40 West American Scientist. 



[Mr. Montgomerie's letter was answered in part in our last issue 

 by Prof. E. L. Green in his valuable article on Santa Cruz Island. 

 Readers who can answer any of the remaining- questions are cor- 

 dially invited to do so. Some of our older naturalists, we hope, 

 will contribute of their own experiences on these islands. An 

 interesting series of articles is being contributed to the Botanical 

 Gazette hy ^m, S, Lyon on 'The Flora of our South-western 

 Archipelago,' and we may hope for something from his pen. 



The literature on Lower California is widely scattered through 

 expensive reports of Government expeditions, the proceedings 

 of learned societies and similar publications. Much has been 

 given in the publications of the Calif Acad, of Sci., even the 

 most recent of which, we are informed, can be had 'neither for 

 love nor money.' 'A Sketch of the Settlement and Exploration 

 of Lower California,' by J. Ross Bronwe, 1869, gives 177 pages 

 of more or less reliable facts, and can be had of D. Appleton & 

 Co., N. Y., while a pamphlet has recently been issued by the Int. 

 Co of Mexico (whose advertisement appears in this number), 

 accompanied with a very valuable map, correct except in the 

 caUing of the desert portions 'farming' or 'grazing land,' for 

 which a land company is perhaps excusable. Ed.] 



Chico, Cal., Nov. 26, 1886. 



With the bustle of Thanksgiving feasts, rides, balloon ascen- 

 sions, etc., etc., it is difficult to fix the thoughts long enough to 

 write. This place, which is charming always, presents so rnuch 

 to see- and do, that I hardly know where to begin. Miss S. sends 

 papers, etc-, with glowing . accounts of Coronado Beach, but it 

 does not attract me. I prefer desert wastes to boulevard and 

 avenue, and would rather sit in the shade of Ephedra than Citrus 

 — but then it is well all do not feel alike on such matters. 



I suppose we will return to Colton to settle in winter quarte s. 

 On many accounts Colton seems as desirable as any, except its 

 distance from the sea. * * * jf ^e do not do much work 

 here, it is to me the garden spot of California. Yours truly, 



C. C. P. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco Microscopical Society. — Novernber 10, 

 1886 A number of unusually fine examples of lacunae in quartz 

 crystals, containing fluid and bubbles, were shown by J, Z. Davis. 



Dr. J. H. Stallard drew attention to the enormous develop- 

 ment of the biliary ducts in juandice, and to other changes of 

 structure in the liver incidental to that disease. In illustration 

 of the subject, a number of slides were shown, in which the 



