1182 Proceedings of Scientific Societies. [November, 
some form which, if at present unknown, must once have existed; 
or, more accurately, diverging from such a common ancestor. It 
will also be made apparent that in every age there were forms 
which varied from the parent stem which lived for a longer ora 
shorter period and then became extinct. 
“ Very valuable museum demonstrations could be made by fit- 
ting up a comparatively large apparatus to the glass plates of 
which were cemented real fossils with their names. Ammonites 
and Brachiopods, for instance, are well fitted for this purpose. 
Affinities and variations would in this case be illustrated by the 
actual specimens, and so be vividly impressed upon the mind.’— 
Proc. Royal Dublin Soctety. : 
— The Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club evinces its activity in 
promptly issuing its Transactions, Vol. 11, No. 1. The club has 
for four years maintained a strictly local character, and to this is 
ascribed whatever success it has attained. The subjects treated 
refer to the local flora of Ottawa, the sand plains of the Upper 
Ottawa, the fossils of Ottawa, edible and poisonous fungi, a list of 
the Coleoptera of Ottawa, and the deer of Ottawa valley, with 
reports of the different branches or sections into which the soci- 
ety is subdivided. If every city in America had such a local, 
enterprising society, and there are a few which have, what an 1n- 
creased interest in and respect for the study of nature would per- 
vade our people! Its effects would be seen in our common 
schools ; it would ameliorate the degrading materialism of our 
times, tone down the love of display and lavish expenditure in 
moneyed circles, and here and there give room for the growth 
and development of trained observers of nature. 
— The records of the Society of Naturalists’ of the Easter 
United States, vol. 1, part 1, Boston, 1884, contains the constitution 
and by-laws with a list of members; a copy of the original 
for the organization of the society ; with the records of the first 
meeting at Springfield, Mass., and the second meeting at New 
York, Dec. 27 and 28, 188 4. 
department of veterinary medicine and surgery ae 
been recently established in connection with the University ° 
Pennsylvania. Dr. R. S. Huidekoper has been placed in charge. 
— 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, Phila- 
delphia meeting, Sept. 4-11, 1884. 
SECTION E—GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. nt 
The geological age, character and origin of the gypsum beds of Cayuga county» 
F, $ illiams, 
, : . Ed- 
The correlation of the lower coal measures of Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. 
war on 
: - Eu- 
On a section of the strata of Cretaceous and Tertiary formations of Alabama ~~ 
_ gene A. Smith and L, C. Johnson. : 
