DECEMBER 17, 1897. ] 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
AT the 68th meeting held in Washington, D. 
€., November 24, 1897, Mr. M. R. Campbell 
made a brief informal communication on the 
Laminated Clays of Teay Valley, W. Va., and 
their origin and significance. The problem is 
but part of the broader problem of the physi- 
ography of that portion of West Virginia, which 
itis proposed by Mr. Campbell to consider on 
a future occasion. 
Mr. J. 8. Diller followed with a communica- 
tion on ‘The Origin of Camas Swale.’ One of 
the principal tributaries of the Umpqua River 
in southwestern Oregon is the Calapooya. It 
rises upon the western slope of the Cascade 
Range, and near the eastern escarpment of the 
Coast Range enters the Umpqua River, which, 
in a remarkably meandering canyon, passes 
through the mountains to the Pacific. The 
general direction of the Calapooya is southwest- 
ward, parallel to the strike of the rocks, but 
nearly midway in its course it turns sharply to 
the northwest, and for four miles cuts directly 
across the general trend of the ridges and 
valleys. At this sharp turn heads a broad, 
shallow valley, known as Camas Swale. Its 
bottom is a plain stretching to the southwest- 
ward for about seven miles, with a width of 
from one to two miles. The swale is drained 
by Wilbur Creek, a small stream which enters 
the north fork of the Umpqua and for the 
greater part of its course is dry in summer. 
Camas Swale and much of the valley of Wilbur 
Creek, is larger than one would expect as the 
work of so small a stream, when compared 
with that accomplished by other streams of 
equal size in the same region. 
The relation of Casmas Swale to the Cala- 
pooya suggests that it may once have been the 
bed of that stream. The principal flood-plain 
of the Calapooya is continuous ‘with that ex- 
tending through Camas Swale, and the pebbles 
of the bed of Wilbur Creek in the swale are 
largely volcanic rocks, such as could have been 
brought from the Cascade Range only by the 
Calapooya River. The size of the swale, too, 
bespeaks the action of a stream like the Cala- 
pooya, so that the evidence is quite clear that the 
Calapooya once flowed through Camas Swale, 
SCIENCE. 
923 
and by way of Wilbur Creek entered the north 
fork of the Umpqua. 
Why did it change its course? The reason is 
to be found in the relation of Oldham Creek to 
the original course of the Calapooya. Along 
Camas Swale the two were originally parallel 
for a number of miles and separated by only a 
narrow ridge of sandstone. Oldham Creek 
reached the Umpqua by a direct course in six 
miles, while the water of the Calapooya, to 
reach the same point, had to travel twenty 
miles. Consequently, Oldham Creek, havy- 
ing the greater declivity, cut down its bed 
more rapidly than the Calapooya and enabled 
one of its side streams to cut through the divid- 
ing ridge and tap the Calapooya at the head of 
Camas Swale, thus diverting the waters of the 
Calapooya to their shorter course and leaving 
-Camas Swale to be drained by Wilbur Creek, 
the beheaded portion of the ancient Calapooya. 
W. F. Morse tt. © 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, DE- 
CEMBER 2, 1897. 
Dr. F. C. Kenyon, Washington, D. C. ; Mrs. 
Annie TrumbuJl Slosson, New York city; Mr. 
R. J. Weith, Elkhart, Ind., were elected mem- 
bers. Officers for 1898 were elected as follows: 
President, Mr. H. G. Hubbard; Vice-Presi- 
dents, Dr. T. N. Gill and Dr. H. G. Dyar; 
Corresponding Secretary, Mr. Frank Benton ; 
Recording Secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard ; Treas- 
urer, Mr. E. A. Schwarz. 
Mr. Hubbard exhibited specimens in all stages 
of Dinapate wrightii, a very large and very rare 
Bostrichid beetle, the habits of which were not 
previously known, and which, in fact, was de- 
scribed from a fragmentary specimen only. 
Mr. Hubbard finds that this insect breeds in 
the trunks of Washingtonia filifera in southern 
California. He considers that the species is 
rapidly approaching extinction and calls it the 
Dodo of beetles. 
Mr. Cook exhibited a new genus of Schizono- 
tide, a family related to the whip-scorpions 
and at present containing two genera—~sSchizo- 
notus and Tripeltis. The new form was dis- 
covered by Mr. Hubbard in Arizona and is dis- 
tinct from others in containing two small 
