May 23, 1884.] 
disposition to spread laterally, but grows in close 
tufts. These spring from a dense, knotty mass of 
small, closely aggregated root-stocks, which bear a 
profusion of long, fibrous roots. Year after year 
these rooty masses produce an abundance of new 
shoots, which rise from the surface amid the old. 
Each ultimate root-stock becomes the site for a closely 
clustered colony of compound shoots; and these sec- 
ondary tufts, compacted into a single mass, make up 
the plant. A slight lateral prolongation of a shoot is 
sometimes necessitated by an obstruction in the most 
direct way to the surface, but this is the nearest ap- 
proach to subterranean spreading. In no other of 
our species of Carex, of the section Montanae, do 
we find the counterpart of the underground stems of 
C. Pennsylvanica. The closest approach towards 
them is shown by C. umbellata. From its dense 
underground tufts, this plant sometimes produces 
short underground stems; these are, however, more 
like suckers, and do not stray far from the parent 
plant, merely assisting to increase its dimensions. 
C. pubescens is of less tufted habit than either of 
the other species of this section; the shoots being 
irregularly produced by a progressive underground 
stem, or root-stock, which, however, bears no resem- 
blance to the underground runners of C. Pennsyl- 
vanica. 
The Brookville society of natural history, Indiana. 
May 6.— A. W. Butler described the extent of the 
Niagara formation in Franklin county, and gave a. 
section showing the stratification near the town of 
Laurel. He described the varying thickness of the 
strata, the economic uses of the stone, the south- 
westward dip of the strata, and the quantities of 
chert which are found in locations on top of the 
best building-stone. —— D. R. Moore gave an ac- 
count of some peculiar mounds in Butler county, 
O., and Franklin county, Ind., confining his time 
mostly to the ‘ Glidewell mound,’ four miles north- 
east of Brookville. This mound is situated near- 
ly three hundred feet above the east fork of the 
White Water River, on the point of a ridge jutting 
out into the river. The mound is sixty feet in diame- 
ter, and at present is twelve feet high. It is built of 
earth which has been brought from some other local- 
ity, as no such earth has been found within about 
half a mile of its location. The mound has been cov- 
ered with large, flat stones, overlapping each other 
after the manner of shingles on the roof of a house; 
and these stones are now covered with vegetable 
mould, in some places to a depth of almost two feet. 
Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia. 
April 29. — Mr. Joseph Willcox called attention to 
a fine collection of upwards of eighty specimens of 
fifty species of marine sponges made by him during 
the winter in Florida, and presented to the academy. 
Continuing his remarks on the geology and natural 
history of Florida, Mr. Willcox stated that the rocks 
which line the west coast extend out for many miles 
into the Gulf of Mexico, making the waters very 
shoal. The channels of the streams from the main- 
land continue out through these rocky shoals in the 
SCIENCE. 
637 
same direction, and with the same tortuous course 
as before reaching the shore. ‘The limestone of the 
peninsula is soft, and eroded into a vast number of 
caverns and sink-holes. Where exposed at an ele- 
vation, the rock becomes hard and firm, in some 
localities resembling marble. Referring to Agassiz’s 
suggestion that the sea-urchins of the coast which 
cover themselves with seaweed do so for protection, 
the speaker remarked that such an explanation was 
open to doubt, as allied forms which have the habit 
of covering themselves with little mounds of white 
shells are rendered thereby much more conspicu- 
ous. The common conch of the coast, Busycon 
pyrum had been found spawning under the sand, 
the egg-cases always being attached to a shell at least 
eight inches below the surface. He had been in- 
terested in the numerous saw-fishes which swim 
about in shallow water. When approached, they 
settle quietly in the sand until partially covered, 
when, feeling secure, they will allow themselves to 
be almost touched before darting away. In this con- 
dition, they are readily held down with a spear, when 
they elevate the head, turn up the saw, and pull it 
repeatedly, and with sufficient force to make a deep 
notch in the wooden handle. —— Referring to the 
collection of sponges, Mr. Edward Potts remarked 
that they were all siliceous, with the exception of 
one interesting calcareous species. He had received 
several fine fresh-water sponges from the St. John’s 
River, in the neighborhood of Palatka, collected by 
Mr. Mills of Buffalo. He believed one of the forms 
to be an undescribed species of the genus. Meyenia, 
for which he proposed the name subdivisa. He was 
informed by Mr. Willcox that the comparative scar- 
city of fresh-water sponges in that region was, doubt- 
less, owing to the superabundance of confervoid 
growths, which not only covered submerged logs, 
etc., but also flourished on the backs of the alligators. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE American of Philadelphia announces the 
personnel of the new biological department of the 
University of Pennsylvaniaas follows: ‘‘ At the head, 
as director, and professor of anatomy and zoology, 
was placed, of course, Dr. Joseph Leidy, whose selec- 
tion guarantees to the scientific world the value of 
the new department. With him are to be associated 
Dr. J. T. Rothrock, professor of botany; Dr. A. 
J. Parker, professor of comparative anatomy; Dr. 
Harrison Allen, professor of physiology; Dr. Horace 
Jayne, professor of vertebrate morphology; and Dr. 
Benjamin Sharpe, professor of invertebrate morphol- 
ogy. That there will be enthusiastic, earnest, and 
thorough work done, is insured by all of these names.”’ 
— Nature states that tickets have been applied for 
as follows for the Montreal meeting of the British 
association: members elected prior to October, 1882, 
379; members elected since October, 1882, 181; as- 
sociates (relations of members), 120: total, 680. 
— Mr. W. T. Lynn, late of the Royal observatory, 
Greenwich, writing to the Observatory, on the eclipses 
