460 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



tablish beyond doubt the fact of an increased rainfall in the eastern half of Kansas. 



There can be no reasonable doubt that the general settlement of the western 

 portion of Kansas will have a similar effect upon its rainfall, but it is not reason- 

 able to expect that Western Kansas will ever boast of a rainfall equal to that of 

 Eastern Kansas. So long as the eastern half of the State remains to the east of 

 the meridian forming the western boundary of the Gulf of Mexico, the south winds 

 will cause it to receive much larger supplies of vapor for condensation into rain 

 than will be received by the western half of the State, which lies beyond the im- 

 mediate track of the vapor laden winds. It must be remembered that climatic 

 changes are exceedingly gradual and a rain deficiency or excess for a single year, 

 or for two or three years in succession, must not be considered as invalidating 

 the law of general averages. Neither should the fact that the rainfall upon the 

 whole is increasing induce settlers to break land in the western third of Kansas 

 with the expectation of successfully raising the same crops as in Eastern Kansas. 

 Such settlers will surely be disappointed. It is even doubtful if paying crops of 

 any kind can ever be continuously produced in that region. With an average 

 before settlement of about 15 inches per annum, the same percentage of increase 

 as has been made in thirty years would reach an amount of less than 18 inches 

 per annum, — a quantity entirely inadequate to maintain successful agriculture. 



Following this paper by Prof. Snow, the papers as given below were read 

 and discussed until a late hour in the afternoon : 



" Notes on the Geology of the Spanish Peaks," Joseph Savage, Lawrence. 



" Practical Studies in Geology, C. H. Sternberg, Lawrence. 



" Sources of the Kansas River Sands," Joseph Savage. 



" The Last Submergence and Emergence of Southeastern Kansas from the 

 Carboniferous Seas," E. P. West, Wyandotte. 



"Notes on the Geology of Douglas County, Kansas," Joseph Savage. 



"The Christening of Amethyst Mountain in Yellowstone Park," Joseph 

 Savage. 



"In the Dakota," Robert Hay, Junction City. 



Report of the Commission on Mineralogy on the catalogue of Kansas Min- 

 erals, Prof. G. H. Failyer, Chairman, Manhattan. 



" Notes on a Bison from the Tertiary," Robert Hay. 



The following papers were read at the regular sessions. 



"Additions for 1884 to the Catalogue of Kansas Coleoptera," Warren 

 Knaus, Salina. 



" On the Preparatory Stages of Hyperchiria Zephyria Grote," Prof. F. H. 

 Snow, Lawrence, 



"Contributions to a Catalogue of Kansas Hemiptera," Prof. E. A. Pope- 

 noe, Manhattan. 



"On Some Salt Marsh Coleoptera," Warren Knaus. 



" On Some Rare Coleoptera from Southern New Mexico," Prof. F. H. 

 Snow. 



" List of Kansas Orthoptera collected in 1884," Prof. E. A. Popenoe. 



