468 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLH. No. 1083 



mains that have been found indicate the character 

 of the medium of distribution. Some of the de- 

 posits suggest the presence for a time of a wide 

 shallow muddy sea. Others are evidently near- 

 shore deposits with remains of brackish-water or 

 even fresh-water life. The final retreat of the sea 

 from the central part of the continent is marked 

 by a series of brackish-water deposits covered by 

 material that has been distributed by fresh-water 

 streams or in lakes. 



In the western part of Alberta there are indica- 

 tions that the western margin of the marine in- 

 vasion can be located and that there was at various 

 periods a distinct narrowing of the sea so that 

 land areas appeared which occupied portions of 

 the present area of western Alberta. An attempt 

 at defining the western margin of the Cretaceous 

 sea at successive stages is made in the paper. This 

 shows graphically in the retreat of the sea the in- 

 auguration of a period of unrest which later culmi- 

 nated in the elevation of this part far above the 

 sea and finally in the formation of the Kocky 

 Mountains. 



Notes on some hitherto Unrecorded Occurrences in 

 British Columhia, of Uncommon Minerals, Col- 

 lected hy the late W. J. Sutton, of Victoria: 

 E. W. Brock, F.E.S.G. 



The late W. J. Sutton, of Victoria, made an ex- 

 tensive private collection of rocks and minerals. 

 In it are a number of specimens of minerals from 

 British Columbia, whose occurrences have not as 

 yet been brought to the attention of the scientific 

 world-. Mr. Sutton, no doubt, would have de- 

 scribed these in detail; the writer can only men- 

 tion such as he noticed, but places them before the 

 society in order that they may be credited to this 

 earnest and enthusiastic mineralogist and geol- 

 ogist. 



A British Columiia Example of the Contact Meta- 

 Tnorphism of a Granite BocTc to a Garnet: E. W. 

 Bkock, F.E.S.G. 



Contact metamorphism is a common phenomenon 

 in British Columbia. Limestone, here as else- 

 where, is the rock which most frequently shows 

 pronounced effects of this process. In the Boun- 

 dary Creek District, while this is also the case, 

 other rocks have been affected in like manner, 

 though the late S. F. Emmons and other authori- 

 ties who visited the Boundary Creek District have 

 expressed the opinion that such alteration was con- 

 fined to the limestones. An unequivocable in- 

 stance of the alteration of granodiorite occurs on 

 Pass Creek, as mentioned by the writer in the 

 Summary Eeport of the Geological Survey for 



1902. Although other instances of somewhat simi- 

 lar occurrences are now generally recognized and 

 accepted, this occurrence is deemed worthy of a 

 more extended description than it received in the 

 Summary Eeport above mentioned, as being one 

 of the most definite and striking examples of such 

 metamorphosis yet found. 



The Upper Limit of Temperature Compatible with 



Life in the Frog: A. T. Cameron and T. I. 



Brownlee. Presented by Dr. Swale Vincent, 



F.E.S.C. 



Frogs {M. pipiens) will endure an (internal) 

 temperature of 28° C. for several hours. A tem- 

 perature of 30° C. is fatal in six hours. Death is 

 apparently produced through some coordinating 

 mechanisms in the central nervous system, since 

 the individual tissues (striped muscle, heart, periph- 

 eral nerve and brain and cord) survive, and are 

 only killed by distinctly higher temperatures. The 

 results are therefore in line vdth those found by 

 the authors of the lower limit of temperature com- 

 patible with life. 



On an Accumulation of Gas in the Tissues of the 

 Frog as a Besult of Prolonged Submersion in 

 Water: A. T. Cameron and T. I. Brownlee. 

 Presented by Dr. Swale Vincent, F.E.S.C. 

 Frogs (B. pipiens) submerged completely in 

 running water, but free to move, survive, on the 

 average seven days, though individuals may sur- 

 vive three weeks. About two days before death 

 they commence to swell, and rapidly become so 

 buoyant that they can not any longer dive. The 

 cause of death appears to be connected with this 

 distension, which is caused by gas, distributed 

 throughout the body and all tissues. The gas is 

 almost pure nitrogen, and may amount in volume 

 to 15 c.c. or over. 



On the Relative Importance to Life of the Cortex 

 and the Medulla of the Adrenal Bodies: T. D. 

 Wheeler and Swale Vincent, F.E.S.C. 

 As the result of a long series of experiments 

 upon dogs, cats and rabbits, in which the medulla 

 was removed as completely as possible (without 

 inflicting more than an unavoidable damage to the 

 cortex), it would appear that the cortex is the part 

 which is essential to life, and that the chromaphil 

 tissue constituting the medulla can be entirely re- 

 moved without any serious results. 



A Study of some Organisms which Produce Black 

 Fields on Msculin-bilesalt Media: F. C. Harri- 

 son, D.Sc, F.E.S.C. 

 In the summer of 1913 more than 4,000 ^^sculin- 



bilesalt agar plates were made from samples of 



