” II, p. 97-176, for 1864, ” January to December, 1864.
” III, p. 177-272, for 1865-6, ” January, 1865, to August, 1866.
” IV, p. 273-360, for 1866-7, ” January to September, 1867.
” V, p. 361-401, for 1867, ” May, 1868.
A few copies of Vol. II, pp. 236, remain for sale by the Corresponding
Secretary.
Volume I is out of print, but the Academy intends to reprint it when a
sufficient number of copies have been ordered to refund the cost.
_The following Memoirs were also published by the Academy, in quarto, in
1867._
No. I. Catalogue of Pacific Coast Mosses, pp. 38, By LEO LESQUEREUX.
No. II. Natural System of Volcanic Rocks, pp. 95, By F. BARON RICHTHOFEN,
Dr. Phil.
ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY,
622 CLAY STREET,
_San Francisco, June, 1868_.
The Academy, desirous of increasing its numbers, and thus adding to
its means of scientific research and diffusion of knowledge, has this
year altered its title to that of “CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,”
and invites all interested in the increase and spread of any branch of
knowledge to join in its work. All gentlemen residing within one hundred
and fifty miles of San Francisco are, by the new Constitution, eligible
to resident membership, with all the privileges of those in the city,
including free copies of the proceedings published after their election.
A copy of the new Constitution, Annual Address of the late President,
Prof. J. D. Whitney, and list of members at the commencement of 1868, may
be obtained free by addressing the Corresponding Secretary.
Meetings are now held on the first and third Mondays of each month, at
the rooms of the Academy, where lectures are given, papers read and
discussions held on scientific subjects. All desiring to become members
may be introduced at the meetings on application to the officers and
members.
Rooms open daily, from 12 to 1 o’clock, and the Librarian or other
members are usually present.
OFFICERS:
_President_, JAMES BLAKE, M.D., F. R. C. S.,
206 Bush Street.
_Vice President_, JAMES G. COOPER, M.D., 652 Howard
Street.
_Secretary_, THEODORE BRADLEY, Principal Boys’
High School.
_Corresponding Secretary_, HENRY N. BOLANDER, Principal
Cosmopolitan School.
_Treasurer,_ EDWARD BOSQUI, Publisher, 517 Clay
Street.
_Librarian_, A. KELLOGG, M.D., 622 Clay St.,
Academy’s Rooms.
_Director of the Museum_, H. BLOOMER, cor. Montgomery and
Jackson Streets.
CURATORS.
_General Zoology_, E.F. LORQUIN, 522 Pine Street.
_Conchology_, W. G. W. HARFORD, 622 Clay Street.
_Radiata_, J. B. TRASK, M.D., 206 Kearny Street.
_Entomology_, R. H. STRETCH, Room 50, Montgomery Block.
_Geology_, W. A. GOODYEAR, 615 Stockton Street.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.
ANNUAL MEETING, JANUARY 5TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Twelve members present.
Ferdinand, Freiherr von Richthofen, was elected Corresponding Member.
The committee on the meteoric iron, presented to the city by General
Carleton, reported that permission had been obtained by Professor Whitney
to saw a piece from it for analysis, and for distribution to some of the
most important collections in this country and in Europe. A piece will
be forwarded to Professor Brush, of Yale College, for analysis, and a
description of the mass published in the Proceedings of the Academy, as
soon as the returns of the analysis have been received.
The Annual Reports of the officers of the Society for the past year
(1862) were received, and the following is an abstract of their contents:
The Report of the Treasurer was read, and referred to the Finance
Committee.
The Curator of Palæontology reported, that the number of specimens in
the collection is 1,007, exclusive of numerous duplicates. They are
principally from the cretaceous and tertiary formations of the Pacific
coast. The collection has been rearranged in the course of the past year,
and is now in as good condition as the accommodations of the Society will
admit.
The Curator of Botany reported, that 2,160 specimens were added to the
collection during the year 1862, making a total of 6,160 specimens in
the Academy’s herbarium. About twenty new specimens have been described
in the Proceedings during the past year, and specimens and drawings of
all of them have been placed in the collection. The herbarium is in good
condition.
The Curator of Entomology made a verbal report, to the effect that the
collections in his department, although small, are in good order; but
that few additions had been made during the year.
In the Zoological department, the Curator stated, that a few valuable
additions had been made to the collection during the year 1862; but that
much difficulty was experienced in arranging them, from the limited
space and means of the Academy. The alcoholic specimens have not been
rearranged during the year; some are in bad condition. All has been done
which could be, towards preserving the specimens in this department, with
the means at the command of the Curator.
In the absence of the Curator of Conchology (Dr. Trask) it was stated,
that the collection of shells had been arranged, and labeled, and placed
in cases during the year; the accommodations of the Academy, however, do
not admit of their being displayed.
The Curator of Mineralogy (Mr. Hanks) has removed from the city since the
last annual meeting; but previous to removing, he had made considerable
progress in rearranging and labeling the collection of minerals and ores,
and it is now in better order than it has ever before been.
The Librarian reported that valuable additions had been made to the
Library during the past year; chiefly through the instrumentality of the
Smithsonian Institution. The books are in good order; but many of them
need binding, and the want of room renders it impossible to place them
where they can be easily got at by the members.
The committee on nominations reported the following list of officers for
the year 1863, which was duly elected:
PRESIDENT.
COL. L. RANSOM.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
J. N. ECKEL, M.D., J. B. TRASK, M.D.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
W. O. AYRES, M.D.
RECORDING SECRETARY.
Prof. W. H. BREWER.
LIBRARIAN.
Prof. J. D. WHITNEY.
TREASURER.
WILLIAM HEFFLEY.
CURATORS.
G. F. MOORE Of Mineralogy.
W. M. GABB Palæontology.
A. KELLOGG, M.D. Botany.
J. G. COOPER, M.D. Zoology.
J. B. TRASK, M.D. Conchology.
H. BEHR, M.D. Entomology.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
By Dr. Cooper—Specimens of _Purpura septentrionalis_, from San Francisco,
and others from Oakland, of larger size—the latter not being natives of
this Bay, but brought from Shoalwater Bay, W. T., in cargoes of oysters.
By Mr. Bloomer—A collection of specimens of wood.
Dr. Cooper exhibited a specimen of coral, of the genus _Porites_,
probably an undescribed species. This mass of coral was drawn up by a
fisherman, from a depth of four fathoms, at the Farallones, and deposited
in the office of the Geological Survey by Mr. Lawson, of the Coast
Survey. The same species had been previously obtained by Dr. Cooper in
the Bay of Monterey, but it had never been found so far north before.
REGULAR MEETING, JANUARY 19TH, 1863.
Vice President, Dr. Trask, in the Chair.
Present, eleven members.
Dr. W. W. Hays, U. S. A., and Mr. William Ashburner were elected Resident
Members.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
A miscellaneous collection of plants, consisting of from two hundred
to three hundred species, from the Pacific slope, by H. G. Bloomer;
specimens of a _Yucca_, and of _Larrea Mexicana_, from Kern river, by J.
E. Clayton.
Mr. Bolander presented the following paper:
Description of a New Species of Melica.
BY H. N. BOLANDER.
MELICA L.
_M. stricta_ Bolander.
Spikelets very large, secund, horizontal, four to six-flowered;
flowers stipitate, upper ones imperfect and abortive, slightly
tinged with purple.
