392 The American Naturalist. [May, 
the latter have succumbed. In a desiccation of the country the 
progress of the change would be less rapid on the island. 
It seems to me that there is evidence that the island of 
Santa Cruz has lately been elevated out of the sea. This is 
the story of Ragged Mountain with its cleft summit, and of the 
elevated terraces to the west of Chinese Harbor. The deep 
canons, however, show a much larger rainfall in the past when 
they were made than at present, and the enclosed asphaltic 
boulders standing out in the conglomerate are good indications 
of great erosion. The huge rocks blocking up the entrance to 
the canons do not seem to have been brought there from the 
hilltops, but eroded by a mountain torrent on either side have 
simply dropped into the position which they now occupy. In 
most of these canons the torrents which caused them have dwin- 
dled in size, although still large in the rainy season, whilein many 
their beds are now dry during part of the year. If there ever 
was a glacial period on this island the tracks of it at present have 
been obliterated, or were not discovered in my superficial ex- 
amination. There has been great erosion, but the boulders 
clinging to the worn side of the rock by one angle would seem 
to indicate that that erosion was by water rather than ice. 
As we left Santa Cruz on our return trip we sailed through 
multitudes of a beautiful Velella, common in the channel at 
certain seasons of the year. These little blue sail-boats are 
often thrown up on the beach at Santa Barbara, and are com- 
mon as far north as Monterey and San Francisco. Its north- 
ern limit is many miles north even of the limits of the state. 
A curious little physophore, Athorybia calif ornicd was also 
seen in the channel near Santa Cruz. This beautiful animal 
has never before been recorded from the Pacific waters of our 
west coast, although a similar genus has been described by the 
author from Key West and the Florida Keys. 
The largest and most attractive of the Medusae seen in my 
trip back was a mammoth Pelagia with mouth tentacles four feet 
long, and of a beautiful pink color. A lovely Hydromedusa, 
