68 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 3. 



44. The Characteristic Features of the Califor- 

 nia Gold Quartz Veins. Waldemar Lind- 

 CtEen, WasMugton, D. C. 

 The writer described tie extent and asso- 

 ciations of the veins, bringing out the fact 

 that thejr are in all manner of wall rocks, 

 although especially in the auriferous slates. 

 They were shown to be true fissure veins 

 that cut the walls at all angles, although 

 mostly along the strike. Direct issue was 

 taken with the view that thej' are replace- 

 ments of limestone or related rock, for it 

 was shown that while the veins are sili- 

 ceous and filled with quartz, the wall rocks 

 have very generally suffered carbonatiza- 

 tion. Finally the source of the gold was 

 placed in deep seated regions, whence it had 

 been brought by uprising solutions. 



On the conclusion of the paper, the cus- 

 tomary votes of thanks were passed to the 

 local committee, to the Johns Hopkins 

 University and to others whose efforts had 

 made the session a success. The next 

 place of meeting, a year hence, has not been 

 settled. On the whole, the meeting was 

 the best attended and most interesting and 

 successful yet held. J. F. Kemp. 



Columbia College. 



THE BALTIMORE 3IEETINQ OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN MORPHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Society met on Thursday morning 

 in the lecture room of the Chemical Build- 

 ing and again upon Friday afternoon, ad- 

 journing for the intermediate sessions of 

 the Society of Naturalists. In the absence 

 of Professor C. O. Wliitman, President of the 

 Society, Professor W. B. Scott, of Princeton, 

 Vice-President, took the chair. Among 

 those present at these sessions besides those 

 who presented papers were Alpheus Hyatt, 

 Edward S. Morse, Edward D. Cope, Samuel 

 F. Clarke, C. F. Herrick, Henry F. Osborn, 

 E. A. Andi-ews, W. H. DaU. 



The oflBcers elected for the year 1895 were: 



President — Professor Edmund B. AVilson, 

 Columbia College. 



Vice-President — Professor W. B. Scott, 

 Princeton College. 



Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. G. H. Parker, 

 of Harvard University. 



The foUo-nang are abstracts of the papers 

 presented : — 



Dr. C. W. Stiles, of the U. S. Agricul- 

 tural Bureau, presented the first paper upon 

 Larval Stages of an Anoplocephaline Cestode 

 and exliibited specimens of Distoma (Poly- 

 orchis) moUe (Leidy, '56), S. & H., '94 ; 

 of DioctophjTue gigas. End., and of Distoma 

 tricolor, S & H. Five hundred of the last 

 named species are ready for disti-ibution as 

 exchanges to college zoologists. 



Professor William A. Locy, of Lake For- 

 est University, presented the first paper on 

 Primitive Metamerism in Selachians, Amphibia 

 and Birds. It has been generallj^ assmned 

 that the metameric divisions of the Verte- 

 brates depend primarily on the middle 

 germ-layer, and that whenever they appear 

 in the ectoderm they are secondarily 

 moulded over the mesodermic segments. 

 This proposition is not supported by these 

 observations. We find in very young em- 

 bryos of amphibians and birds, primitive 

 metameric di-sdsions wliich effect the entire 

 epiblastic folds and in Selachians extend 

 also out' into the germ-ring. They are 

 present before any protovertebrse are formed 

 and are most clearly marked in the border 

 regions. These segments become later co- 

 incident with the so-called neuromeres, but 

 it is to be noted that they are by no means 

 confined to the neural tube. The time- 

 honored designation ' metamerism of the 

 head ' should be interpreted as meaning 

 regional metamerism not as a different form 

 of segmentation from that which affects the 

 trunk region. This paper was discussed 

 and the accuracy of the author's observa- 

 tions was questioned because of the con- 

 spicuous character which he assigned to 