Glumes equal, oblong, membranaceous, five-nerved; nerves
evanescent at about three-quarters the length of the glumes;
scarious margined and pointed, nearly the length (one-half
inch) of the flowers.
Paleæ very unequal, chartaceous; lower oblong, seven-nerved,
all except the middle one evanescent at about two-thirds the
length of the palea; scabrous, largely scarious margined and
pointed; upper palea spathulate, bicarinate, ciliate, one-third
shorter than the lower.
Ovary obovate, contracted near the truncated apex, sessile,
smooth; styles terminal, divergent; stigmas plumose; pilis
fasciculate, minutely serrate; squammulæ very small, connate,
entire; stamens three; caryopsis?
Root perennial; culms upright, terate, striate, one and
one-half feet high, very brittle; sheaths striate, scabrous;
ligula exserted, lacerated; leaves narrow, one-sixteenth to
two-sixteenths of an inch wide, acuminate, outside and margins
scabrous, (four to seven inches long) striately nerved,
upright, nearly appressed.
Raceme upright, rather simple; branchlets smooth, appressed,
few-flowered; pedicels pubescent at the angle.
Collected by Mr. George W. Dunn, at Silver City, Nevada
Territory.
REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2D, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Present, fourteen members.
Prof. P. P. Carpenter, of Manchester, England, was elected a
Corresponding Member.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
Three jars of reptiles and fishes, collected by Mr. J. Xantus, in Lower
California, and mostly near Cape St. Lucas, were presented by Mr. Samuel
Hubbard.
Donations to the Library:
Volumes 1-27 of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, by H. G. Bloomer.
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for October,
November, and December, 1862, from the Society. Descriptions of shells
collected in the Rocky Mountains in 1860 by Dr. J. G. Cooper, by T. Bland
and J. G. Cooper.
The Publishing Committee laid volume two of the Proceedings of the
Academy, for the years 1858-62, upon the table: it was ordered by the
Academy that one hundred copies be sold to the members at one dollar per
copy, and that fifty copies be presented to the Smithsonian Institution
for foreign distribution.
Professor Whitney read the following communication:
On the Inaccuracy of the Eighth Census, so far as it Relates to the
Metallic and Mineral Statistics of the United States.
BY J. D. WHITNEY.
It has, for a long time, been a subject of regret, that our
United States Census returns are so imperfect; and that, in all
that relates to mining and metallurgy, they are especially and
extraordinarily unreliable. Mr. Kennedy’s “Preliminary Report
on the Eighth Census,” (1860), recently issued, is at hand,
and some remarks may here be made in reference to what appears
in it, which is connected with our mineral interests. It will
soon appear, from an examination of this public document, that
the same unfortunate ignorance in regard to one of the most
important of the sources of our national wealth, which has
characterized previous Census Reports, still prevails among
our officials at Washington; and that all which Mr. Kennedy’s
Report contains must be taken with many grains of allowance. It
is certainly the duty of those who are better posted to give
notice of these deficiencies, and to call public attention to
them again and again, in the hope that something may be done,
hereafter, to make this department of the Government less
ridiculous in the eyes of those who are acquainted with such
matters, and less liable to mislead those who look on a Census
Report as something to be blindly quoted, and relied on as a
document which must necessarily be correct.
The only metals in regard to which anything is stated in Mr.
Kennedy’s report are iron, nickel, lead, zinc, and copper; thus
omitting gold, silver, and quicksilver, of each of which we are
large producers. Of the mineral productions, coal is the only
one noticed.
The first metal mentioned in the text accompanying the tables
compiled from the Census returns is iron, and the quantity of
pig iron produced in 1860 is given at 884,474 tuns, valued at
$19,487,790, and this is stated to be an increase in the value
returned by the Census of 1850, of 44·4 per cent.
Here the question arises, how far are these figures to be
relied on as accurate? This can only be decided by comparison
with returns known to be approximately accurate, and of these
we have none later than the year 1856, in which year the make
of pig iron was ascertained, by the Iron-Makers’ Association,
to be 812,917 tuns. Either the Census returns of 1860 are too
low, as they were in 1850, or else the increase in this branch
of our industry has been very slight since 1849, when the make
of iron was ascertained by the Pennsylvania Iron-Masters to be
800,000 tuns. On the other hand, assuming the Census returns
of 1860 to be correct, there is no ground for making the
statement, as is done by Mr. Kennedy, that there has been an
increase of 44·4 per cent. in the value of the iron produced
in 1860 over that of 1850; it is evident that the increase
has been very slight, since 1846 or 1847 even, in which years
the make of this metal, on reliable authority, reached nearly
800,000 tuns.
But what shall we say of Mr. Kennedy’s method of arriving at
the production of iron, as related to the amount of population
in the United States, or the number of pounds produced per
head? To obtain this, he adds together the amount of pig iron
and the amount of bar and other wrought iron produced, and
thus obtains a result of 92 pounds of iron produced for each
inhabitant of the United States; which, as he says, “speaks
volumes for the progress of the nation in all its industrial
and material interests.” It speaks a volume or two for his own
ignorance of the elements of metallurgy; since, as everybody,
except the Superintendent of the United States Census, knows,
the bar and rolled iron is nearly all converted from the pig,
and only a small proportion made direct from the ore; so that
his method of computation is as near correct as it would
be, for instance, to estimate the amount of beef consumed
per head in San Francisco, by adding the weight of all the
cattle slaughtered in the city to that of the beef produced by
said slaughtering. As, in 1856, only 28,433 tuns of bar iron
were made directly from the ore, to 812,917 of pig produced;
so, allowing that 28,000 tuns were made direct in 1860, the
amount, per head, of all the iron made in that year would be
65 pounds, instead of 92, as Mr. Kennedy calculates.[1] Taking
the population of the United States at 23,000,000, in 1850, and
the make of iron at 800,000 tuns, as given by the returns of
the Commission of the Iron-Masters of Pennsylvania, the amount
produced, per head, in that year, would be 78 pounds; so that
all Mr. Kennedy’s glorification goes for naught, unless we
admit that his returns for 1860 are wrong.
In regard to the statistics of the other metals mentioned
in the Census Report, it may be said, with truth, that they
are very defective. No mention is made of gold, silver, or
mercury, the value of the first-named of which produced in
this country is nearly double that of all the other metals.
Under zinc, there is no mention made of New Jersey, the great
zinc-producing State. The yield of lead in the Mississippi
Valley is put down at considerably less than its real amount.
But the most important remark to be made, in this connection,
is in reference to the mode of reporting the results adopted by
Mr. Kennedy. Instead of giving the amount of _metal_ produced,
the number of tuns of _ore_ is stated, and no clue given to the
yield of the ore. This is something as an assessor’s report
would be, which should give the valuation of the individuals he
might be called on to appraise, in _pieces of money_, leaving
it uncertain whether five cent or twenty dollar pieces were
intended.
The table given by Mr. Kennedy does not state what amounts
of each metal are produced; and, if we attempt to arrive at
them by examining the columns of values, it is found to be
impossible to decide whether these values are those of the ore
as mined before being smelted, or of the metals produced from
them. In short, the whole matter is left in such obscurity,
that it is much to be wished that the table could be expunged
from the Report, as it can only serve to mislead and confuse
those who resort to Government documents for information in
regard to our metallic and mineral productions.
