Febeuabt 14, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



26T 



The consequences of this change are some- 

 what momentous. The main mouth of the 

 river was formerly twenty or thirty miles 

 farther north of the new debouchure, and with 

 the converging shores of the gulf, gave condi- 

 tions which with the spring tides at thirty to 

 forty feet, produced a marked bore, being felt 

 many miles upstream, both in the Colorado 

 and Hardy. The new channel reaches sea- 

 level by a much more gradual descent and 

 hence without the strong current favorable to 

 developing the bore. 



The new mouth will become the center of 

 a new series of mud flats which fringe the 

 shores already for a distance of fifty miles. 

 The deposition of silt will operate to close the 

 eastern channel between Montague Island and 

 the mainland, which has long since ceased to 

 be navigable and will soon afford material 

 which will be piled by the tides in the deeper 

 channel to the westward with the final result 

 of filling it more or less completely. 



The new eastern channel is one probably not 

 previously occupied by the river in its present 

 condition, and the change adds to the delta 

 the triangular area enclosed by the old chan- 

 nel below the " Colony mesa " to the gulf, 

 and the new channel, inclusive of expanses of 

 mud flats and a range of gravel dunes or hil- 

 locks which find their culmination at the ex- 

 treme northern end of the triangle immedi- 

 ately below where the new channel takes off 

 from the old one. 



In addition to increasing the area of the 

 delta, serious disturbance of the plants and 

 animals over an area of several hundred 

 square miles may ensue. In a large part of 

 it the composition of the flora will be totally 

 altered. M. C. Marsh, 



Recording Secretary 



THE TOREEY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The first stated meeting for 1908 was held 

 on January 14, 1908, at the American Museum 

 of Natural History at 8 :15 p.m. Vice-presi- 

 dent Edward S. Burgess presided. The at- 

 tendance was fourteen. 



This being the annual business meeting of 

 the club, the chairman called for the reports 

 of officers for 190Y. Eeports of the secretary. 



treasurer, editor and corresponding secretary 

 were read, accepted and placed on file. 



The secretary reported that fourteen regular 

 meetings had been held during the year, with 

 a total attendance of 306, as against 219 in 

 1906, and an average attendance of 21.8, as 

 against 16.8 last year. A total of 37 formal 

 papers was presented before the club, distrib- 

 uted according to subject-matter as follows : 

 taxonomy, 5; physiology, 6; morphology, 4;- 

 ecology, 7; regional botany, 5; exploration, 2; 

 lantern lectures, 4 ; miscellaneous, 4. In addi- 

 tion to these were numerous informal notes- 

 and exhibitions of specimens. 



The editor reported the publication of one 

 niimber of the Memoirs, of 47 pages, and the- 

 issuance of the Bulletin and of Torreya as- 

 usual. The need of an adequate index to the 

 Bulletin from volume one to thirty, inclusive, 

 was strongly emphasized. 



On behalf of the committee on the local 

 flora, the chairman, Dr. Britton, urged the 

 need of increased activity, and emphasized the 

 desirability of preparing a special work on the 

 flora of New York City and vicinity. At 

 present no such work exists. 



Election of officers for the year 1908 re- 

 sulted in the election of the following ticket: 



President — Henry Hurd Rusby. 



Vice-presidents — Edward Sandford Burgess and 

 John Hendley Barnhart. 



Secretary — C. Stuart Gager. 



Treasurer — William Mansfield. 



Editor — Marshall Avery Howe. 



Associate Editors — John Hendley Barnhart, 

 Jean Broadhurst, Philip Dowell, Alexander Wil- 

 liam Evans, Tracy Eliot Hazen, William Alphonso 

 Murrill, Charles Louis Pollard and Herbert Maule 

 Richards. C. StuART Gaqer, 



Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SUN 



Professor Schaeberle's measurement of 

 the effect of concentrated solar radiation in 

 the melting of platinum and other metals' is a 

 valuable addition to previous experiments of 

 this sort. Indeed, it may be doubted whether 

 the measurement has ever been made before 



» ScDDNCE, December 20, 1907, p. 877. 



