746 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 802 



either late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. It 

 has been shown to be separated from the 

 Santa Fe formation, of Miocene age, by an 

 important erosion interval. It can be shown 

 to be preglacial on stratigraphic grounds. 

 Alluvial fans and slopes are widely developed 

 about the sides of the valley. The great Eio 

 Grande fan occupies a fourth or more of the 

 whole valley bottom. The water-bearing sands 

 conform to the contour of the fan, showing 

 that it was developed contemporaneously with 

 the deposition of the formation. Likewise on 

 the east side of the valley the alluvial fans 

 and slope of the Sangre de Cristo range 

 blend and are contemporaneous with the 

 sands and clays of the Alamosa formation. 

 The Pleistocene valley glaciers of the west 

 side of the range just reached down to the 

 alluvial slope and their concentric terminal 

 moraines surmount the crests of the alluvial 

 cones, spreading out from the valleys as the 

 author has previously noted.'' The sediments 

 of the fans and of the Alamosa formation are 

 therefore preglacial. The valley glaciers of 

 the Rocky Mountains of both the earlier and 

 later periods of glaciation are regarded as 

 rather late Pleistocene. The best age deter- 

 mination that can be made from a strati- 

 graphic standpoint, therefore, is that the Ala- 

 mosa formation is either late Pliocene or 

 early Pleistocene. Four species of fresh water 

 shells collected at Hansen's Bluff, in the 

 uppermost strata of the formation, are identi- 

 fied by Dall as a Quaternary assemblage. 



C. E. SlEBENTHAL 



TBE AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGWAL 

 SOCIETY 



The first annual meeting of the society was 

 held in affiliation with the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science in the Harvard 

 Medical School, Boston, Mass., December 30 and 

 31, 1909. The sessions were presided over by Dr. 

 L. R. Jones. The society starts with 130 charter 

 members. Fifty members were in attendance and 

 the meeting was regarded as a great success. The 

 rooms and other facilities provided by the local 

 committee were very satisfactory. 



'Jour. Oeol, Vol. XV., 1907, p. 15. 



The following officers were elected for 1910: 



President— Dt. F. L. Stevens, North Carolina 

 College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. 



Vice-president — Professor A. F. Woods, College 

 of Agriculture, University of Minnesota. 



Secretary-Treasurer— T>T. C. L. Shear, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Councilors — Dr. L. R. Jones, University of 

 Wisconsin; Professor A. D. Selby, Ohio Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station; and Professor H. H. 

 Whetzel, Cornell University. 



It is expected that the next annual meeting of 

 the society will be held in conjunction with the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at Minneapolis, Minn. 



The society empowered the council to undertake 

 the publication of a phytopathological journal if 

 the necessary financial and editorial arrangements 

 could be made. 



The membership fee for the year 1910 was fixed 

 at one dollar, with the provision that in case a 

 journal was established during the year an assess- 

 ment of one dollar more should be levied upon 

 each member to cover subscription to the journal 

 for the remainder of the year. 



A letter from the Society for the Promotion of 

 Agricultural Science, requesting the Phytopatho- 

 logical Society to appoint a committee for the 

 purpose of considering the question of affiliation 

 of the two societies was read. The society ac- 

 cepted the request and instructed the president 

 to appoint a committee of three for the purpose. 

 Dr. Chas. E. Bessey, Mr. F. C. Stewart and Dr. 

 John L. Sheldon were designated later. 



Upon motion the society voted to direct the 

 president to appoint two delegates as representa- 

 tives to the International Botanical Congress, 

 which is to be held in Brussels in May. Dr. W. 

 G. Farlow and Dr. C. L. Shear were appointed. 



The society also adopted a motion providing for 

 the appointment by the president of a committee 

 of five to draw up rules and make recommenda- 

 tions concerning the common names of plant dis- 

 eases. The president appointed Dr. F. L. Stevens, 

 Dr. H. von Schrenk, Dr. E. M. Freeman, Mr. W. 

 A. Orton and Dr. G. P. Clinton. 



Owing to the recent introduction of two serious 

 plant diseases, the yellow wart disease of the' 

 potato, caused by Chrysophlyctis endohiotica, and 

 the white pine disease, caused by Cronartium 

 rMcolum, into America, the society unanimously 

 adopted a motion directing the president to ap- 

 point a committee of five to draft appropriate' 

 resolutions regarding these diseases and take 



