Personal <ni<I Scientific Weios. 203 
A new fossil Liriodendron from tin Laramu "t Wallenberg, Colo. .-and 
its significance. Arthub Hollick. This new species of Liriodendron 
was found while overhauling a quantity of material which was sent to 
the late Prof. .1. s. Newberry by Mr. R. ('. Hills. It was never described, 
but a manuscript name was attached which will be retained when the 
description is prepared. The most striking feature is tin- wing-like ap- 
pendages to the petiole of the leaf. Appendages of a somewhat similar 
character are known in other genera, and we are indebted to Prof. L. 
F. Ward for having worked out their apparent significance in the case 
of Platanus (Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum, vol. xr, 1888, pp. 39-42). The 
evolution of thegenus Liriodendron is also an exceedingly instructive 
study, which has been ably presented by Newberry (Bulletin Torr. Hot. 
Club, vol, xiv. 1887, pp. 1-7. with two plates). The new material en- 
ables us now toconsider this genus in the same lighl as that in which 
Platanus was considered, namely, that these appendages may represent 
basilar expansions of the leaf blade which separate and finally become 
merely stipular appendages at the base of the petiole. (The paper was 
illustrated with drawings of fossil forms of Liriodendron and Platanus, 
and with dried specimens of /,. tiilipifera and /'. occidentalis.) 
Theagt of tin Galena limestone. X. H. Winchell, This paper was 
based on extended paleontological studies carried on by the Minnesota 
.survey recently, which show that the Galena limestone is essentially of 
the age of the Trenton limestone, instead of Hudson River or l't ica. It 
was accompanied by tables showing the relative prevalence of various 
fossils in the several parts of the Lower Silurian concerned. 
The Carboniferous strata <bf Shasta county, California. James Pkkisin 
Smith. The general structure of a portion of the Klamath mountains 
was briefly discussed and the systems of faults and folds indicated. The 
oldest strata of the region are of Devonian age, overlain by the Baird 
.shales, which belong to the Lower Carboniferous. The latter have a 
fauna analogous to thai of the Eureka districl of Nevada, and thus 
have many Devonian species commingled with the Carboniferous. 
Faunally they are thought to be homotaxial with the Waverly, but 
stratigraphically they belong higher in the section. Above the Baird 
shales lie about 2,000 feet of limestone with a Carboniferous fauna 
probabh equivalent to the Coal Measures. Above the limestone are 
calcareous shales, with a fauna equivalent to thai of the Robinson beds 
of Plumas county and thus probably of Permo-Carboniferous age. 
The later geological changes in Culm. J. W.Spencer. (See the fore- 
going abstracl of Dr. Spencer's paper before the Geological Society.) 
Quaternary Unit divisiblt in thret periods, the Lafayette, Glacial, mnl He- 
cent. Warren Upham. The Quaternary era is thoughl to have in- 
cluded a long time of preglacial uplift of the areas which became ice- 
covered, as indicated by the deposition and erosion of the Lafayette 
formation. The Lafayette period was followed, at the time of culmi- 
nation of iis continental elevation, bv the Ice aye or Glacial period. 
whose geologically short closing stage, induced bv the sinking of the 
ice-loaded lands somewhal below their present level, has been named 
the Champlain epoch. The ensiling Recent period, extending to the 
present day. is learned i>v numerous independent means of estimate to 
have comprised some 6,000 to 10,000 years; and the ratio of the dura- 
tion of the three Quaternary periods is estimated to be approximately 
as 10:3:1, giving for this entire era probabh about 100,000 years. 
'I'lu Columbia formation in northwestern Illinois. < >s< vi: II. Hekhhey. 
The Florence gravel, Valley loess, and Upland loess, successively depos- 
ited in the valley and drainage basin of the Pecatonicfl river, are shown 
to be equivalent with the Columbia formation of the lower Mississippi 
