336 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 559. 



High Splint are younger than the Stock- 

 ton coal, the top of the Kanawha, which the 

 writer places, together with the Black 

 Flint, within the Pottsville, and which at 

 highest can not be later than the Brook- 

 ville coal (base of the Allegheny), where 

 it is now placed by Stevenson. 



The further progress in the study of the 

 fossil floras brings support to the writer's 

 rough provisional correlation of the Har- 

 lan formation mth the Anderson in Ten- 

 nessee, and in part with the Charleston 

 sandstone in West Virginia, though the 

 lower boundaries are probably earlier in 

 the more southern formations. The enor- 

 mous expansion already noted in the south- 

 ward extension of the Sewell and lower 

 Kanawha is apparently shared by the up- 

 per Kanawha and Homewood stages in the 

 southern Appalachian coal field. 



E. 0. Hovey on 'The Western Sierra 

 Madre of the State of Chihauhua, Mexico.' 

 The paper described very briefly some of 

 the geologic and geographic features of the, 

 country traversed by the author in com- 

 pany with Professor Robert T. Hill, on a 

 journey by pack train from Nuevas Casas 

 Grandes southward to Ocampo (Jesus 

 Maria) and thence northeastward to 

 Miiiaca. The great plateau of Mexico, in 

 Chihuahua at least, has been built up on 

 a foundation of Cretaceous limestone and 

 schist and post-Cretaceous granite by count- 

 less volcanic eruptions of lava streams and 

 tuff beds. The constructional surface thus 

 produced has been leveled by atmospheric 

 action and sheetflood erosion, and the 

 great canons have subsequently been cut 

 in the elevated plateau. The Navosaigame 

 formation of ancient local conglomerate 

 was described and named. 



On Saturday the members and others in 

 attendance upon the meeting again divided 

 into two sections, one under the guidance 

 of Professor Hopkins and the other under 

 that of Professor Fairchild. The former 



continued stratigraphic and economic 

 studies near Fayetteville, while the latter 

 went southwestward to the Split Rock 

 quarries of the Solvay Process Co. in the 

 heavy-bedded Onondaga limestone about 

 five miles from the city. From near Split 

 Rock can be seen some of the high-level 

 ancient channels which have suggested to 

 Professor Fairchild his new problems in 

 glaciology. A section of the Split Rock 

 party continued its excursion to Skane- 

 ateles Lake and returned through the Mar- 

 cellus- Cedar vale glacial channel and the 

 Onondaga valley to the city. Other places 

 of interest visited by members were the 

 serpentine dike in the northeastern part of 

 the city and the extensive salt works. 



Before adjournment the section passed a 

 hearty vote of thanks to the City of Syra- 

 cuse, Syracuse University, the University 

 Club, the Citizens Club and the City Li- 

 brary Association, and expressed its appre- 

 ciation of the labor in behalf of the meeting 

 expended by Professors Hopkins and Fair- 

 child. About fifty persons, half of whom 

 were members or prospective members, at- 

 tended the various excursions and sessions, 

 aside from the number in attendance upon 

 the public lecture. 



Edmund Otis Hovey, 



Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



Die Lichtsinnesorgane der Lauhhldtter. By 

 G. PIaberlandt. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engel- 

 maiui. 1905. Pp. 142, pi. 4. 

 In this work, Haberlandt has brought to- 

 gether the results of his extensive studies of 

 the perception of light by the leaf, some of 

 which have already appeared in his ' Physio- 

 logische Pflanzenanatomie ' and in various 

 papers. The book is one of great interest and 

 it should be read by every botanist concerned 

 with the relation of plants to stimuli. A 

 critical reading, however, is very necessary, 

 since the text contains much special pleading. 

 The author rejects Sachs's view that heliotropic 