[1] In point of fact, the amount of bar iron made in the
bloomery furnaces direct from the ore is growing less every
year, and must be now reduced to a very small figure.
Dr. Cooper remarked that, since the publication of his paper on
Californian Mollusca, read before the Academy November 3d, 1862, (see
Proceedings, vol. II, p. 202) he finds the generic name STRATEGUS
preoccupied, and he now proposes, in its place, the name NAVARCHUS.
Professor Whitney exhibited a magnificent specimen of auriferous quartz,
in which the gold was associated with _Mispickel_, (Arsenical Pyrites.)
The weight of the mass was about five pounds, and the value of the gold
estimated at $1,500. It was obtained from the celebrated “Fellows Lode,”
on the Middle Yuba, in Sierra County. It is stated, on what is believed
to be reliable authority, that from $200,000 to $250,000 has been taken
from an excavation on the lode only ten feet long and four feet wide,
by crushing in hand-mortars. The occurrence of gold in connection with
mispickel, in the California mines, seems to be rare, at least in the
southern counties. In the specimen presented, the gold formed a coherent,
sponge-like mass, when the mispickel was dissolved.
Baron Richthofen remarked, that gold occurs associated with mispickel in
Silesia.
Mr. R. L. Harris made some remarks on the comparative friction of
car-wheels, on an iron track, when rolling and sliding, as shown by
experiments made on the street-railroad in Washington street. Here the
greatest grade is five hundred and twenty-eight feet per mile, or one in
ten, and it is found that, on a wet day, if the wheels are stopped by the
brakes, they will slide on the track; while, if the brakes are not put
down so hard but that the wheels can revolve, the car is entirely under
control. This is not the popular opinion, and the authorities generally
state, that the sliding friction is the greatest; but experience shows,
that the friction is really greatest when the sliding and rolling motions
are combined.
REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 16TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Fourteen members present.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
From J. E. Clayton, Esq., a set of ores from the Russ District,
California.
Donations to the Library:
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1857:
from Dr. Cooper. Astronomical and Meteorological Observations, made at
the U. S. Naval Observatory during the year 1861: from the U. S. Naval
Observatory.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:
Description of two New Species of Plants from Nevada Territory.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
APLOPAPPUS Cass.
_A. Nevadensis_ Kellogg. [FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
Suffrutescent, caudex branching, branches three to four inches
in height, somewhat ascending; rigid, striate, scabrous
throughout. Heads solitary and terminal, homochromous and
many-flowered. Leaves alternate, crowded near the base,
oblanceolate, very acute, quite entire, three-nerved; the
reticulate veins and nerves prominent, sub-petiolate (half
to one inch in length, by about one-fourth in breadth); the
lowermost leaves more distinctly petiolate, spatulate, obtuse,
or sub-acute; upper cauline leaves few or solitary, lanceolate,
very acute or acuminate, three-nerved.
Involucre campanulate, the greenish somewhat foliaceous scales
rigid, many-nerved, (chiefly three to five) margins scarious,
cleft-ciliate, or somewhat fimbriate, oblanceolate, acute, in
three series, often one or two bractoid scales at the base.
Receptacle flat, alveolate; alveoli toothed, naked. Rays (about
eight) orange-yellow, oblong-oval, two or three-toothed,
pistillate, fertile, tube slender, about as long as the
achenia, or one-third to half the length of the ligule.
Disk corolla cylindrical, slightly expanding, five-toothed,
erect, glabrous. The achenia (about twenty, including the ray)
angular, oblong, somewhat compressed; base cuneate, satiny
appressed pubescent (with white hairs); pappus of unequal
capillary scabrous bristles, rigid and fragile, or deciduous.
Appendages of the style much longer than the stigmatic portion,
lance-subulate, hispid, much exsert, erect-spreading.
This plant was brought from Nevada Territory by Mr. Herbert C.
Dorr.
MIRABILIS L.
_M. Californica_ Gray, Var. _villosa_ Kellogg.
Stem about a foot in height, somewhat ascending, flexuous,
divaricately branching, nodose, internodes slightly curved;
minutely villous throughout. Leaves rounded-cordate, obtuse,
entire, three to five-nerved; the uppermost ovate-cordate,
petioles short, (one-fourth to one-sixth the length of the
lamina).
Flowers pedicellate, in loose terminal dichotomous panicles,
with a solitary flower in the axils; perigonium pink, pedicels
recurved in fruit.
This plant, from the interior—Devil’s Gate and Carson
River—differs much from the plate of the coast plant of the
Mexican Boundary Report. It is not at all “glabrous,” nor are
the flowers “sub-sessile;” the pairs of leaves are remote,
with a much more open and spreading aspect; the flowers are
pentandrous and deciduous.
Mr. Harris exhibited a section of a pile, from a wharf at Rincon Point,
which fell a few days since, having been destroyed by the boring of the
_Teredo_, (properly a _Xylotrya_.) The material of the pile is Oregon
pine; it had been in the water less than six years, but is now completely
perforated in all directions. The subject of the best means of protection
for piles, against attacks of the _Teredo_, was discussed at some length
by various members.
Dr. Ayres stated that, as yet, no reliable preventive had been
discovered, except that of sheathing the pile with metal. Several years
ago the same subject came before the Academy, and Drs. Ayres and Trask
were appointed a Committee to investigate the subject. All external
applications which have been proposed fail in practice, from the wearing
away of the surface by the waves, and they are but little better than the
natural bark. It has not appeared that the saving in time was equal to
the expense incurred by thus protecting the piles. At Boston, where there
are two species destructive of timber, they find no preventive, short of
sheathing the piles with copper.
In the French works on this subject, it has been stated that the bark
affords no protection; but, on the contrary, aids the young animals in
introducing themselves into the wood. This has not been found to be
the case in this bay, where the bark does, on the contrary, assist in
preserving the timber.
The fact was also stated, by one of the members, that the piles of the
wharfs in the southern part of the city suffer much from attacks of the
_Teredo_; while those of the northern portion are comparatively exempt.
The fact was mentioned, that piles have been entirely destroyed here in
six months from the time they were placed in the water.
Prof. Brewer made some remarks on the method of calculating altitudes by
observation with a single barometer. He gave an account of the methods
adopted by the Geological Survey for computation, in cases where there
was no station barometer nearer than the bay, or the valley of the
Sacramento.
Dr. Trask mentioned that the weight of the Honcut meteoric iron presented
by him to the Academy, at the meeting of March 17th, 1862, was six
ounces, one hundred and twenty-eight grains, troy.
Professor Whitney called attention to the curious errors in a paper
published in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1861, page 133, which purports
to be a translation into German of a portion of a work published by Mr.
J. Xantus, describing his journey in Lower California. He describes a
quicksilver mine of great importance as being worked at Marques; but the
description which he gives of it shows that it is the New Almaden mine
which, in reality, he visited, and which, by some confusion of his notes,
he has located in Lower, instead of Upper California. No mercury mine is
worked on the California peninsula, so far as can be ascertained. It is
evident that Mr. Xantus’s notice of rich gold, lead and copper mines on
the peninsula must be taken with many grains of allowance.
On motion of Dr. Ayres, it was ordered, that twenty-five copies of
the second volume of the Proceedings be placed at the disposal of the
Publishing Committee for distribution to learned societies, public
libraries, and distinguished scientific men in the Atlantic States.
