tay 
294. 
mapping the Ruby and Irwin regions preliminary to 
future geologic work. The country lying between 
Beckwith, Marcellina, and Anthracite Mountains was 
also worked up, and each of those points occupied, 
and the valley of Ohio Creek surveyed. In the early 
part of September, work was begun in Poverty and 
Washington gulches and in Baxter basin, and the 
East River valley, between Schofield, Gothic, and 
Crested Buttes. Fair results were obtained, although 
RECENT PROCEEDINGS 
Chemical society, Washington. 
Feb, 28. —Mr. W. H. Seaman exhibited and de- 
scribed a new form of burette, and also a graduated 
pipette, modelled after the ordinary medicine-drop- 
per. —— Prof. F. W. Clarke exhibited a copy of 
Lothar Meyer’s curve of atomic volumes, drawn to 
large scale, with the most recent data. With it, upon 
the same sheet, was compared a similar curve of 
melting-point. 
Biological society, Washington. 
Feb. 23.— Dr. Elliott Coues read a paper on the 
present state of North-American ornithology. In 
discussing the precontemporaneous history of the 
subject, he defined the following epochs: 1, The ar- 
chaic (prior to 1700); 2, The pre-Linnean (1700-50) ; 
3, The post-Linnean (1750-1800); 4, The Wilsonian 
(1800-25) ;5, The Audubonian (1825-50); and, 6, The 
Bairdian (1850+). A number of periods were also de- 
fined as follows: 1. The Lawsonian (1700-30); 2. The 
Catesbian (1730-48); 3. The Edwardsian (1748-58); 
4, The Linnean (1758-66); 5. The Fosterian (1766- 
85); 6. The Pennantian (1785-90); 7. The Bartrami- 
an (1790-99); 8. The Vieillotian (1800-1808); 9. The 
Wilsonian (1808-24); 10. The Bonapartian (1824-31) ; 
11. The Richardsonio-Swainsonian (1831-32); 12. The 
Nuttallian (1832-34); 18. The Audubonian (1834-53); 
14. The Cassinian (1853-58) ; 15. The Bairdian. The 
establishment of the American ornithologists’ union, 
he thought, would probably mark the establishment 
of a new epoch, — one in which the existing intricacies 
of ornithological nomenclature will be replaced by a 
consistent system founded upon a rational code: the 
present is simply a period of transition. Dr. Coues 
laid before the society the plate proofs of the forth- 
coming new edition of his Key to North-American 
ornithology. 
Mr. C. D. Walcott exhibited a second time the 
rocks fron Maine, containing fossil corals. He stated, 
that having received a number of additional speci- 
mens of the granite-like rock containing fossils, 
Stromatopora, corals, plates of crinoid stems, etc., 
from Litchfield, Me., he found that he had been in- 
correct in calling the rock a granite, as it was. of 
sedimentary origin, —a clastic rock, so changed in 
the specimens examined that it might be called a con- 
glomerate gneiss. 
Prof. Lester F. Ward exhibited a specimen of the 
SCIENCE. 
severe snow-storms impeded progress. About the 
middle of the month Mr. Karl was directed to co- 
operate with special agent J. A. Bently, of the In- 
terior department, to ascertain the accuracy of the 
Land-office survey of the Maxwell grant in southern 
Colorado and northern New Mexico. He was occu- 
pied on this work the remainder of the season, and 
in the latter part of November presented to the court 
a map prepared by him in support of his evidence. 
OF SCIENTIFIC SOCTETIES. 
‘diamond willow,’ —a variety of Salix cordata oc- 
curring in the upper Missouri region, distinguished 
by a great exaggeration of the scars left by the early 
growths of limbs which form series of large diamond- 
shaped caviti-s along the stems. He also exhibited 
some canes carved by the people of that region, which 
show the so-called diamonds in a striking manner. 
Professor Seaman advanced the theory that these 
scars are caused by the influence of some fungus or 
of some insect which lays its eggs in the buds. 
Linnaean society, New York. 
Feb. 8. —The publication of vol. ii. of the Trans- 
actions was ordered. Dr. C. Hart Merriam read 
a biography of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), giv- 
ing its life-history as noted by him in the Adirondack 
region of north-eastern New York. The paper was 
followed by a general discussion as to its differing 
habits in a less boreal locality. —— A translation from 
the Spanish of Rafael Montes de Oca by L. S. Foster, 
and the subsequent discussion, developed many in- 
teresting facts concerning the Trochilidae. —— Mr. 
William Dutcher remarked upon the scarcity of the 
snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca) this winter on Long 
Island, and upon the presence in considerable num- 
bers of the thick-billed guillemot (Lomvia arra), as 
well as the razor-billed auk (Utamania torda); while 
not a single sea-dove (Alle nigricans) had come under 
his observation. His Long Island records for the 
Ipswich sparrow (Passerculus princeps) give the cap- 
ture of thirty-three specimens since their arrival, Dec. 
16, after a severe snow-storm. 
Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia, 
Jan. 22.— Mr. F. W. Putnam made a communi- 
cation on a group of mounds occurring on the Miami 
River, which in many respects he considered the 
most important in the country. The methods of in- 
vestigation, and the objects found in the mounds re- 
ferred to, were described in detail, and illustrated by 
means of specimens and photographs. While no 
doubt exists as to the construction of mounds by some 
of our existing Indians, those he described had abso- 
lutely nothing in common with the more modern | 
structures, except in so far as they indicated the 
Mongoloid type. 
worm Manayunkia speciosa (the forms related to 
[Vor. IIL, No. 57. 
As the essentially fresh-water character of the — 
