590 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 589. 



In the quarries at North BuSalo the dis- 

 conformity between the Bullhead and Onon- 

 daga was studied. This time-gap is faintly 

 marked, but very careful study has shown that 

 a thin layer of sandstone, in some places 

 hardly more than a single layer of Quartz 

 sand grains, lies between the two disconform- 

 able formations. In one place there is a 

 remarkable dike of the intervening sand in- 

 jected into the underlying formations, extend- 

 ing clear through the Bull-head into the 

 Bertie. 



On the return trip from Buffalo to New 

 York the party made one stop at Portage to 

 examine the upper gorge of the Genesee River, 

 and the upper Devonic formations exposed 

 there. Members of the party who desired to 

 do so then joined the students from the School 

 of Mines for a week's field work in the region 

 about Newburgh, where the crystalline rocks 

 of the Highlands and the stratigraphy and 

 structure of the Skunnomunk Mountain re- 

 gion were studied and mapped in detail. 



Thomas C. Brown. 



Columbia Univebsitt. 



preliminary note on the embryogeny of 

 symplocarpus fcetidus salisb. 



Last year Mr. W. H. Lippold, while en- 

 gaged in graduate work in the botanical dy 

 partment of the University of Minnesota, 

 undertook a study of the embryo-sac de- 

 velopment and embryogeny of Symplocarpus 

 fcetidus Salisb. 



The work was not carried to completion, 

 some important points being left undecided 

 because of lack of material. The writer, upon 

 the suggestion of Professor Lyon, has taken 

 up the unfinished work and hopes to bring 

 out in a subsequent paper an account of the 

 observations made. 



Some interesting facts have already been 

 established and it seems advisable to call at- 

 tention to these at the present time. Briefly 

 stated they are as follows: 



The gynoeeium is almost always one- 

 chambered, although two chambers infre- 

 quently occur. 



The ovule is solitary, axial, orthotropous 

 and pendant from the roof of the chamber. 



The two integuments which are formed do 

 not completely enclose the nucellus. 



A massive endosperm develops and rapidly 

 consumes the nucellus, the inner and outer 

 integuments, and pushes back into the basal 

 tissue of the ovule. 



The protocorm soon assumes a somewhat 

 campanulate shape with a short, thick sus- 

 pensor at its narrower, proximal end. 



The radicle and plumule are both differen- 

 tiated at the suspensor end of the protocorm. 



The developing protocorm completely con- 

 sumes the endosperm as well as all the re- 

 maining ovular tissue except the base of the 

 hilum, which remains closely appressed to its . 

 broad end. 



The emhryo, therefore, comes to lie free in 

 the chamber of the gynoeeium without any 

 trace of seed coats or enveloping memhranes. 



The mature embryo is nearly spherical and 

 measures 8-11 mm. in diameter. 



The epidermal and subepidermal cells have 

 their -Tvalls considerably thickened, while the 

 walls of the former are distinctly cuticular- 

 ized. 



The metacormal axis is short and bent back 

 upon itself, the plumule lying close to the 

 radicle. 



The so-called ' seeds ' of Symplocarpus fce- 

 tidus are naked embryos. 



C. Otto Eosendahl. 



University of Minnesota. 



LOWER paleozoic FORMATIONS IN NEW MEXICO.' 



The older Paleozoic strata hare generally 

 been considered absent in New Mexico. Dur- 

 ing the past summer, while engaged in field 

 work for the U. S. Geological Survey, under 

 the direction of Mr. Waldemar Lindgren, the 

 undersigned found Cambrian, Ordovician, 

 Silurian and Devonian formations at various 

 places along a belt which crosses Grant, Sierra 

 and Luna counties, and extends from the east 

 side of the Rio Grande westward beyond the 

 Arizona line and probably connects with the 

 similar formations of the Clifton copper dis- 

 trict in Arizona.^ 



' Published by permission of the director, U. S. 

 Geological Survey. 



'W. Lindgren, professional paper, U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey, No. 43. 