REGULAR MEETING, MARCH 2D, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Present, fifteen members.
Dr. J. P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, Ohio, was elected a corresponding
member.
Donations to the Cabinet.
By Mr. Rowlandson, specimen of the wool of the Alpacca and Vicuña,
brought from Peru by Capt. Bissell, of the United States sloop-of-war
_Cyane_.
Donations to the Library.
The American Journal of Science, for January, 1863, from the editors.
Mr. Gabb communicated two papers by Mr. Rémond, containing descriptions
of new fossils from California.
Description of two New Species of Bivalve Shells, from the Tertiaries of
Contra Costa County.
BY AUGUSTE RÉMOND.
CARDIUM Brug.
_C. Gabbii_ Rémond.
Shell cordate, ventricose, nearly equilateral; posterior
side truncated, direct; anterior side slightly depressed;
height and length nearly equal. Umbones very prominent; beaks
incurved, approximate; lunule well marked, carinated; surface
even, with fine imbricated lines of growth. Hinge (of the left
valve) comparatively narrow; anterior fosset small, shallow,
triangular; cartilage pit large, deep, long; lateral teeth
heavy, thick, prominent.
Locality: vicinity of Kirker’s Pass, south of New York (of the
Pacific) Plain from a late tertiary deposit.
The _C. Gabbii_ will easily be distinguished from any other
species yet discovered, from its heavy hinge and enormous
lateral teeth. I take great pleasure in dedicating this
beautiful fossil to Mr. W. M. Gabb, to whom I am indebted for
repeated assistance in my palæontological studies.
This species occurs in shelly sands, together with _Tapes
regularis_ Gabb and _Murex ponderosus_ Gabb, two other extinct
species. The specimens are in the collection of Mr. W. M. Gabb
and my own.
OSTREA L.
_O. Bourgeoisii_ Rémond.
The description is from two lower valves, from the collections
of Mr. l’Abbé Bourgeois (Pont-Levoy, France) and Mr. Pioche,
(San Francisco.)
Shell sub-oval, higher than long, strongly contracted near the
cardinal area, sub-rounded on the ventral margin; inferior
valve comparatively thin, convex, irregular exteriorly, with
remote, somewhat rugose, plaits of growth. Ligament fosset
long, profound, minutely wrinkled and finely striated, oblique
and turned downwards; muscular impression very large, oblique,
and sub-central, somewhat prominent.
Locality: vicinity of Kirker’s Pass, from a late tertiary bed.
I dedicate this new species to Mr. Bourgeois, Professor of
Natural History at the School of Pont-Levoy, (Loir-et-Cher,
France) who was my first teacher in geology.
Description of two Species of Scutella.
BY AUGUSTE RÉMOND.
SCUTELLA Lam.
_S. Gibbsii_ Rémond.
Disk oblong-sub-oval, rounded before and truncated behind,
posteriorly convex above, slightly depressed in front;
inferior surface flat, somewhat concave about the mouth.
Apex about midway between the center and posterior margin;
ambulacral star non-symmetrical; petals unequal, open at their
extremities. Anterior petal straight, longer than the others;
the lateral ones nearly straight, diverging from the apex with
an angle of about eighty degrees; posterior petals very short,
sub-oval, having the anterior side most curved. Four rows of
pores in each petal; the inner pores transverse, the outer
ones pointed obliquely inwards. Mouth posteriorly sub-central;
anal-aperture small, submarginal. Ambulacral furrows double,
nearly symmetrical, slightly ramified. Each ambulacral and
inter-ambulacral space is occupied by two rows of irregular
plates, either pentagonal or hexagonal. Tubercles numerous,
crowded in the ambulacral furrows, but much worn off in the
specimens examined.
Locality: Kern Lake, Buena Vista County.
The specimens described are in the collection of the Academy;
they were found by Dr. Gibbs, to whom the species is dedicated.
Obs.—This species, considered by Mr. Gabb as of probably
miocene age, is closely allied to the _S. striatula_, which is
found living on the Californian coast, and occurs fossil in
the _faluns_ (miocene formation) of Bordeaux, France; but it
differs from it in the outlines and the size of the shell, the
former being comparatively small and longer than broad, while
the latter is broader than long. Besides, the apex of the _S.
Gibbsii_ is situated more posteriorly, and the lateral petals,
in the _S. striatula_, diverge from the apex, with an angle of
from one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifteen degrees;
this latter has also its ambulacral furrows more ramified at
their extremities.
_S. interlineata_ W. P. Blake.
Disk sub-circular, broad, upper surface convex towards the
middle, depressed on the margins, plane beneath; apex central;
ambulacral star symmetrical; petals long, equal, closed at
their extremities, nearly reaching from the apex to the margin
of the shell, terminated by five or six irregular hexagonal
plates. The petals are longitudinally divided into four rows,
which are connected by numerous and regular transverse lines
of pores. Mouth central; anus submarginal; ambulacral furrows
symmetrical, not much ramified. Inter-ambulacral areas occupied
by two rows of pentagonal plates, convex, of equal length,
increasing in size until they unite with the ambulacral plates;
hexagonal from that point and decreasing towards the margin.
Two sorts of appendages; spinous processes numerous and
crowded, above and beneath. Spines of the superior surface
short, striated, pyriform, irregularly pentagonal or hexagonal;
inferior spines slender, comparatively long, dentaliform,
striated longitudinally, tubular and round.
Obs.—Water-worn fragments of this fine fossil occur in
abundance on the beach, between Merced Lake and the Pacific,
south of Point Lobos, in San Francisco County. It was made
known to science by Mr. W. P. Blake, Geologist of the Railroad
Survey, who found it in 1853, among the shingles thrown up
by the surf, and first described by Mr. W. Stimpson. At
that time the locality whence the scutellæ were derived had
not been discovered, so that the specimens obtained being
imperfect, no complete description could be made; this is
the reason why I offer a new and complete description of
the _Scutella interlineata_, from specimens procured _in
situ_. As was suggested by Mr. W. P. Blake, the rocks bearing
these fossils are found a few miles southward, north of the
boundary line between San Mateo and San Francisco Counties,
where the scutellæ stick out from conglomeratic sandstones,
which Mr. Gabb considers as belonging to the _pliocene_ or
_post-pliocene_ formation; we find them in a fine state of
preservation, with their spines retained.
The _S. interlineata_ is figured in the Railroad Reports;
see vol. V, Geological Report, plate IV, fig. 30; and for
Mr. Blake’s remarks and Mr. Stimpson’s description, the same
Report, chap. XII, p. 153.
Dr. J. Blake made some remarks on specimens, presented by him, of
infusoria, found in the sand-hills, south of Point Lobos, and which form
a kind of concretions, fixing the sand in its place.
Dr. Ayres made the following remarks in relation to the genus
NOTORHYNCHUS:
This genus was defined by me in 1855 (Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat.
Sci., vol. I, p. 72) to include a species occurring in the Bay
of San Francisco. In 1858 Girard refers to the species (P. R.
R. Rep., vol. X, p. 367) under the generic name HEPTANCHUS, of
which he considers NOTORHYNCHUS a synonym. In 1861, Mr. Gill
refers it to Rafinesque’s genus HEPTRANCHIAS. (Annals of the
Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., vol. VIII, Dec.) In a more recent paper
(Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., Oct., 1862) Mr. Gill restores my
species to the name under which it was originally described.
