American Association Meeting. 257 
tion, here noted, led by E. A. Martel, of Paris, left all beaten paths 
at the village of St. Enimie, and in canoes followed the winding gorges 
of the Tarn for 46 miles, and then by mules, or in carriages, examined 
the gorges of the Jonte and Dnrbais. The Gausses vary in hieht 
from 1,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, and these gorges are cut 
through them somewhat as the grand canon of the Colorado cuts 
through the plateaus of Arizona. The clilifs of the river Tarn are 
often from 1,000 to 2,000 feet high, and occasionally still higher, and 
are brilliantly colored. 
The caverns of the region are as remarkable as any in Europe. 
There are hundreds of them and of all sizes. Among the large caverns 
explored by this party may be mentioned those of the Baumes Chaudes. 
These are three in number. From one of them the late Dr. Prunieres 
exhumed 300 prehistoric skeletons, and vn another are nine vertica;l 
pits from 40 to 127 feet deep. Another cave destined to become 
famous is that of Darjelan, with twenty halls from 65 to 600 feet long, 
the lowest of them being 420 feet deep. The author's party discovered 
and explored the Aven Armand, down whose chasm Louis Armand 
was the first to go. This vertical pit is 240 feet deep, beyond which 
is another 300 feet deep, the total vertical depth being 600 feet by 
actual measurement. The descent was made by a series of rope lad- 
ders, and was not without its dangers. The stalactitic decoration of 
these caves is remarkably fine. 
The term "aven" is applied to what we call a "sink-hole," except- 
ing that the avens seem to pass more abruptly into pits or chasms. 
They pierce the Gausses from the summit to the drainage level, and 
are death-traps for animals, whose remains were found below in 
various stages of decomposition, and whose bones lie imbedded in 
the dripstone. The theory is that every aven has a passageway to the 
rivers of the region. That this is often so is proved by the great 
springs at the base of the clififs of the Tarn; but in some cases the 
passageways trend away from the streams instead of toward them, 
and often they are dry, showing that the drainage must have been 
at some remotely ancient period. 
Should it be asked why the wonderful region of the Gausses has 
so long escaped exploration amid a country of high antiquity, the 
answer is that these lofty plateaus are barren solitudes, except for the 
chalets of wandering shepherds. The gorges and avens have been 
objects of dread instead of places attracting visitors. The supersti- 
tions of the peasants have also operated to make them shun what a 
few tourists now delight to explore. Under the stimulus of the So- 
ciete de Speleologie, the region is being opened to the public, and 
it is destined to be resorted to by thousands of tourists when its in- 
teresting features become more widely known. 
8. The Washington Limestone in Vermont. By C. H. Rich- 
ardson. Hanover, N. H. This name is proposed by the author for 
the more calcareous member of the Calciferous mica schist of Prof. 
