94 General Notes. 
INDIANA ACADEMY OF ScreENcE.—The third annual meeting 
of the Indiana Academy of Science was held at the Court House, 
Indianapolis, December 28 and 29, 1887, with Dr. John M. Coulter 
in the chair. The following papers were read:—“ The East-West 
Diameter of the Silurian Island about Cincinnati,” by Professor D. 
W. Dennis: Professor Dennis alluded to the fact that at Richmond, 
Indiana, there was a thin bed of rock composed of broken shells of 
lower diluvium age, in its character much like coquina and indicat- 
ing an ancient shore line. Two similar deposits have been found 
in Adams and Highland counties, Ohio, and these give the means 
of measuring the east to west diameter of the Silurian island which 
existed when this rock was formed. In “ Erosion in Indiana,” J. T. 
Scovell maintained that at least seven hundred feet of erosion had 
taken place over the whole state of Indiana. He alluded to the 
ancient river channels corresponding in general to the present 
courses but wider and deeper, and stated that, of the drift material in 
the state, on the average five feet came from the state and fifty was 
of extra-state origin. A “Geological Section of Johnson County, 
Indiana,” by D. A. Owen, was an account of the strata p 
through in boring various wells. D. W. Dennis stated that the 
“ Transition of Orthis occidentalis unto Orthis sinuatu” was accom- 
plished in 300 feet at Richmond, Indiana, illustrating his point by 
numerous specimens. “Notes on Some Fossil Bones found in 
Indiana,” by O. P. Hay, was the announcement of the identification 
of the genus Tapirus in some bones found in a sink-hole m 
Monroe county. 
In zoology the papers were more numerous, but many of them 
consisted of the records of additions to the fauna of the state. Such 
was B. W. Evermann’s “ Fishes of Carroll County,” in which five 
species new to the state were enumerated, the most noticeable being 
Notropis arga Cope, “ Notes on Some Southern Indiana Fishes,’ ” by 
O. P. Jenkins, and “Some rare Indiana Birds,” by Amos W. 
Butler, were of a character expressed by their titles. B. W. 
Evermann noticed “ the Occurrence of the Star-nosed Molein Indiana; 
A. W. Butler, in his “ Notes on Indiana Reptiles and Amphibians, 
added Plethodon cinereus, Hyla squirilla, and two new species 0 
Entenia to be described by Professor Cope to the fauna of the 
state. The “Additions to the List of Indiana Reptiles,” by O. P. Hay, 
were Cinosternum pennsylvanicum Tropidonotus rigidus, and Cnemid- 
ophorus sexlineatus all on the authority of Robert Ridgway. , 
In 1869 Dr. Günther enumerated 193 species of fish occurring 0” 
one side or the other of the Isthmus of Panama, of which about one- 
third were regarded as common to both the Alantic and Pacific 
sides. D. S. Jordan, in his paper, “The Isthmus of Panama as _4 
Barrier to Marine Fauna,” stated that now there were known 1370 
species from the same region of which but five per cent. were com- 
mon to the Caribbean and the Pacific shores. With these data the 
recent connection of the two seas is not so probable as Dr. Günther $ 