He says: “This generic name of NOTORHYNCHUS was proposed by
Dr. Ayres under a misapprehension.” My “misapprehension”
was that I regarded the species as the type of a new genus;
a conclusion at which Mr. Gill himself has, after several
changes, also arrived. He gives as a synonym of NOTORHYNCHUS
only “HEPTANCHUS, Sp. Müller and Henle, Gray, Girard, Gill,”
whereas it is necessary to include also “HEPTRANCHIAS, Gill,”
as above indicated.
I may remark that the description given by Mr. Gill of the
teeth of _Notorhynchus maculatus_, (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.,
Phil., Oct., 1862, p. 495) will not bear examination. It
represents the individual specimen on which it was founded; but
the species is quite common here, and I find that the number
and the forms of the teeth vary so much, that my original
description, which Mr. Gill says is “equally applicable to any
species of the family,” is fully as close as nature will allow
us to draw. I am at a loss to understand how it is possible
for him to refer the jaws of a shark, collected at a point
so far removed from us as Nisqually, to my species, when my
description is so extremely indefinite.
Professor Whitney gave an account of an interesting collection of
Japanese minerals and fossils, in the possession of J. H. Van Reed, Esq.,
of this city.
This collection comprises over one thousand specimens of rocks,
ores, fossils, and miscellaneous objects of natural history.
It is supposed that they are chiefly of Japanese origin; but,
as there is among them a fragment of a Dutch tobacco-pipe,
carefully labeled, there may be other objects in the collection
from foreign countries. The articles are all labeled, in the
Japanese language: they are carefully fastened to the cases in
which they are arranged, with exquisite Japanese neatness. The
small crystals are inclosed in glass receptacles, having nearly
the form of two large watch-crystals, attached to each other by
the edges.
In the general character of the specimens in this collection,
a singular resemblance was noticed to the productions of
California, especially in the fossils and silicified woods, of
which latter there are a number of beautiful specimens. There
are several bivalve shells of pliocene or miocene tertiary
age, and some casts of gasteropods, exquisitely formed in
chalcedony. A number of sharks’ teeth, of the genus _Lamna_,
were also noticed. Among the fossils is a single shell of
palæozoic age, a _Spirifer_; it is not impossible, however,
that this may have been carried from China to Japan; at all
events, a _Spirifer_ from that country resembling this, and
of Devonian age, has been described in the Proceedings of the
Geological Society of London.
There are quite a number of specimens of copper ore in the
collection; they are all of the common yellow sulphuret,
(chalcopyrite) except one or two of erubescite. This would
indicate that the principal ore of this metal in Japan, as in
other countries, is the sulphuret of copper and iron.
Native gold in quartz is also present in the collection;
but no ores of silver were noticed, except one specimen of
steel-grained galena, which is probably argentiferous. There
are several specimens of realgar. Among the other minerals
noticed were: calcite, adularia, chalybite, in the form of
_flos ferri_, garnets, small crystals of pyroxene, crystals
of mica, pectolite, and another zeolitic mineral resembling
Thomsonite, as also native sulphur, obsidian, and a variety of
volcanic rocks and lavas.
The collection is quite interesting, and would be more so if
the labels could be read. The principal inference to be drawn
from it, is the predominance of volcanic formations, and of the
later tertiary strata, in the region in which this collection
was made.
Dr. Ayres called attention to a remarkable turtle, in the possession
of Mr. Van Reed, known as the “Sacred Turtle” of the Japanese. It is a
species of Emys, closely allied to _E. terrapin_. Its marked peculiarity
is, that its back is covered by a growth of _conferva_, which is often
several inches long, and which gives the animal its sacred character
among the Japanese, who believe this growth to be _hair_. The species is
allied to _C. rivularis_; but the cells are more elongated. Dr. Ayres
stated that he had observed a growth of _conferva_ on various aquatic
and amphibious animals in New England, and that, in these, it was always
attended by disease, with more or less ulcerated at the roots. He was
satisfied that this was always the case with fishes exhibiting this
growth. The turtle in question, however, does not show any evidence of
disease.
Dr. Ayres made some further remarks on the similarity of the fishes of
Mr. Van Reed’s collection to species found in California.
Mr. Gabb noticed a resemblance in the fossils to those of this State.
REGULAR MEETING, MARCH 16TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Nine members present.
The attention of the Academy was called to the fact that the names of
Dr. W. Newcomb, of Oakland, and of Mr. H. C. Bennett, of Columbia, both
Corresponding Members of several years’ standing, had been omitted from
the published list.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
Specimen of tree cotton, from near Mazatlan, Mexico; presented by Dr.
Trask.
Donations to the Library:
Alternate generation of Annelids, by A. Agassiz. Proceedings of the
Boston Natural History Society, vol. IX, sheets 1 and 2. Report of the
Trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum for 1862.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:
Description of two New Species of Collomia from Nevada Territory.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
COLLOMIA Nutt.
_C. tinctoria_ Kellogg. [FIG. 2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Stem erect, slender, one to three inches in height (often so
minute as to appear almost stemless) villous and pulvurently
viscid glandular throughout. Leaves opposite, lower pair
oblong-spatulate obtuse, lamina slightly decurrent down the
petioles; those above, lanceolate, petiolate, acute, or
acuminate, mucronate, one-nerved, quite entire.
The minute yellow flowers crowded at the summit in pairs,
from the axils of the much abbreviated branchlets, short,
pedicellate; and with the long, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate,
bractoid leaves aggregated into a somewhat dense, subsessile
head. Calyx obconic, membranaceously diaphanous at the base;
segments green, cup prismatic (or pentangular); also with five
prominent processes, or folds, at the clefts, the semi-lanced
segments acute, or acuminate, subulate pointed, three-nerved.
The filiform flowers twice the length of the calyx, border
spreading, tube contracted below, stamens equal, or sub-equal,
inserted into the throat; capsule obovate, emarginate.
A very diminutive species from the western slope of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, found by Mr. Herbert C. Dorr. The plant
yields a beautiful yellow dye, hence the specific name.
_C. micrantha_ Kellogg. [FIG. 3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Plant upright, simple, or branching above; somewhat
viscid-pubescent.
Lower leaves opposite, ovate, obtuse, petioles very short;
middle cauline leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute,
corneously mucronate, sessile or subsessile, three to
seven-nerved; upper leaves mostly alternate, all somewhat
silky, viscid-pubescent. Flowers pedicellate, axillary
and terminal in a condensed, sub-cymose head; calyx lobes
sub-equal, linear-lanceolate, often sub-spatulate, acute,
corneously mucronate, three-nerved, ciliate, cleft to the
middle (membranous between the segments as in _Gillia_).
Flowers filiform, very minute, one-third to one-half longer
than the calyx; border blue, throat slightly swelled, stamens
included, three long and two short, style simple, stigma
undivided, about as long as the tube. Capsule oval, compressed
(?), about three-seeded, seeds oblong, cuneate, flattened.
A plant four to six inches in height, found by Mr. G. W. Dunn,
in the vicinity of Silver City, Nevada Territory. In one of
the specimens the first pair of leaves appears to manifest a
serrate tendency.
