494 '^^^^ American Naturalist. [June, 
dismembered, and Huron, Michigan and Superior formed one 
lake ; the Erie basin was lifted out of the bed of Lake War- 
ren and became drained, and Ontario remained a lake at a 
lower level. The outlet of the upper lake was southeast of 
Georgian Bay by way of the Trent valley into Lake Ontario, 
at about sixty miles west of the present outlet of this lake. 
The outlet of this upper lake was 26 feet deep where it con- 
nected with the Trent valley, and the channel was from one 
to two miles wide. This, for a few miles, is cut across a drift 
ridge to a depth of 500 feet. With the continued continental 
uplift to the northeast (which has raised the old beach at the 
outlet into the Trent valley, about 300 feet above the present 
surface of Lake Huron), the waters were backed southward 
and overflowed into the Erie basin, thus making the Erie 
outlet of the upper lakes to be of recent date. This is proven 
by the fact that the beach which marked the old surface plaii> 
of the upper Great Lake descends to the present water level 
at the southern end of Lake Huron. 
Erie the youngest of all the Great Lakes. The Erie basin 
is very shallow, and upon the dismemberment of Lake War- 
ren was drained by the newly constructed Niagara River 
(except, perhaps, a small lakelet southeast of Long Point). 
Subsequently the northeastward warping (very much less in 
amount than farther northward at the Trent outlet) even- 
tually lifted up a rocky barrier and formed Erie into a lake 
in recent times, thus making Erie the youngest of all the 
lakes. The beaches about Cleveland are not those of sepa- 
rated Lake Erie, but belong to the older and original Lake 
Warren. 
[Note. — To distinguish from the modern, the ancient val- 
ley of the St. Lawrence, above described, is named the 
" Laurentian," the ancient river from the Erie basin the 
Erigan, the Huron-Michigan-Superior Lake the Algonquin, 
as also the beach which marked its shores and the river 
which discharged its waters by the Trent valley. The ex- 
panded, but separate. Lake Ontario is named the Iroquois, 
as also its principal beach, now at 116 feet above its modern 
surface at the extreme western end of the lake, while at 
about 135 miles northeastward (near Trenton) its elevation 
is 435 feet.— y. W. Spencer, University of Georgia, Athens, 
Ga.] 
Krakatoa. — A period of five years has not been found too 
long in which to collect and collate the material necessary for 
a history of the gigantic eruption of 1883, which has been 
