524 



SCIENCE. 



flexihs. The smaller plants form an Alpine -flora of 

 much interest, including many beautiful flowering species; 

 perhaps the most striking being Bryan thus, which has a 

 fine fir-like foliage and clusters of beautiful purple 

 flowers. It belongs to the heath family and c'osely re- 

 sembles the heather of Scotland. 



The streams of this region are clear, cold, and rapid, 

 and abound in fish, chiefly of the salmon family, and 

 these have given the name to Salmon River, the principal 

 water course. 



Two species of salmon were running up the Salmon 

 River, one the large Ouinnat or Chinook salmon, compara- 

 tively rare, and the other the "red fish" (Oncorhynchus 

 nerka). This is a small salmon, 1 5 to 18 inches in length, 

 and weighing 3 to 5 pounds. As seen in their migration 

 their bodies are brick red to purple in color, the heads 

 dark or light green ; they were then going up to their 

 spawning ground, Redfish Lake, one of a half dozen of 

 small lakes on the head waters of the Columbia, which 

 are the special breeding places of this interesting fish. 

 Coming all the way from their abode in the ocean, led by 

 an infallible but inscrutable instinct, they push on night 

 and day till they reach their remote birthplaces in these 

 little lakes far up in the mountains and 1000 miles from 

 their starting point. Here they accomplish apparently 

 the great object of their lives, the reproduction of the 

 species, by depositing the spawn in the shallows of the 

 rivulets which fall into the lake. 



The always attractive coloring of the fish, during this 

 nuptial season becomes greatly heightened; the body as- 

 sumes a brilliant, almost luminous red, as bright as that 

 of the gold fish, and where numbers are dashing through 

 the water literally in a blaze of excitement, they produce 

 an exhibition that is strikingly novel and interesting. 



When the spawning season is over they probably do 

 not return, as none are seen descendirg the rivers. The 

 young fish start on their migration to the ocean while 

 yet very small, and within the first year of their lives, re- 

 maining away it is supposed some three or four years 

 during which they acquire their full growth when they 

 return to die where they were born. 



An active industry has grown up in the capture of the 

 red fish in their annual migrations, but it is pushed with 

 so much energy and unsparing cupidity that their num- 

 bers are rapidly diminishing and the species will ap- 

 parently be soon extirpated in these waters unless pro- 

 tected by legal enactment. 



A branch of the Union Pacific Railroad is being con- 

 structed from Granger, Wyoming, to the mouth of the 

 Columbia. On this a large amount of traffic is expected, 

 as it will link together many settlements having a con- 

 siderable resident population and traverse in different 

 portions of the route rich agricultural and mining districts. 



Dr. Newberry then briefly described a small but re- 

 markably rich placer gold deposit he visited on the west 

 flank of Mount Wheeler, the highest mountain in 

 Nevada, and mentioned the discovery of an outcrop of 

 lower silurian rocks full of fossils, including several new 

 trilobites discovered by him in Southwestern Utah, but 

 deferred a 1 details till he should make them the subjects 

 of special remark to the Academy. 



Colorado. — Reference was made to the general character 

 of Southwestern Colorado, the interesting topography of 

 the region, especially the vast plateau which rises westward 

 from the base ol the Rocky Mountains on to the slopes of 

 the Wasatch ; the ascent of Marshall's Pass by the Den- 

 ver and Rio Grande Railroad, the most remarkable feat of 

 railroad engineering performed in the country, and the 

 exceedingly picturesque region about the Pagosa the 

 greatest hot spring on the continent. Where the San 

 Juan river issues from the mountains a prairie occurs, 

 surrounded by picturesque forest-clad hills, and with a 

 beautiful view of snow-clad mountains in the distance. 

 In the centre of the prairie lies a basin 40 by 60 feet 

 across, boiling like a huge caldron, the ebullition being 



produced by the violent escape of carbonic acid gas. The 

 banks are lined by the remains of beetles, snakes, etc., 

 destroyed by too trustful reliance upon the hot waters, 

 and by interesting mineral deposits. This is one of the 

 most beautiful places in the country and likely to be a 

 famous resort. 



Along the route from Pueblo to Gunnison and Lake 

 City, and thence eastward by Del Norte, there are some 

 places of resort for invalids and pleasure-seekers, which 

 are destined to be very well known, being far more beau- 

 tiful and salubrious than the now celebrated localities at 

 Manitcu and Colorado Springs. One of these is Wagon 

 Wheel Gap, on the Rio Grande. The river is a rapid, 

 turbulent stream, and the Gap is seven to ten miles long, 

 just wide enough to permit a wagon-road. Then a wide, 

 open space is reached, the basin of an ancient lake, gir- 

 dled by a wonderfully beautiful amphitheatre of moun- 

 tains. Here 8500 feet above the sea, the hot springs, 

 charming rides, fine hunting and fishing, an atmosphere 

 as pure and clear as crystal, constitute the attractions of 

 a lesort, which far surpasses any other, and which will 

 be reached by the railroad now being pushed through the 

 Gap about January 1, 1882. 



From Gunnison, specimens have been recently 

 brought of magnetite and hematite, which probably rep- 

 resent inexhaustible masses, and at Crested Butte, within 

 twenty-five miles of .this locality, is found the best cok- 

 ing coal in the West. The region borders on a volcanic 

 area, and the coking coal is from that portion of the 

 basin, which has mostly escaped the alteration by volcanic 

 heat. It is firm and not affected by the weather, with a 

 small amount of ash and sulphur. 



On Anthracite Creek are found many thousand acres 

 of Anthracite of better quality than that of Pennsylvania. 

 Recent analysis made at the School of Mines shows it to 

 contain less than one per cent, of sulphur, and three per 

 cent, of ash. 



The forest vegetation of Colorado is very simple. The 

 pinon or nut pine is very common, also the yellow pine 

 (P. ponderosa), Douglas' spruce, Menzies' spruce, etc. 

 In the mountains the general vegetation is picturesque 

 but not so varied as in the lowlands. The following 

 plants are among the most characteristic in the lowlands 

 of Colorado and Utah. 



The evening primrose (CEnothera Caspitosa) with its 

 large beautiful white flowers. 



The wild tobacco (Nicotiana aftenuata.) 



The sun flower (Heliant/ius.) 



The bee flower {Cleome intern 'folia) presenting purple 

 acres by the roadside, and the yellow species (C. lutea) 

 less common. 



The American primrose {Primula Parryi.) 



The pasque flower (Anemone patens, Var. Nuttal- 

 liana.) 



The Eriogonums, about twenty species, coloring whole 

 mountain sides yellow. 



The Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium.) 



Phacelia circinata in tufts of purple flowers on rocky 

 slopes. 



The lily (Calochortus Gunnisoni and C. Nuttalli) or 

 " blackeyed Susan " (Indian— " Seego,") very plenty in 

 the moister portion of the sage-plains. 



The clematis (Anemone alpina) with its purple 

 flowers. 



The penstemons, of which 20 or 30 species are pecu- 

 liar to that country, deep crimson, pink, and purple and 

 blue in color, often very showy, and so abundant that 

 whole acres of ground are colored by them. 



The columbine (Aquilegia canadensis^) and also a 

 much larger species (A. cerulea.) clothing the mountains 

 of Colorado and Utah, with blue, cream-colored, and 

 white flowers. A large number of dried plants were ex- 

 hibited from a collection of several hundred species just' 

 brought on from Colorado, with collections procured from 

 Prof. Marcus Jones of Salt Lake City, and others. 