Dr. Trask stated, that the tree cotton presented by him was said to be
the produce of a shrub from four to fifteen feet high. It is described as
growing in a pod like a banana, the shrub forming a high chaparral. The
staple is long and fine; but nothing is known of its commercial value.
Dr. Behr remarked that it closely resembled species of BOMBAX and
ERIODENDRON, abundant in South America and the East Indies, but not there
considered as of value as a substitute for cotton.
Dr. Trask made some remarks in regard to certain species of CONFERVA,
which appear to be sensitive, like the species of SCHRANKIA.
Prof. Brewer stated that he had recently received a communication from
Professor Planchon, of South France, in regard to suitable forage plants
for dry regions. In that country the _Medicago sativa_, or Lucerne, was
considered the most valuable, and next to it the Sainfoin.
REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 5TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Present, ten members; and Mr. W. S. Moses, by invitation.
Donations to the Library:
Chart of the oscillations of the Sacramento River, by T. M. Logan,
M.D. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for
September, 1862. Journal of the Boston Natural History Society, volume
VII, Nos. 2 and 3.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:
Description of a New Genus and Species of Plant from Nevada Territory.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
PTEROSTEPHANUS Kellogg.
Involucre obconically-companulate; scales loosely imbricated in
about two to three series; the exterior unequal, calyculate,
suborbicular, oval, or oblong, obtuse; the inner series (of
about eight) sub-equal, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse; scarious
margins entire; (a broad, diffusely green line marks the
centre). Receptacle naked, alveolate, alveoli, toothed. Achenia
(mature wanting), oblong, sub-cuneate, or sub-obovate, somewhat
compressed (?), slightly contracted at the crown, smooth,
sub-pubescent above, on a short stipe. Pappus double; the
exterior coroniform, persistent—a hyaline crateriform cup, with
an even but minutely crenulate edge; interior of five (white)
plumose, glabrous bristles, gradually dilating towards the base.
Californian herbs, with runcinately, pinnatifid, radical
leaves, and numerous naked scapes, bearing solitary,
tigulate, yellow flowers; closely allied to _Malacothrix_ and
_Calycoseris_, but with a plumose pappus.
_P. runcinatus_ Kellogg. [FIG. 4.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Acaulescent, several naked scapes, two to four inches high,
sub-glabrous, (rarely a few scattering glandular hairs); leaves
radical, runcinately pinnatifid, lobes spinulose, frosty, or
sub-wooly, pubescent, three to seven-nerved, short petioles
winged, dilated at the base; rosulate, from a simple perennial
somewhat fusiform root.
Professor Whitney exhibited a new mass of meteoric iron, found near La
Paz, on the Colorado River, in New Mexico, by Hermann Ehrenberg, Esq. A
description and analysis will be furnished at a future meeting.
REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 20TH, 1863.
Vice President, Dr. Trask, in the Chair.
Present, seven members.
Philip Lutley Sclater, Esq., of London, England, was elected a
Corresponding Member.
Donations to the Cabinet:
Three species of Reptiles from San Mateo, and one from Marin County,
collected and presented by Mr. Bolander.
Dr. Cooper communicated the following description of a new Californian
Mollusc, discovered by Rev. Joseph Rowell, at Marysville, in the waters
of Feather River.
GUNDLACHIA Pfeiffer.
_G. Californica_ Rowell. [FIG. 5.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
Shell with the aperture sub-oval, obliquely expanded towards
the left, posteriorly ronaded, and wider anteriorly. Internal
shelf reaching forward about one-fifth the length of the shell,
its margin slightly concave and oblique.
Dorsal surface convex, becoming somewhat keel-shaped towards
the apex, which is strongly and obliquely deflected so as
to make the right border nearly a straight line, while the
expansion on the left projects nearly as far back as the apex,
at an obtuse angle. Structure corneous, with strong concentric
lines of growth, and faint radiating striæ. Color dark brown,
opaque; inner surface shining and purplish, the plate white
towards the edge, and in some specimens showing a thickened,
white semicircle continuous with its margin across the arch of
the shell.
Length about sixteen one-hundredths, breadth eight
one-hundredths, and height six one-hundredths of an English
inch.
More than fifty specimens were found on water plants in clear
stagnant ponds, two or more often sticking on the back of a
larger one.
The discovery of this little shell in California is of great
interest, the only species hitherto known being found in Cuba.
The generic characters of this shell are strictly parallel
with that species, while those mentioned as specific easily
distinguish it. The Cuban shell is more elongated, regularly
oval, the apex projecting considerably beyond the margin of
the aperture, which is not obliquely expanded posteriorly. Its
size is about one-fifth larger than that of ours. According to
Bourguignat, the young shell is a simple obtuse cone, with a
semicircular aperture formed by the edge of the shelf, and the
thickened dorsal margin; but as it grows, the animal changes
the form of the aperture until the opening beneath the shelf
becomes like the small end of a broad funnel, which in some of
our specimens is still shown by the white semicircular ring.
The shell much resembles that of the marine _Crypta_
(_Crepidula_), and also _Navicella_ of tropical estuaries; but
the animal is quite different in the Cuban species, and will
undoubtedly prove so in the Californian.
Mr. Hanks mentioned that he had collected about two hundred specimens of
minerals for the Academy in Owen’s Lake Valley, and that there were also
some bones with them from a well thirty feet deep, presented by Mr. H. M.
McCormick; all of which would be forwarded to San Francisco as soon as
possible.
REGULAR MEETING, MAY 4TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Present, eleven members.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
A collection of pine cones, from H. G. Bloomer. A specimen of rock,
containing cretaceous fossils, from the vicinity of Fort Tejon (?), by E.
T. Schenck. Two specimens of _Monocentris Japonicus_ Cuv. from Dr. Ayres.
Donations to the Library:
Commercial Relations of the United States for the year ending Sept.
30th, 1861, from the Department of the Interior. Classification of the
Coleoptera of North America, by John Le Conte, M.D., Part I. Smithsonian
Instructions for collecting eggs and nests of North American birds.
Smithsonian Directions for collecting, preserving, and transporting
specimens of Natural History: the three last-named volumes were presented
by Dr. Ayres.
Professor Whitney read the following communication in regard to the
progress of the State Geological Survey of California.
The Act of the Legislature authorizing a geological survey of
this State was approved April 21st, 1860; but operations were
not commenced until about the first of December of that year,
consequently the work has been in progress for a little more
than two years.
The plan of the survey, according to the requirements of
the act by which it was organized, demands “an accurate
and complete geological survey of the State,” and a report
containing “a full and scientific description of its rocks,
fossils, soils, and minerals, and of its botanical and
zoological productions.” Provision is also made for the
collection of specimens in all departments of geology and
natural history, which specimens are to be deposited “in such
place as shall be hereafter provided for that purpose by the
Legislature.”
The following persons have been employed on the survey since
it was commenced: Professor W. H. Brewer, as Principal
Assistant, and specially in charge of the department of Botany
and Agricultural Geology. Professor Brewer, however, up to
the present time, has been chiefly engaged in the geological
field work of the Survey. Mr. William Ashburner was employed
from the commencement of the work, up to the spring of 1862,
in the field; and, for a considerable portion of the time, in
examining the gold-quartz mines and machinery in the principal
mining counties of the Sierra Nevada. Mr. A. Rémond served as
volunteer, in the field work, during the season of 1862. Mr. W.
