234 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 
of the Chautauqua divide, the battle between the elements of heat and 
cold commenced in earnest. North of the barrier, the ice-king had 
massed his forces; Lake Erie basin was full of ice, and all the reserves 
of the north were freely moving down intoit. As fastasone skirmish 
line on the summit was repulsed, another was thrown forward; and 
thus alternately advancing and retreating, the contest raged for ages 
before the invading ice was forced back, permanently confined, within 
the limits of the present lake basin.” | 
The Muse that divulged this information must have been slain in 
the last glacial engagement, and remained for ages housed up in her 
little sepulchre, because, otherwise, it is evident that she would have 
told all about the grand glacial ball which ensued after the victory 
was complete, when the glaciers danced quadrilles, waltzed and ma- 
zourkied, and scratched and furrowed the rocks in all directions, 
followed by cutting the “pigeonwing” and the great American 
‘“‘ hoe-down,” when the glaciers shook the gravel, sand and bowlders, 
which they had collected for war, out of their crests and huge de- 
positories, and covered the earth, which in their great glee they had 
cut up and striated so beautifully. 
In conclusion, the author would seriously call the attention of the 
reader to the array of facts here collected tending to prove that there 
is no marine or other deposit which represents a glacial period of 
time, and, therefore, there is no such geological period; that there is no 
gap in geological nomenclature into which it can be lodged or injected. 
That the fossils and animal and vegetable remains teach us of no such 
period, but quite the contrary. And, finally, that the glacial epoch is a 
theoretical blunder, without the support of any known facts, and averse 
to all our geological and paleontological information. 
THE CHNTURY PLANT. 
By JosrrH F. James. 
An interesting plant was on exhibition lately (July, 1881) at the 
Highland House. This was the Agave americana, the American aloe 
or the Century Plant, so called from the popular but erroneous idea 
that it blossoms only once in one hundred years. It belongs to the 
natural order Amaryllidacese, which is closely allied to the Liliacez. 
It is a native of Southern United States, Mexico and South America. 
