SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 55 
out but one expedition each; but these will go to various points on the 
earth, and, in the aggregate, will constitute a long line of observers in 
the path of totality. Mr. Knight gave the dates of a number of solar 
eclipses to occur during the next decade, and the path that will be 
traced over the surface of the earth. Mr. Baumgardt added the impor- 
tant and interesting fact that the next solar eclipse that will be visible 
in California will oceur on May 5th, 1918, and the shadow zone will 
embrace the Lick Observatory. 
Some discussion arose relative to the nature of the corona, photo- 
sphere and chromosphere of the sun, during which it was mentioned that 
the identity of the corona and the zodiacal light is now a theory meeting 
with favor. MELVILLE DOZIER, Secretary. 
\ 3. Geology. 
On the evening of the 27th of March the Geological Section of the 
Academy met at the State Normal School Building. Chairman Geo. W. 
Parsons presided. Rev. H. B. Gage of Long Beach gave a very inter- 
esting talk on the minerals found in Riverside county. He exhibited 
about fifty specimens he had gathered in the mountains, many of them 
being quite rare. G. MAJOR TABER, Secretary. 
4, Botany. 
(No session of the Botanical Section was held in March, 1905.) 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED. 
In Bulletin (Vol. 4) No. 3, of the Department of Geology, University 
of California, Mr. Vance C. Osmont discusses ‘‘A Geological Section of 
the Coast Ranges North of the Bay of San Francisco,’’ presenting very 
valuable data and illustrated sections. The geologic sequence of events 
is very closely explained and the results are, in some respects, very in- 
teresting. The evidence of recent and now progressing subsidence in 
that region are in marked contrast to the movements of elevation farther 
southward along the Pacific coast. Some of the author’s conclusions 
as to the relative horizons of terranes exposed go far towards elucidat- 
ing hitherto little understood structure. 
Vol. 4, No. 4, of the foregoing series of Bulletins is another paper 
by Mr, Osmont, on ‘‘Areas of the California Neocene.’’ This illus- 
trates a number of forms of the genus Arca and shows their vertical 
range, paleontologically, a matter of much importance in the present 
state of knowledge of the Neocene rocks of California. 
Vol. 4, No. 5, same series, is by Chas. EH. Weaver, a ‘‘ Contribution 
to the Paleontology of the Martinez Group.’’ Mr. Weaver illustrates 
twenty fossil forms from this terrane, which, from his studies, he places 
independently, as the representative of perhaps one-quarter of the lowest 
Eocene, in a position between the Chico and Tejon groups, heretofore 
taken, in part, as equivalent to the Martinez group. 
Annals of the Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh), Vol. III, No. 2, March, 
1905, continues the publication of valuable material historical, zodlogical, 
geological and paleontological. A very interesting document also sent 
out by this museum, as ‘‘Serial No. 34,’’ is a succinct account of ‘‘ The 
Prize Essay Contest’’ by pupils of the public schools of Pittsburgh and 
Allegheny. Despite the worth and interest of this contest, we lack 
space to do more than mention the subjects of the essays, as an indica- 
tion of the spirit of the contest and its value as an incentive to profitable 
thinking along lines of nature study. The titles given are: 
1. ‘‘A Letter to a Friend About the Carnegie Museum.’’ 
2. ‘*Transportation, or the Moving of Loads, as Illustrated at the 
Carnegie Museum.’’ 
3. ‘‘Why the Birds Should Be Protected, and What I Learned About 
Them at the Carnegie Museum.’’ 