M. Gabb took the place of Palæontologist to the Survey at the
beginning of the year 1862, which position he still continues
to hold. Mr. C. Averill was connected with the Survey from
its commencement up to the month of February last, as Clerk,
Commissary, and Barometrical Observer. Dr. J. G. Cooper has
been in charge of the department of Zoology, and has been
employed, at intervals, as the financial condition of the
Survey permitted, since July 1st, 1861. In the topographical
department, Mr. C. F. Hoffmann has been employed constantly
since March, 1861; and Mr. V. Wackenreuder, at intervals,
during the past year.
The uncertainty peculiar to all undertakings of this kind in
the United States, arising from the necessity of appealing
to each successive Legislature for the means of carrying
on the work, and the disturbed state of the country during
the whole time since we commenced operations, as also the
unfortunate condition of the finances of the State, which has
kept the treasury from one to two years behind in the payment
of the legislative appropriations, have combined to render
it difficult to arrange and carry out as systematic a plan
for the conduct of the work as would, under more favorable
circumstances, have been practicable.
Two ideas have, however, as far as possible, governed the
survey in its operations: the first was, to make, as rapidly as
could be done, a reconnoissance of the State, with the view
of acquiring a knowledge of its general geological structure,
the age of the various formations which occur in it, and as
complete a general idea as possible of their range and extent,
so that a foundation might be laid for the detailed work which
would follow the preliminary examination; the second idea was,
at the same time that the general examination was going on, to
work up in detail certain more important districts, so that the
public might have light on questions of economical interest,
and at the same time be able to form an idea of what the work
might be if ever carried to completion. Besides this, the
natural history part of the survey was to be carried on, in
connection with the geological work, as rapidly as possible,
progress in all departments being necessarily proportioned to
the varying amounts of the annual appropriations.
California is covered by a vast net-work of mountain ranges,
separated by comparatively narrow valleys, with the exception
of those of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which do not,
together, cover more than one-fifteenth of the area of the
State. The remaining fourteen-fifteenths may be called
mountainous, as the valleys include but a small portion of its
surface. Into this mountainous region no accurate surveys have
ever been carried; even the General Land Office work stops at
the base of the mountains. A few ranch lines have been run
among the moderately elevated portions of the Coast Ranges;
but, as a general thing, the genuine Mexican grants were
limited to the plains.
Without considerable topographical work in connection with the
geological survey we should, then, be entirely unable to carry
on our geological work with any pretense to accuracy, as we
could neither locate our observations nor make our descriptions
of the country intelligible. The authority for doing something
for the increase of the geographical knowledge of the State is
found in the clause of the act authorizing the survey, which
requires “proper maps” to accompany the reports.
What has been done, up to the present time, in this department
may be briefly recapitulated as follows:
A series of maps, forty-nine in number, has been compiled by
Mr. Hoffmann from the original documents at the United States
Surveyor-General’s Office; the scale of these is half an inch
to the mile. They contain a compilation of nearly all that is
known at that office in regard to the geography of the State.
The maps, as thus blocked out, have been used by us in the
field, by filling in the topography wherever our route has laid.
The maps which have been or are now being prepared for
publication are:
1st. A map of the vicinity of the Bay of San Francisco, on
a scale of half an inch to the mile, four feet by three; it
extends from near Santa Cruz on the south to Napa on the north,
and from the Pacific to Corral Hollow, east and west. The area
of land which it covers is 4,248 square miles, which is just
twice that of the State of Delaware, and only lacks two hundred
square miles of equaling that of Connecticut. As near as can
be ascertained, it contains one-third of the population of the
State, and has about thirty inhabitants to the square mile—the
average density of the population of California being but
little over two to the square mile. This map, on which all the
details of the topography are given, as minutely as the scale
allows, is nearly completed, and will be soon ready for the
engraver.
2d. A detailed map, on a scale of two inches to the mile, of
the vicinity of Mount Diablo; this is about two and one-half by
three feet in dimensions, and includes the most important coal
mining district yet known to exist in the State. The map can be
made ready for the engraver in a few days.
3d. A map of the Coast Ranges, from the Bay of Monterey south
to Santa Barbara. It is about three feet by two and one-half
in dimensions, is on a scale of six miles to the inch, and
embraces about 16,000 square miles of territory. To complete it
will require about another year’s work in the field with two
sub-parties.
4th. Map of the Washoe silver-mining region—three and one-half
by two and one-half feet in dimensions, on a scale of two
inches to the mile—and extending over all the important
mining ground of the district. This map is from an accurate
trigonometrical survey by V. Wackenreuder; it is nearly
completed.
5th. Map of the Comstock Lode, on a scale of four hundred feet
to the inch, completed.
6th. Map of the central portion of the Sierra Nevada; scale
not yet determined on. Extensive surveys have been made by
Mr. Wackenreuder for this part of the work, and these will be
continued during the present season.
Of the above mentioned maps, Nos. 1 and 2 will accompany the
first volume of the Report. Nos. 4, 5, and probably 6, the
second volume.
It is intended, if the survey is carried to completion, to
construct a final map of the State on a scale of six miles to
the inch, in nine sheets, each about three feet square.
In addition to the regular topographical work, an extensive
series of barometrical observation has been made, for the
determination of altitudes, some two hundred and fifty
important points having been ascended and measured. The most
interesting operation in this department was the determination
of the height of Mount Shasta, which, by an elaborate series of
observations, we found to be 14,440 feet above the sea level.
This is the first of the lofty volcanic peaks of the Sierra
Nevada which has been accurately measured.
In the department of geology proper, our explorations have
extended over portions of forty of the forty-six counties into
which the State is divided; and when it is remembered that the
average size of a county is equal to half that of the State of
Massachusetts, (California having just twenty-four times the
area of that State,) some idea of the magnitude of our work may
be obtained. The chain of the Sierra Nevada may be parallelized
with that of the Alps for extent and average elevation; while
the Coast Ranges are nearly as extensive as the Appalachian
chain of mountains.
We have obtained a pretty clear idea of the general structure
of the Coast Ranges from Los Angeles to Clear Lake; the
vicinity of the Bay of San Francisco has been worked out in
considerable detail, including all of San Francisco, San Mateo,
Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin Counties, with
portions of Santa Cruz, Solano, Napa, and Sonoma. Considerable
field-work has been done in the Sierra Nevada, chiefly in
the lower portion of the range between Mariposa and Shasta
Counties. Our observations have also been extended to the
Washoe Region, and we have received considerable collections of
fossils from the Humboldt Mining District, (known by this name
on the Pacific Coast, but designated on Warren’s Map as the
“West Humboldt River Range,” and in longitude 180°) by which we
have been able to fix the age of the formations in that region.
Mr. Gabb has been chiefly occupied, the past year, in figuring
and describing the cretaceous fossils of the Coast Ranges
and the foot-hills of the Sierra, of which he has nearly
two hundred new species ready for publication. He has also
described the triassic fossils, collected by the Survey at
Washoe, and by Gorham Blake, Esq., in the Humboldt Range. The
fossils older than the Trias have been referred to Mr. Meek for
investigation. A portion of the fossil plants have been placed
in the hands of Dr. J. S. Newberry for description.
