16 
PPIILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Mr. C. Hart Merriam read a paper upon 
THE ECONOMIC PHASE OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW QUESTION. 
[This paper appeared in the Keport of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 
1886, 8°, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1887, pp. 227-246; with 
map.] 
Respecting the law protecting sparrows Mr. Hazen drew atten¬ 
tion to the fact that a colored boy had recently been fined two 
dollars in the Police Court of Washington for throwing stones at 
sparrows. 
Mr. W J McGee made an oral communication entitled 
THE QUATERNARY DEPOSITS AND THE GREAT DISPLACEMENT OF 
THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC SLOPE, 
embodying the results of investigations set forth in part in a memoir 
on the geology of the head of Chesapeake Bay, contained in the 
Seventh Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey, and in part 
in an article entitled Three Formations of the Middle Atlantic 
Slope, which is expected to appear in the American Journal of 
Science for February and March, 1888. 
304th Meeting. May 21, 1887. 
The President in the Chair. 
Forty -five members and guests present. 
Mr. C. E. Dutton made a communication on 
A RECENT VISIT TO THE SCENE OF THE CHARLESTON EARTH¬ 
QUAKE AND RESULTING CONCLUSIONS. 
Mr. W. H. Dall made a communication entitled 
SOUTH FLORIDA NOTES. 
Remarks on this communication were made by Messrs. Bou- 
TELLE, Head, and Toner. 
Adjourned to October 15. 
