June 27, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



1011 



from that dii'ection. This is the reverse of 

 the conditions shown by R. Rudemarm to 

 have prevailed in northern New York dur- 

 ing the time of the Utica state; the direc- 

 tion of the current there and then being 

 shown by the attitude of colonies of grap- 

 tolites, which are turned in a southwest 

 direction. 



Papers on local geology of Ontario and 

 New Brunswick were presented by Pro- 

 fessor H. S. Coleman, of Toronto Univer- 

 sity, and by Professor L. W. Bailey, of the 

 University of New Brunswick. 



An afternoon was spent by the geologists 

 with Professor Coleman in examining the 

 interglacial deposits at Scarborough 

 Heights on the northern shore of Lake 

 Ontario, near Toronto. 



The papers by Professor D. P. Penhal- 

 low, of McGill University, on Cretaceous 

 and Tertiaiy plants, possessed special in- 

 terest from the fact that they represented 

 a continuation of the paleobotanical work 

 carried on for so many years by the late 

 Sir William Dawson.. Among the material 

 collected by the latter were many plants 

 which, at the time of his death, had not 

 been studied, or if so, but very casually, 

 and Professor Penliallow has since that 

 time devoted special attention to their 

 critical examination. Plants from three 

 localities form the subject of the present 

 papers— Cretaceous plants from Vancou- 

 ver and Queen Charlotte Islands, Tertiary 

 plants from the Red Deer River, N. W. T., 

 and also from the Horse-fly River, B. C. 

 In each case the plants confirm previous 

 testimony as to the age of the formation. 

 From the Lower Cretaceous of Skidegate 

 Inlet, Queen Charlotte Islands, there were 

 obtained fragments of a fern which per- 

 mitted the almost complete restoration of 

 an Osmunda closely allied in most respects 

 to the type of 0. Claytoniana, though prob- 

 ably about seven times as large. In a few 

 respects the internal structure showed it 



to approach the type of Toden, so that it 

 may probably be taken as representing an 

 intermediate form. Ginkgo pusilla and 

 Sequoia Langsdorfi, previously known only 

 through foliage and fruit, have now been 

 recognized through the structure of the 

 stem. In the collection from the Red Deer 

 River, two new forms appear, and are un- 

 questionably to be referred to the existing 

 genera Clintonia and Maianthemum, as the 

 foliage is identical in all essential respects. 

 In the Miocene of the Horse-fly River, there 

 was found the wood of a Pseudotsuga, 

 which appears to be the first material of 

 the kind recorded. The remainder of the 

 material embraces well-known species of 

 the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. 



Dr. AVm. Saunders, Director of the Cen- 

 tral Experimental Farm, Ottawa, gave a 

 striking illustration of the progress that is 

 being made in introducing fniit plants in- 

 to the Northwest. A hardy Siberian apple, 

 which bears a fruit little larger than an 

 Ontario haw, had been crossed with the 

 Ontario apple. The result was the produc- 

 tion of a fruit about an inch in diameter. 

 About four hundred of these had been 

 crossed, and last year they had thirty trees, 

 and this year will have about seventy, bear- 

 ing fruit. They retain the hardiness of the 

 Siberian apple, but the more they are 

 crossed the nearer the product comes to 

 the Ontario fruit. Results of experiments 

 in crossing English and American currants 

 and gooseberries, pliuns and cherries with 

 hardier varieties of these plants have not 

 in aU eases been successful, but enough 

 has been accomplished to show that hardy 

 varieties of Ontario fruits may be pro- 

 duced in the Canadian Northwest, which 

 in addition to becoming the greatest wheat- 

 producing region in the world, will also 

 be known for its fruit products. 



A paper on the botany of northern New 

 Brunswick was read by Dr. G. U. Hay, in 

 which was noted the large nimiber of bor- 



