Febeuaey 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



239 



the once more extensive sheets of drift, or, as 

 suggested by Russell, the channels represent the 

 beds repeatedly occupied by glaciers which, in 

 their advance and retreat, built up the plateau- 

 like eminences of the region, probably upon the 

 divides of the pre-existing topography. The 

 past condition of Puget Sound under confluent 

 glaciation is probably now represented by the 

 Malaspina glacier and its attendant phenom- 

 ena. 



W. F. MORSELL. 



U. S. Geological Suevey. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Geological Section met January 18th, and 

 listened to the papers of which abstracts are 

 given below. Both will appear in full in the 

 Transactions. 



The first paper was ' Notes on the Geology of 

 the Bermudas,' by J. J. Stevenson. 



After describing the several types of rock de- 

 posits and their relations, as well as the surface 

 features of the area. Professor Stevenson of- 

 fered the following conclusions respecting the 

 successive conditions : 



First : The Limestone or ' base rock ' of the 

 island was formed by accumulations of dune 

 sand. During a prolonged period of quiet, this 

 rock underwent great erosion, both surface and 

 subterranean ; the collapsing of cavern roofs 

 caused great 'sinks,' some of which, no doubt, 

 still exist as such, though to distinguish them 

 from those of later origin would be difficult. 



Second: A period of subsidence followed, 

 during which the land sank 120 feet or more ; 

 marine deposits encroached upon the land, ex- 

 tending through valleys, thus giving beach rock 

 at widely separated localities and in somewhat 

 anomalous positions. 



Third : Succeeding this was a period of quiet, 

 during which the Sandstone was formed, as the 

 Limestone had been, by accumulations of dune 

 sand and the great ' sinks ' were filled up, as 

 the basins of Castle harbor are now filling. 



Fourth : A period of elevation followed, dur- 

 ing which the land must have risen to at least 

 its former level. The old subterranean drain- 

 age system must have been re-established in 

 many instances and the former depression 

 cleaned out ; while near systems may have 



been formed, causing new groups of depres- 

 sions. 



Fifth: This was succeeded by a period of 

 subsidence, during which the land sank to very 

 nearly the same position as at the maximum of 

 subsidence in the previous period, the highest 

 marine beds being now only a few feet above 

 the water's edge. The more important bodies 

 of water began in the deeper depressions early 

 in this period, but they assumed their present 

 forms, due to shore erosion, only in the later 

 portion, when the subsidence was very slow 

 and evidently interrupted more than once by 

 prolonged periods of quiet. 



The paper was well illustrated by the lantern. 



The second paper was ' The Geological Sec- 

 tion at CliflFwood, N. J.' by Arthur Hollick. 



Mr. Hollick described the Cretaceous clay 

 marl in the vicinity of Cliifwood, New Jersey, 

 one of the localities where the fauna of the 

 horizon has been collected and the only one at 

 which any fossil plants have been found. 



The strata in question are the equivalent of 

 the Matawan formation of Professor W. B. 

 Clark, which represents the transition from the 

 plastic clays of the Raritan formation below to 

 the greensand marl above, and, as may be ex- 

 pected, shows a commingling of fresh-water, 

 land and marine conditions. The specimens 

 collected consist of crustaceans, leaves, fruit 

 and twigs of trees and masses of lignite. The 

 crustaceans are too fragmentary for exact de- 

 termination. About 15 species of mollusks were 

 identified and 26 species of plants, the majority 

 of the latter belonging to the Coniferse. Of 

 these, nine are here described as new species. 

 The paper was illustrated by maps of the re- 

 gion, by drawings of the specimens and by the 

 specimens themselves. J. F. Kemp, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OP THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



By invitation the New York Section of the 

 American Chemical Society held an informal 

 dinner at the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, 

 Friday evening, January 8th, after which the 

 regular monthly meeting was convened in one 

 of the assembly rooms of the club, about fifty- 

 five members being present. 



