Meetings.} 302 [February 19, 
February 5, 1878. 
The President in the chair. Eighteen persons present. 
The donations received since the last meeting were an- 
nounced, and the thanks of the Society voted to the Smith- 
sonian Institution for a collection of Muride, illustrating Dr. 
Coues’ monograph of that group; to the Massachusetts Poul- 
try Association, for two varieties of the hen, and to Mr. C. E. 
Aiken, for a number of bird-skins from Colorado. 
February 19, 1873. 
The President in the chair. Fifty-five persons present. 
The President congratulated the Society on the presence of 
the Members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 
whom he hoped would favor the Society with some of the 
results of their studies. 
Prof. Blake spoke of the extinct glaciers of the Sierra 
Nevada, and of the present dessication of our Western 
country, contrasting so strongly with the great amount of 
aqueous precipitation which formerly was the condition 
of the existence of these glaciers. Prof. B. 8. Silliman, 
Prof. R. W. Raymond and Dr. Sterry Hunt, also discussed 
the phenomena in question and their causes. 
Prof. Raymond also gave a short description of the geysers 
of the Yellowstone Park, explaining their mode of action 
and their structure. 
Vice-President Jackson, who had been called to the chair 
by the President shortly before, thanked the gentlemen 
who had spoken for the pleasant manner in which they had 
occupied the evening. 
