Personal and Scientific Neios. 253 
Origin of boulder pavements and fringes. — 10 min. — By J. W. 
Spencer. 
Section of the Maquoketa shales in Iowa. — 10 min. — By J. F. James. 
The history of the formation of the Great Lakes.— 20 min. — By J. S. 
Newberry. 
The Geological Society of America held its first meeting 
for scientific purposes at Toronto, August 28th, in conjunction 
with the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. Section E adjourned one day for the purpose of 
attending this meeting. After an opening address by president 
James Hall, the following papers were read : 
Areas of continental progress in North America, and the influence 
of those areas on the work carried on in them. — 30 min. — James D. 
Dana. 
Some suggestions regarding the sub-division and grouping of the 
species usually included under the generic term Orthis, in accordance 
with external and internal characters and microscopic shell structure. 
— James Hall. 
On new genera and species of the family Dictyospongida\ — James 
Hall. 
The strength of the earth's crust. — 30 min. — G. K. Gilbert. 
On the origin of normal faults and the structure of the basin region. 
— 20 minutes. — Joseph LeConte. 
Boulder belts distinguished from boulder trains ; their origin and 
significance. — 20 min. — T. C. Chamberlin. 
Study of a line of displacement in the Grand Canon of the Colorado, 
Arizona. — 20 min. — C. D. Walcott. 
Trap dikes near Kennebunkport, Me. — 20 min. — J. F. Kemp. 
The Sylvania sand in Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. — 20 min. — P. Neff. 
The third annual session of the Iowa Academy of 
Sciences was held at Des Moines, Sept. 5, and was well at- 
tended. The society received several new members and gives 
promise of being a successful state organization. It is pro- 
posed in the future to have two classes of members, viz. 
Fellows who are actually engaged in original work, and Mem- 
hcrs who are not. Prof. F. M. Witter was chosen president for 
the coming year, and Prof. R. E. Call remains Secretary-Treas- 
urer. Prof. J. E. Todd gave the retiring presidential address, 
on The Mission of Scieyice. The following geological papers 
were read : 
On the fossils of the Keokuk beds in the vicinitv of Keokuk, Iowa, 
C. H. Gordon. 
On the geology of eastern Arkansas, R. Ellsworth Call. 
On the crystalline rocks of Missouri, Erasmus Haworth. 
Observations on some Keokuk species of Agaricocrinus, C. H. 
Gordon. 
Prof. Arthur Winslow, of the geological survey of Ar- 
kansas, Little Rock, has been appointed state geologist of 
Missouri. 
Prof. John 0. S.mock, Albany, has recently made a special 
visit to the Alaskan glaciers, and observations on the drift 
phenomena on some parts of the Pacific coast in Washington, 
as well as on the gorge of the Mississipj)! between Minneapolis 
and Fort Snelling. These will be used in some comparative 
