May 2, 1884.] 
insectivorous diet by this bird was noted by this 
vigorous writer. Dr. C. S. Allen mentioned the 
exhibition of a carnivorous propensity in the com- 
mon barnyard duck, which he had seen catch P. 
domesticus, hurry with the struggling bird to the 
duck-pond, drown and immediately devour the vic- 
tim, usually swallowing it whole. —— Dr. Allen 
placed on record the finding, June 15, 1881, upon the 
Island of Grand Menan, by himself and the late 
Dr. Edward Southworth, of the nest with four eggs 
of Empidonax flaviventris, the yellow-bellied fly- 
eatcher, built in the moss upon the north side of an 
inclination, partly covered over by moss, grass, and 
twigs. It was lined with the fine tops of grasses, cow’s 
hair, and fine rootlets, and located in a soft, swampy 
spot, where there were few large trees. The male bird 
was not seen; but the female was almost caught by 
the hand, so closely did she sit. 
Boston society of natural history. 
April 16.—In a paper on the relation of the ‘ Ke- 
weenawan series’ to the ‘eastern sandstone’ in the 
vicinity of Torch Lake, Michigan, it was pointed out 
by M. E. Wadsworth that the Keweenawan series 
was first established by observations made at Doug- 
lass Houghton Falls, near Torch Lake. These ob- 
servations were supposed to show that the eastern 
sandstone lay horizontally up to the falls, and con- 
tained the débris of the supposed old seashore cliff 
over which the stream now fell. In 1880, Wads- 
worth showed that the eastern sandstone, instead of 
being horizontal, gradually dipped, as the falls were 
approached, to the north-west, the dip increasing from 
five degrees up to twenty-five degrees at the falls. 
He then pointed out that this sandstone contained 
old basaltic lava-flows intercalated with it, which 
explained the origin of the basaltic débris previously 
found here, and showed that the Keweenawan series 
and eastern sandstone were the same formation. In 
the third annual report of the director of the U.S. 
geological survey, the correctness of these observa- 
tions have been admitted, with the statement that at 
some distance below the falls the rocks were found 
to be covered, and that Wadsworth bridged in his 
imagination the gap between the sandstones dipping 
five degrees and those above having a steeper dip. 
The lower ones are said to be the true eastern sand- 
stone, and those nearer the falls to belong to the 
Keweenawan series, while they were separated by a 
hypothetical seashore cliff inserted in the covered 
space. To this Wadsworth replied, that, by digging 
in the stream and on the banks of the ravine, he had 
actually traced (not imagined) the relations of these 
rocks, going from those dipping five degrees up to 
those dipping twenty-five degrees, and that they 
were seen to form a continuous superimposed series, 
no such cliff as imagined existing between them. 
Wadsworth had also shown, in 1880, that the eastern 
Sandstone was exposed on the Hungarian River up 
to its junction with the Keweenawan series. On 
this stream the sandstone had a varying dip from ten 
to twenty degrees to the north-west; and, although 
sometimes dipping in all directions, the prevailing one 
SCIENCE. 593 
was north-west. At the junction, the sandstone was 
baked and indurated by the first basaltic lava-flow of 
the Keweenawan series, which in its turn had been de- 
nuded, and its débris built into a conglomerate, form- 
ing the fifth fall of the river. In the above-mentioned 
report, doubt was thrown on these observations by 
the statement that the observed sandstone was a loose 
piece, or, if not, the basaltic rock surely was, and that 
the prevailing dip of the sandstone was to the south- 
east. Wadsworth replied, that the dips given in the 
report appeared to have been taken from the frost- 
dislocated rock on the sides of the stream, while his 
were taken in the bed of the stream, when the water 
was exceptionally low. He further stated that the 
sandstone at the junction was continuous with that 
seen below; that it extended across the stream and 
into the banks on both sides; while the baking and 
induration of it showed that it must have been over- 
flowed by some heated rock. Again: the basaltic rock 
extended across the stream into both banks, and was 
found to underlie the conglomerate, and that he dug 
the débris of the former out of the overlying base of 
the latter. All this, he said, showed conclusively 
that these rocks were in situ, and proved that here 
the eastern sandstone and Keweenawan series were 
one and the same; also that this series could not be 
maintained, as first established. He further pointed 
out that the claim advanced by many geologists, that 
the eastern sandstone did not contain the débris of 
the porphyry conglomerates of the Keweenawan se- 
ries, was entirely opposed to the views of the same 
observers, that the eastern sandstone was younger 
than that series, and made out of its débris. 
Appalachian mountain club, Boston. 
April 9.— A paper by Prof. W. W. Bailey, on the 
west Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, gave some ex- 
periences of the author while attached to the U.S. 
geological survey. He explored Wright’s cafion, and 
noticed the extraordinary effect of diurnal evapora- 
tion, the streams entirely disappearing during the 
heat of the day. The flora of the Buena Vista 
and Coyote cafions, on the eastern side of the Sierra 
Nevada, was found to be very distinct from that of 
the western side of the range. Rev. Luther Farn- 
ham gave accounts of three visits to the White 
Mountains, in 1837, 1862, and 1883. —— Mr. R. B. 
Lawrence gave accounts of the explorations of the 
southern Alps of New Zealand by Messrs. Green, 
Haast, and Van Lendenfeld. 
Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia. 
March 22.— Prof. Edward D. Cope presented the 
results of his study of material illustrating the various 
forms of mastodon. He believed he could distin- 
guish nine species from American formations, while 
those of other countries would probably bring the 
number up to eighteen or twenty. There are proba- 
bly two genera. The oldest American mastodon 
comes from the upper half of the miocene, an asser- 
tion that one had been found lower down being un- 
doubtedly incorrect. The division of the genera into 
two groups, founded upon dental characters, was sug- 
