502 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 18. 



the hardest part of the canal construction, 

 of abandoning it. The terminal port facili- 

 ties have been completed. Nearlj^ 25 miles 

 of the canal is finished, reducing the dis- 

 tance between the oceans from 47 to 22 

 miles ; about two-fifths of the necessary 

 grading has been accomplished, and every 

 possible machine and tool for its completion 

 is upon the ground. The great problem of 

 controlling and diverting the waters of the 

 Chagres has also been accomplished. It is 

 the general opinion of all Americans who 

 have observed the work, including the en- 

 gineering of our own famous Cabin John 

 Bridge, that no great obstacle stands in the 

 way of the early completion of this work 

 except the recuperation of its financial 

 affairs from the shameful mismanagement 

 thej' have suffered. 



The lecturer gave interesting accounts of 

 the various zones of vegetation seen in as- 

 cending the great volcanoes of Costa Rica, 

 and, incidentally, a general description and 

 classification of the region bordering the 

 Gulf and Caribbean Sea. Especial atten- 

 tion was called to the important bearing of 

 this Spanish American region, between the 

 latitude of the Orinoco and the southern 

 boundarjT of the United States, iipon the 

 great problems of continental development, 

 and its correlated biologic and meteorologic 

 problems ; and to the great work Prof. Alex- 

 ander Agassiz has undertaken at his own 

 expense in studying the marine physiog- 

 raphy of the region, especially as regards 

 the origin of its vast areas of coral reefs. 



The relief of this portion of the earth's 

 surface, a knowledge of which involves a 

 study both of the land and the submarine 

 topography, was provisionally classified 

 into four great divisions : mountains of 

 accumulation; mountains of corrugation; 

 coastal plains of uniformly iiplifted mar- 

 ginal sea-bottom, and land formed by the 

 combined action of coral polyps and wind 

 and tide (as described by Prof. Agassiz). 



In speaking of the mountains he classified 

 the systems as follows: 



1. The southern extension of the Cordil- 

 leran region of the United States, which 

 terminates with the great scarp of the Mex- 

 ican plateau in the latitude of Vera Cruz. 



2. The Andes proper, the north and south 

 i-idges of wliicli end abruptly in Northern 

 Colombia. 



3. A sj'stem of more ancient mountains 

 having an east and west trend and com- 

 posed of folded Mesozoic rocks, with Paleo- 

 zoic axes, extending along the north coast 

 of South America (between the Caribbean 

 and Orinoco) ; throughout the Greater An- 

 tilles; and through Guatemala, Nicaragua 

 and British Honduras. For this Mr. Hill 

 proposed the name of the ' Ajitillean Sys- 

 tem.' It was shown that there were sub- 

 marine topographic ridges connecting the 

 Honduras peninsula mth the islands of 

 Jamaica, Hayti and Puerto Eico, probably 

 also parts of this ancient corrugation. 



4. Protuberances of older volcanic ac- 

 cumulation, such as the Windward Islands- 

 and Isthmian region. 



5. Mountains of recent volcanic accumu- 

 lation, including the three widely separated 

 gTOups, with different trends, of southern 

 Mexico, Central America and the northern 

 Andes, all more or less parasitic upon the 

 termini of the antecedent and fundamental 

 mountain systems of corrugation, and to a 

 certain extent (owing to their newness and 

 greater mass) concealing them. 



Everett Hayden, 



Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



At a meeting on April 6th, Dr. Theo, 

 Gill read a paper ' On the Torpedoes.' 



The subject was discussed fi-om two points- 

 view, taxonomic and nomenclatural. 



The family of Torpedoes, or cramp fishes,. 

 is well differentiated fi-om all others by the 

 development (from original muscular tis- 



