Boston Meeting of the Geological Society. 13i 
insisted on the importance of distinguishing between glacial and post- 
glacial deposits more carefully than heretolore. Until this is done there 
will be much confusion, both as to the Glacial period and as to early 
human remains. 
In conclusion, the speaker looked forward to the speedy settlement of 
these and similar questions in a rational and scientific manner, and in 
such a way as to establish a stable basis for the work of the future; and 
he thanked the Society for giving to him this opportunity of pointing 
out the goals of to-day, which are to be the starting point of the re- 
searches of to-morrow. We can estimate the position of the present 
time, but we cannot easily anticipate that of the future, which with all 
its wealth of scientific results will belong to the younger geologists, of 
whom so many are members of the Geological Society of America. 
2. Geological notes on some of the coasts and inlands of Bering sea 
audits vicinity. George M. Dawson, Ottawa, Canada. (Read by Sir 
J. W. Dawson.) The observations contained in this paper were made 
during the summer of 1891, while the writer was engaged, as one of the 
British Commissioners, in the investigation of questions relating to the 
fur seal. Attention was particularly given to the general phjsiographi- 
cal aspects of the lands visited and to the search for possible traces of 
former glaciation or evidences of recent changes in elevation of the 
shores. Localities for which the more obvious geological features have 
already been recorded were not especially referred to, while in other 
cases more precise details were given. The localities were taken up in 
the following order: Aleutian islands, Komandorski islands, Kamts- 
chatka, Pribyloff islands, Nunivak island, St. Matthew island, Plover 
bay. The opinions of Dr. Dall and others as to the absence of any gen- 
eral glaciation in the Bering sea region were confirmed, and remarks 
were made on the probable date of origin of the Aleutian islands. It 
was found that a continental plateau probably once connected North 
America with Asia. The western part of Bering sea has as yet been 
very imperfectly explored with the deep sea lead. The available evi- 
dence goes to show that the submarine plateau and the fiat land of 
western Alaska were covered by a shallow sea during the latter part of 
the Miocene period, and that afterward the sea bed was probably raised 
as land, the elevation being sufficient to permit the mammoth to reach 
the Pribyloff islands. Since the ensuing depression of the region, there 
has been a recent slight uplift, not exceeding 10 to 30 feet, so far as ob- 
served. 
3. The fossil flora of Alaska. Frank H. Knowlton, Washington, D. 
C. (Rea<l by Mr. T. W\ Stanton.) An historical review of accounts of 
fossil plants in Alaska, with their systematic enumeration, and a dis- 
cussion of the geologic age of the beds in which they are found. 
4. New Discoveries of Carboniferous batrachians. Sir J. W.Daw- 
son. This paper described recent observations of erect trees whose 
hollow trunks enclosed fossil remains, in the district of the South Jog- 
gins.in Nova Scotia. The first discovery of them was made in 1851 by 
president Dawson, in company with Sir Charles Lyell. Three beds 
containing such trees have now been found. The interior portions of the 
trees rotted away, leaving them as hollow cylinders, into which small 
land batrachians fell. On their death and decomposition, their bones 
remained in the trees, intermixed with vegetable debris and soil. 
■'>. Oenozoic geology along the Appalachicola river. William H 
Dall and Joseph Stanley-Brown, both of Washington, D. C. The. 
observations made during a journey from Bainhridge, Oa., down the 
Flint and Appalachicola rivers to the coastal plain, were summarized. 
The exploration was undertaken with a view to clearing up some un- 
certainty in the sections and discrepancies in the stratigraphy, so far 
as these were previously known. The Appalachicola section, especially 
the series at Alum Bluff, has become the standard section for correla- 
