APEIL2, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



559 



mined, but as the Red Beds (Permotrias) were 

 found resting against one of the granite mosses, 

 with an arkose at their base, it must be older 

 than the Permian. The Silurian was found 

 north of the Wichita mountains, forming hog- 

 backs, and at Ft. Sill the fossils showed the 

 limestone to be Ordovician. Ordovieian and 

 Upper Silurian strata were found north of the 

 Arbuckle Hills. 



No definite line could be drawn between the 

 Carboniferous and the Permian, or between the 

 Permian and the Trias. 



In discussing the Cretaceous (Comanche 

 Series) the following facts were noted : In the 

 vicinity of Belvidere, Kansas, the Cretaceous 

 extends above the highest divides, but is de- 

 posited upon the eroded surface of the Red 

 Beds. As one goes southward the Cheyenne 

 sandstone member disappears, the Kiowa shales 

 become thinner, and the cretaceous beds rest 

 against the sides of the Red Bed hills. Ten 

 miles northwest of Taloga, and in the vicinity 

 Arapaho, the Cretaceous is an agglomerate of 

 Gryphaa forniculata (White), the G. pitcheri of 

 Marcou, a few feet thick. The Gryphieiatuciim- 

 carii of Marcou, a fossil asserted by him to be 

 Jurassic, often occurs imbedded in the same 

 matrix. 



The Great Plains formation does not extend 

 as a continuous formation east of a line from 

 Alva to Woodward, Taloga and Arapaho, nor 

 south of Arapaho. 



There were also communications on ' Oscilla- 

 tions of the Coast of California, during the 

 Pliocene and Pleistocene,' by H. W. Fairbanks, 

 and on a ' Discovery of Marine Cretaceous de- 

 posits in Eastern Virginia,' by N. H. Darton ; 

 but these are here referred to by title only, for 

 want of space. 



W. F. MOESELL. 



U. S. Geological Suevey. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



February ^, 1S97. The meeting was devoted 

 to the annual address of the retiring President, 

 C. L. Marlatt. 



The address was entitled ' A Brief Survej' of 

 the Science of Entomology from its Beginning 

 to the Present Time.' A running account was 

 given of the "history of the study of insects and 



of the persons who have been most prominent 

 in such work from the earliest times to the 

 present, classified in accordance with their re- 

 lation to prominent men or well mai'ked peri- 

 ods. With the historical summary as a basis, 

 estimates were made of various phases of the 

 results of the study, as follows : An estimate 

 was given of the total amount of the literature 

 of entomologj', considered both at the various 

 past periods and at the present time. It was 

 stated that the total writings on insects would 

 probably amount to between 12,000 and 15,000 

 volumes of 500 pages each. The actual number 

 of persons interested in the study of insects at 

 various times was estimated, and from various 

 sources of information it was deduced that there 

 are from 3,000 to 4,000 persons now living who, 

 either as students, writers or collectors, are in- 

 terested in the science of entomology. The ad- 

 dress concluded with a summary of the results 

 so far accomplished, particularly in the field of 

 systematic entomology and the relation this 

 bears to what remains to be done. The esti- 

 mates were based upon the actual number of 

 described species, in comparison with the esti- 

 mates of species still to be described or dis- 

 covered, and also in connection with the present 

 rate of progress as indicated by the annual or 

 periodical works of record in zoology. 



March 18, 1897. Mr. Ashmead showed speci- 

 mens of Salohatopsis beginii, recently described 

 by him in the Canadian Entomologist. 



Dr. Motter read letters from Dr. Wyatt John- 

 son, of Quebec, and Garry de N. Hough, of 

 New Bedford, giving accounts of investigations 

 by both observers of the fauna of cadavers, and 

 showing in what respects their results differed 

 from his own. 



Mr. Busck exhibited six larvae of Anthrenus 

 varius, each of which showed well marked wing 

 pads on the second and third thoracic segments. 



Mr. Ashmead read a paper entitled ' Five 

 new hymenopterous parasites from Canarsia 

 hammondi.' These parasites were among a 

 series reared by Mr. W. G. Johnson in Illinois, 

 in the course of an investigation of the host in- 

 sect. The new species were Spilocryptus canar- 

 sise, Limneria canarsise, Apanteles canarsiss, 

 Elasmus meteori and Tetrastichus ecerulescens. 



Mr. Ashmead also read a paper entitled ' A 



