130 The American Geologist. February, looi. 
C. D. Walcott. The next winter meeting is planned to occur 
in Chicago. 
Geological Society of America, Cordilleran Section — 
The western, or as it is called the Cordilleran section of the 
Geological Society of America, was established by a few of 
the geologists of the western coast whose distance precludes 
them from joining their fellow members of the eastern part 
of, the continent, save on rare occasions. The second annual 
meeting of this section was held on Friday and Saturday, the 
23th and 29th of December, at the State University of Cali- 
fornia, at Berkeley. Prof. W. P. Blake, of the University of 
Arizona, presided on the former day and Prof. W. C. Knight, 
of Laramie, Wyoming, on the latter. 
The first meeting was held in the council room of the 
California Academy of Science at San Francisco, and the 
other at the state university, Berkeley, where all arrangements 
for the convenience of visitors had been made by the secretary 
and other resident members. Prof. Andrew Lawson, of 
Berkeley, secretary of the section, was also the secretary, of 
the meeting. 
The following summary will show the course and scope 
of the proceedings : 
Prof. Blake read the first paper, and in it he gave the evidence for 
the existence of any ancient, probably Cambrian, sandstones and quartz- 
ytes, on the granite of Arizona. He also mentioned the existence of 
limestone with A try pa reticularis and of quartzytes with Devonian 
fossils. In the Santa Catarina mountains are uncrumpled strata, prob- 
ably the equivalents of the Huronian and Laurentian of Canada, and 
also much crumpled beds of mica-slate standing nearly vertical. 
Reference was also made to beds of pegmatyte and in the discussion 
that followed to very thick strata of Cambrian dolomytes with strata 
of quartzytes penetrated by intrusive granites of Cambrian date. The 
paper was followed by considerable discussion, in which most of those 
present took part. 
Prof. E. W. Claypole, of Pasadena, next spoke of the structure 
of the Sierra Madre and the valley of Pasadena. This range is ap- 
parently a continuation of the ranges of the Santa Lucia and the 
San Rafael mountains, and consists of two materials. The front or 
southern face is composed of a very highly hornblendic granite which 
by the oxydation of iron is subject to rather rapid and deep weather- 
ing. Corrosion is consequently severe and the existence of crags and 
cliffs is rendered difficult. Behind this and forming the higher portion 
is a white felspathic gneiss containing very little hornblende and 
weathering less rapidly. Of this consist the crags and scarps so con- 
spicuous from the valley. The valley is almost entirely made up of 
detrital material derived from the destruction of the Sierra — often 
many hundreds of feet deep and consisting of strata of gravel and 
clay. These form the great water-storage of the region and during 
