED E. Dodge, 

 Secretary pro tern. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 



The 345th meeting was held on Saturday- 

 evening, December 14. 



Mr. W. H. Holmes spoke on 'Finds of Fossil 

 Eemains and Indian Implements in a Spring- 

 at Afton, Indian Territory.' The spring was 

 situated in a level country and the superficial 

 strata consisted of four feet of sand overlying 



* Alfred C. Lane, Geol. Surv. of Michigan, Vol. 

 VI. 



t Annals of Mathematics, Vol. III. 



t Riemann, ' Partielle Differential Gleiehungen.' 



