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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 634 



and Professor William H. Hobbs a member 

 of the council of the association. Professor 

 Fenneman was also elected press secretary. 



The section, some sixty members being 

 present, passed, with unanimity, a resolu- 

 tion recommending to the council of the 

 association that the annual meeting of the 

 association be held regularly during the 

 summer vacation season. The section also 

 passed a resolution recommending the for- 

 mation of a seismological committee com- 

 posed of fellows of the association from the 

 different sections interested in the subject. 



At 2 P.M. of the same day Professor 

 William North Rice read his address as 

 retiring vice-president and chairman, his 

 subject being ' The Contributions of Amer- 

 ica to Geology' (Science, February 1, 

 1907). At 3 o'clock the section adjourned 

 in favor of the Geological Society of Amer- 

 ica, which held its first business session in 

 the same room. The Geological Society 

 continued its sessions on Friday and Sat- 

 urday in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, and on Monday, likewise at the 

 Museum, Section E resumed its meeting. 

 Two sessions were held, at which the papers 

 described below were read and actively dis- 

 cussed. The attendance at these sessions 

 was highly satisfactory, especially in view 

 of the lateness of the date and of the fact 

 that the Association of American Geog- 

 raphers was holding simultaneous sessions 

 in a neighboring building. 



At the business meeting of the sectional 

 committee held on Monday, December 31, 

 Professor Joseph P. Iddings, of Chicago 

 University, was nominated for the office of 

 vice-president of the association and chair- 

 man of the section. The resignation of 

 E. 0. Hovey as secretary was presented 

 and accepted, and Dr. F. P. Gulliver, of 

 Norwich, Conn., was elected to fill the va- 

 cancy for one year thus caused. 



The papers, abstracts of which follow, 

 were read in full by their authors on Mon- 



day, December 31, at the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History. 



The Detrital Flanking Slopes of the 



Mountains of the Southwest: William 



P. Blake, New Haven, Conn. 



This paper described the long regular 

 slopes of coarse sand, gravel and boulders 

 bordering high rocky elevations of the 

 mountains of the southwestern portion of 

 the United States, particularly of the Great 

 Basin and the arid region of Arizona, and 

 discussed their origin, age and geological 

 relations. Evidence was given that the 

 detritus of mountain gorges was formerly 

 deposited under water and was spread out 

 by oceanic action so as to form the long 

 smooth flanking slopes with their highest 

 portions from 3,500 to 4,000 feet and the 

 elevation of the country to an equal 

 amount. The grade in slopes of from 

 eighteen to twenty miles in length averages 

 100 feet to the mile. They have great 

 antiquity, being probably pregiacial, and 

 certainly older than the existing drainage, 

 by which they have in part been modified 

 in form and partly destroyed. The study 

 of these slopes throws much light upon 

 problems of Quaternary geology and 

 meteorology. 



Professor Blake's paper was discussed 

 by Professors Kemp, Ogilvie and Gill. 



Perspective View of the Submarine Canyon 

 of the Hudson River: J. W. Spencer, 

 Washington, D. C. (Abstract not re- 

 ceived.) 



Eurypterus Fauna of the Shawangunk 

 Grit: John M. Claee:e, Albany, N. T. 

 The Shawangunk grit throughout its ex- 

 tent along its western ridge from Ulster 

 County into the Kittatinny Mountains of 

 New Jersey and on its eastern from Skun- 

 nemunk Mountain, Orange County, to 

 Green Pond, New Jersey, had never fur- 

 nished fossils until the work of the past 



