208 
niferous beds in Bohemia. This adds another to the 
many instances in which a new generic type of car- 
boniferous arthropods had no sooner been announced 
as found on one continent than it was discovered on 
the other. The Arkansas species was obtained by 
Prof. F. S. Harvey of Fayetteville, and had not been 
in Mr. Scudder’s hands a month before a second 
American species was found by Mr. R. D. Lacoe in 
the well-known beds of Mazon Creek, Iil. 
Biological society of Washington. 
Feb. 8. —Mr. W. T. Hornaday read a paper on the 
guacharo bird of Trinidad, describing the habits of 
the Steatomis caripensis as observed by him in one 
of the caves where it breeds. Mr. G. Brown Goode 
read a paper on the aims and limitations of modern 
fish-culture. Modern fish-culture he defined to be 
fish-culture carried on upon an immense scale, under 
the direction of men trained to scientific research, as 
distinguished from the old and insignificant method 
of fish-culture carried on by private enterprise. Its 
aims were shown to be, 1, to arrive at a complete 
understanding of the life-histories of useful aquatic 
animals, and the conditions under which they live; 
and, 2, to apply this knowledge so thoroughly that 
all fishes shall be brought as completely under control 
as are now the shad, the salmon, the carp, and the 
whitefish. The limitations of fish-culture were shown 
to be the same as those of scientific stock-rearing or 
agriculture. Dr. T. H. Bean made a communica- 
tion upon an augmented development in the fins of 
a species of Siphostoma, exhibiting a specimen with a 
supernumerary anal fin. In the discussion of this 
paper, Mr. John A. Ryder remarked that this de- 
formity was an attempt toward reversion to the con- 
dition of some remote ancestral type in which there 
was a continuous fin around the posterior portion of 
the body. —— Mr. C. D. Walcott exhibited a speci- 
men of trilobite, Asaphus sp., in which twenty-six 
pairs of legs, and the mouth-parts also, were plainly 
to be seen; also a specimen of Maine granite con- 
taining fossil corals, probably of the Devonian age. 
Philosophical society of Washington. 
Jan, 19. — Mr. Israel C. Russell made a communi- 
cation on the existing glaciers of the high Sierra in 
California. After showing the extent of the ancient 
glaciers of the region, and their relation to the topog- 
raphy, he described in detail the phenomena of the 
Mount Dana, Mount Lyell, and Parker Creek glaci- 
ers, closing his remarks with a reference to the lit- 
erature of the subject. The Mount Dana glacier lies 
at the foot of a cliff on the north face of that peak, 
with an elevation of 11,500 feet above the sea. It 
is at the head of a deep cafion draining into Lee- 
Vining Creek, one of the tributaries of Mono Lake. 
It is approximately 2,500 feet long, and of somewhat 
greater breadth. Notwithstanding its small size, the 
distinction between the snow-ice of the névé and the 
solid greenish-blue ice of the glacier proper is clearly 
marked. Its planes of growth are indicated by a 
banded structure,—compact ice alternating with 
thin sheets of porous white ice and with dirt-bands. 
SCIENCE. 
~ ancient work was performed with blunt-pointed tools, 
ous instances of elevations and depressions that are 
™ PR te i i, 
ua 
It is abundantly provided with crevasses, and has a — 
terminal moraine visibly growing. The stones of — 
the moraine show marks of attrition, and the lakelet 
fed by the outflowing stream is milky from suspended 
detritus. The Mount Lyell glacier is somewhat 
larger, and exhibits substantially the same characters. 
A portion of its surface is characterized by ‘ ice-pyra- 
mids.’ These occur only near the foot of the glacier, 
where the surface is rapidly melting, and depend 
upon the power of superficial pebbles to rescue the 
ice immediately beneath them from the porosity else- 
where produced by insolation. The Parker Creek 
glacier, likewise at the head of a tributary of Mono 
Lake, resembles the others in its general features, 
and displays in addition a considerable number of 
‘ glacier-tables,’ — blocks of rock perched on stand- 
ards of ice. A number of other glaciers were seen 
at a distance of a few miles, but were not visited. 
The various phenomena were illustrated by photo- 
graphs. 
Mr. Gilbert Thompson described certain glaciers 
on Mount Shasta believed to be new to: science, 
Their discovery increases the number of known 
glaciers on the flanks of Shasta to seven. Mr. W. H. 
Holmes described the glaciers. of the Wind River 
Mountains, and the glaciers of Mount Moran in the 
Teton Range. ‘The former are from one-fourth of a 
mile to one mile in length. . The latter are three 
in number, and lie at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Mr. 
Mark Kerr mentioned the occurrence of a glacier in 
the Salmon Mountains, a division of the Coast 
Range. 
Prof. W. C. Kerr described the mica-mines of 
North Carolina, explaining their geological relations, 
and setting forth the economic and mineralogic ; 
results of their exploitation. He described more . 
particularly a series of prehistoric excavations, which _ 
are large and numerous, and were evidently made 
for the purpose of obtaining the same mineral. One 
of these measures 150 by 75 feet, and, despite a partial 
filling with débris, retains a depth of 35 feet. The 
doubtless of stone; and facts connected with the 
arboreal vegetation show that it had been discontin- 
ued as much as five hundred years ago. 
Scientific club, Manhattan, Kan. 
Jan. 18. — Mr. Shartel presented some notes regard- 
ing the Suez and Panama canals and the Augsburg 
tunnel. Mr. Marlatt described a worm which he 
observed last year. Professor Kellerman made some 
interesting remarks respecting the occurrence of 
chlorophyll in animals. Superintendent Graham 
gave a description of some carvings on a rock in a 
cave in Greenwood county. ‘These carvings were — 
observed by Mr. Mason, and drawings which he made ~ 
of them were exhibited. Mrs. Kellerman gave an 
interesting description of the Termites, or ‘white 
ants.’ She described their manners and customs, 
grades of society, architecture, political economy, and 
many other points. Mr. Lund read a paper on the — 
undulations of the earth’s surface. He cited numer-— 
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