September 18, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



;87 



The remains are so exquisitely preserved 

 as to throw much light upon the nature of 

 the Carboniferous flora. 



In recent years a very important part of 

 the work connected with the meeting of 

 Section E and the summer meeting of the 

 G-eological Society has been in the line of 

 excursions, under expert guidance, to inter- 

 esting geological localities in the vicinity of 

 the meeting. The geological excursions 

 connected with the present meeting have 

 been on a more extensive scale than ever 

 before. For the week preceding the meet- 

 ing of the Associotion, four excursions in 

 different parts of the State of New York 

 were proposed, but only two of them were 

 carried out. 



An excursion for the study of Pleistocene 

 Geology commenced on Monday, August 

 17th, at Rochester, JST. Y., under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. H. L. Fairchild. Monday 

 was spent in the study of the phenomena of 

 Lake Iroquois, in the vicinity of Eochester, 

 and the kame moraine of the Pinnacle 

 Hills. On Tuesday the party visited the 

 high beaches lying east of the Genesee val- 

 ley, arriving at Mount Morris for the night- 

 On Wednesday the party visited the '^ High 

 Banks" of the Genesee, near Mount Morris, 

 and the Portage Falls, with the terraces 

 above them, and the water-leveled drift 

 which blocked the old valley. The night was 

 spent at Portage. Thursday was spent in 

 studying the beaches and moraines between 

 Alden and Crittenden. Mr. Frank Leverett 

 had intended to conduct the partj'^ the lat- 

 ter half of the week, but on account of sick- 

 ness was unable to do so. The party ac- 

 cepted the invitation of Mr. B. W. Law to 

 visit his home in the Cattaraugus valley ; 

 and Friday was spent in the study of the 

 preglacial and postglacial channels of Cat- 

 taraugus Creek, the Warren glacial lake 

 fillings, and the beaches at Eden Valley 

 and Hamburg. 



Another excursion, devoted especially to 



the study of Petrographic Geology, com- 

 menced on Monday, August 17th, at Port 

 Henry, on Lake Cham plain, under the di- 

 rection of Prof. J. F. Kemp. Monday was 

 spent in the study of the crystalline lime- 

 stones, and the gabbros with their remark- 

 able gneissoid modifications, in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of Port Henry, and the great 

 mines of magnetite at Mineville. Tuesday 

 the party went by steamboat to Platts- 

 burgh, studying on the way the titaniferous 

 magnetites at Split Eock Mine and some 

 of the numerous dikes along the shore. On 

 Wednesday the party went by rail to Au- 

 sable Forks, and thence by stage through 

 the Adirondacks to Lake Placid, passing 

 through the magnificent fault valley of Wil- 

 mington Notch, and along the eastern foot of 

 Whiteface Mountain. Thursday and Friday 

 was spent at Gouverneur, under the direction 

 of Prof. C. H. Smyth, Jr. The party studied 

 the gneisses which form the prevalent 

 rocks in the region, some of which seem to 

 be granite dynamically metamorphosed, 

 while others appear to have more the char- 

 acter of metamorphosed sediments. The 

 crystalline limestones with their remark- 

 able enclosures, the talc mines, the danbur- 

 ite locality in the town of Russell, and a 

 remarkable instance of dynamic metamor- 

 phism in.gabbro, were also studied. 



During the meeting of the Association, the 

 afternoon of Thursday was occupied by an 

 excursion to Eighteen Mile Creek, and a 

 study of the fossiliferous rocks, under the 

 direction of Mr. Grabau, whose paper on the 

 subject has been already mentioned. 



Monday and Tuesday of the week follow- 

 ing the meetings were occupied by an ex- 

 cursion for the study of the problems of Ni- 

 agara, under the direction of Mr. G. K. 

 Gilbert. The first day the party visited the 

 Whirlpool, recognized the drift on the bank 

 of the stream at that point as unmistakably 

 in situ, climbed up through the ravine of 

 Bowman's Creek, visited the remarkable 



