386 



8ciu]srcu. 



[Vol. YL, No. 143. 



present level, has been preserved, together with the 

 older rocks immediately adjoining. 



The immediate contact of the Quebec limestones 

 and underlying sandstones and quartzites was seen 

 but not closely examined. There can, however, be 

 but little doubt that the quartzites of Bonne Bay, on 

 the east shore of the east arm, lie as described by 

 Richardson and mapped by Murray, directly under- 

 neath the Quebec limestones, and are conformable. 

 Whether they are the equivalents of the Potsdam or 

 not, can only be determined from Eichardson's obser- 

 vations and collections. 



Collections were made at Anse au Loup and Amour 

 Cove in the so-called Potsdam sandstones and lime- 

 stones of the Canadian survey. The observations 

 made at these points indicate a fauna quite distinct 

 from those of any of the limestones or slates of the 

 west coast of Newfoundland. The absence of 

 Cephalopoda and the prevalence of primitive forms 

 of Archeocyathus show the rocks to be probably older 

 than those of the Quebec group at Port au Choix and 

 other localities. The primitive sponges, or Archeo- 

 cyathi, have here replaced corals completely^ and may 

 be described as reef-builders, since numerous hum- 

 mocks and masses and parts of the strata are formed 

 entirely of their remains. Immediately below these 

 limestones, and conformably with them, lie the red 

 sandstones, several layers of which are perforated 

 with Scolithus burrows. 



The geological evidence brought forward by Sir 

 William Logan in the report of Canadian geological 

 survey, 1863, to prove that the straits of Belle Isle 

 have been partly formed by a synclinal valley, ap- 

 pears to us to be very defective. It is more in 

 accord with the evidence to consider that the whole 

 of northern Newfoundland was once much more 

 elevated, and has been sunk by faulting until at the 

 straits the Quebec has been brought down to the 

 same level as the red sandstones of the opposite 

 Labrador shore. The origin of the straits would in 

 that case be considered as due to the changes of level 

 produced by one or more of the same great series of 

 parallel faults already traced by Richardson, Murray 

 and Howley along the west coast. These run parallel 

 with the axis of the straits, and seem to account fully 

 for all the phenomena. 



Observations were made upon the raised beaches 

 and terraces which occur along the shores of New- 

 foundland and Labrador ; and here, as well as at 

 Auticosti and the Mingan islands, the marks of 

 the recent elevation of the land are abundant. 



Alpheus Hyatt. 



An archeologist in trouble. 

 I am writing a book on American archeology, and 

 as I cannot reconcile the accounts that are given of 

 some of the most noted earthworks of the Mississippi 

 valley, I naturally turn to you for help. Thus, for 

 instance, I find that, according to one authority, 

 Cahokia mound covers an area of fifteen acres ; an- 

 other puts it at twelve; whilst a third is content with 

 six. All these gentlemen were practical explorers, 

 and as they took the measurements * carefully,' some 

 of them even with mathematical instruments, there 

 can, of course, be no mistake in the figures. In re- 

 gard to the Serpent mound in Adams county, Ohio, 

 there is a similar state of affairs. One practical ex- 

 plorer, who is nothing if not thorough, tells us that 

 it is 1,415 feet long ; another says it is 1,116; whilst 



a third, too wise to commit himself to any precise 

 figures, merely says that, if extended, it would not 

 be less than one thousand. To any but a practical 

 explorer, these discrepancies may seem large, and, 

 no doubt, they will deter a mere historical student 

 from using these figures in any statement that aims 

 at accuracy ; but in reality they are not of much 

 importance, since it is possible, by a judicious use of 

 the system of averages, to arrive at conclusions that 

 are certainly as near the truth as are most of the 

 original measurements. One thing, however, does 

 bother me, and that is the ' frog' which a recent ex- 

 plorer has discovered in front of the so-called ' egg ' 

 that lies between the serpent's jaws. It is 61 feet 

 long:, exclusive of the hind-legs, and is said to be in 

 high relief (three feet) ; though another practical ex- 

 plorer, who visited the same work at about the same 

 time, saw nothing of a frog, either jumping or sitting 

 still, but does speak of a cow-path which may enclose 

 an area of about that size. Now, Mr. Editor, what 

 am I to do ? I cannot go out there myself and ' step 

 off ' these distances ; and if I did, some long-legged 

 fellow would be sure to come along with his pair of 

 mathematical instruments, and prove that my meas- 

 urements were all wrong. Besides, I don't intend to 

 give up that frog — it adds too much to the picture I 

 am having prepared — and yet, I do not see how I am 

 to average it so as to keep my measurements ac- 

 curate. R. R. 



The spectrum of y Cassiopeise. 



Using a high dispersion, and the same precaution 

 with regard to the eye as described upon a former 

 occasion, in addition to the hydrogen lines, there 

 are seen in the spectrumof y Cassiopeise two lines and 

 a dark space between C and D3, five bright lines and 

 three dark ones between D3 and H/3, one bright line 

 between H/3 and H-y, and perhaps another between 

 Hy and Hs, with a dark space near H5. Changing 

 the scale readings of these lines into wave-lengths, 

 we obtain practically, with one exception, the same 

 values as those of the bright lines observed in a solar 

 protuberance in a total eclipse. 



These lines apparently do not necessarily all appear 

 at once, and afford an excellent field for study. 



O. T. S. 



New Haven, Oct. 21. 



The care of pamphlets. 



Mr. Goode asks, in Science of October 16, for 

 the experience of others in regard to the 

 care of pamphlets in scientific libraries. I give 

 below a quotation from the publications of the Wash- 

 burn observatory, vol. ii., which describes my plan, 

 which was originally described in the Library journal 

 for June, 1880. 



;. ' ' The pamphlets are kept in large drawers im- 

 mediately below the book-shelves, and a drawer is 

 devoted to a subject. As soon as a pamphlet is re- 

 ceived, it is catalogued under its author's name, and 

 placed in the drawer devoted to its subject. All the 

 pamphlets on a given subject can therefore be at 

 once consulted in one place; and all the works of a 

 given author are to be found together in the card cata- 

 logue. I have used this plan for keeping pamphlets 

 for [thirteen] years, in my own library, in the library 

 of the U. S. naval observatory, and here, and I con- 

 sider it to be an entirely satisfactory solution of the 