It is to the department of General Geology that, up to the
present time, by far the greater portion of our attention has
been given, since the first thing required in a geological
survey is a knowledge of the general geological structure of
the State, the age of the various formations which occur in it,
and their range and extent, or the position which they occupy
on the surface, and their relations to each other. Each group
of strata, thus determined by its lithological peculiarities,
and by the fossils which it contains, is then to be laid down
upon the map, in the position in which its outcrop occupies on
the surface. The general character of the minerals and ores
which occur in each formation or group of strata having been
thus determined, the details of their mode of occurrence, their
relative abundance, and the facilities which may exist in
each separate district for making them economically available
must, after the preliminary general work has been done, be
the object of more special and detailed examinations. It is
not, however, the business of a geological surveying corps to
act, to any considerable extent, as a prospecting party; to do
this, would require that we should confine our operations to a
very limited area; the labors of the whole corps for an entire
season would not suffice to thoroughly prospect more than a
few hundred square miles in a very rich mineral region, and
we should have often to engage in expensive mining operations
to decide what was really of permanent value. It is our task,
rather, to limit the field of research, and to show to others
where their labors will be best bestowed, preventing foolish
expenditures of time and money in searching for what our
general geological investigations have determined not to exist
in sufficient quantity, in certain formations, to be worth
working. Especially in the first years of our work, in a State
of such an immense area as California, our labors have more the
character of a geological reconnoissance than of a detailed
survey.
Already, however, during the progress of our work, a large
amount of information has been collected in regard to the
mode of occurrence and abundance of the useful ores and
minerals of this State and the adjoining Territories. The
principal deposits of coal have been carefully examined, and
their geological position ascertained. Most of the important
quartz mines of the State have been visited by Mr. Ashburner,
and a large amount of information has been collected by him,
preparatory to an elaborate investigation and report on
this important branch of the industry of the Pacific Coast.
Considerable work has been done, preliminary to a full report
on the geology, mineralogy, and metallurgy of the Washoe region.
In the department of botany and agricultural geology, the work
has thus far been chiefly confined to collecting the plants of
the State.
Extensive duplicate suites have been preserved both for study
and exchange, the specimens now collected amounting to not
less than twelve thousand or fifteen thousand in number, and
embracing probably half of all the species described from the
State, besides many new and undescribed ones. The collections
have been made by Professor Brewer while engaged in geological
explorations, at a very trifling expenditure of time and money.
In the department of Agriculture proper, less has been done,
owing to limited means. Partial preparation was made for
investigating the subject of grape culture, and the production
of wines; but discontinued from the same cause. Especial
attention has been paid to our native forage plants, to aid in
devising some means of arresting the rapid decrease of forage
in this State, and correspondence entered into to obtain all
possible information on this subject from other regions whose
climates are similar to our own.
In the zoölogical department—in charge of Dr. J. G. Cooper,
who has been employed about half the time since the Survey was
commenced—the annexed table gives a succinct idea of what had
been accomplished, up to the close of the year 1862, in the way
of collecting.
f========+=================================================
|Number of species in the collection.
| +-------------------------------------------
| |Of which there are new to California.
| | +-------------------------------------
| | |Believed to be new, or undescribed.
| | | +-----------------------------
Class. | | | |Other Californian species
| | | |not yet collected.
| | | | +-----------------------
| | | | |Total number credited
| | | | |to California.
| | | | | +-----------------
| | | | | |Of which there
| | | | | |are found east
| | | | | |the Mississippi.
---------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----------------
Mammalia | 32 | 10 | 3 | 45 | 77 | 14
Birds | 170 | 28 | 4(?)| 150 | 320 | 141
Reptiles | 36 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 45 | 0
Fishes | 58 | 16 | 16 | 75 | 133 | 0
Mollusca | 335 | 123 | 123 | 65 | 400 | 0(?)
---------+-----+-----+-------+-----+-----+-----------------
Of Articulata and Radiata no statistics can be given for want
of works especially devoted to the California species.
From this it appears that, notwithstanding the large
collections made by Government expeditions and by individuals,
during the last ten years, which have been elaborately
described in the Pacific Railroad and Mexican Boundary Reports,
the Smithsonian publications, and various other works, we have
been able to add materially to the known Fauna of California,
and of the country at large, even among the highest and best
known classes.
Arrangements have been made for having the collections in
natural history referred to the highest authorities in each
branch, and portions of our materials have already been placed
at the disposition of eminent men in Europe and the United
States for examination and description.
Deferring the fitting up of a laboratory, and the engaging
of a special assistant in the chemical department, until a
suitable permanent place could be provided in the State Museum
building, Mr. Ashburner went East in the spring of 1862 and
commenced the examination of some of the ores and minerals of
the State in the laboratory of the Sheffield Scientific School
of Yale College, under the direction of Professor Brush, who
has charge of the metallurgical department of that institution.
The reduction of the appropriation to fifteen thousand (15,000)
dollars for the year, made it necessary to suspend this work
soon after it was commenced, in order that the whole force of
the Survey might be concentrated on the field operations.
A small sum has been allowed to Mr. F. H. Storer, of Boston,
for a chemical investigation of the bituminous substances
found in different parts of the State. His researches will
probably be embodied in the first or second volume of the
annual reports. Qualitative examinations, as well as a few
quantitative ones, have been made at the office of the Survey,
of specimens which have been collected. A considerable number
of coals have been analyzed. Information in regard to ores and
minerals has been given to a large number of persons who have
applied for the same by letter or otherwise, as will always be
done when practicable.
If the survey is continued, it will be necessary to fit up
a complete laboratory, in which the important questions
constantly arising, both in regard to the composition and
metallurgic treatment of our ores, may be carefully and
systematically investigated.
No provision has yet been made by the Legislature for the
arrangement and exhibition of the collections made by the
Survey. These are already quite extensive, embracing many
thousand specimens of rocks, fossils, minerals, ores, all of
which are of importance in illustrating the Natural History,
the geological structure and the mineral resources of the
State. Such as have not been required for study remain packed
in boxes, and are stored at the office of the Survey in
Montgomery Block, San Francisco.
Of course it is highly desirable that a permanent, fire-proof
building should be provided for the State collections, the
proper disposition of which is a subject of great interest, not
only as connected with the welfare and progress of the survey,
but as influencing the educational and material progress of the
State.
The only official step thus far taken in this matter is the
appointment, by the last Legislature, of the State Geologist,
the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the State
Surveyor-General as a Board of Commissioners “to report to
the Legislature, on or before the second Monday of December,
1863, upon the feasibility of establishing a State University,
embracing an Agricultural College, a School of Mines, and a
Museum, _including the geological collections of the State_.”
A considerable number of specimens, some of them of value, have
been already given to the State by individuals; and there can
be no doubt that many interesting and valuable articles would
be contributed, provided it were demonstrated that they would
be properly exhibited, and well taken care of. It is believed,
that when the State Museum is once established, and a suitable
building provided, the value and importance of it to the
people will soon be made so clear, that it will be sustained
and fostered by the Legislature.
By the terms of the Act of the Legislature authorizing a
Geological Survey of the State of California, it was made
the duty of the State Geologist to present to the Governor,
to be laid before the Legislature, as near as may be to the
beginning of each session, a “Report of Progress,” in which
the operations of the Survey during the preceding year should
be set forth, and its more important practical results made
public. He is also required to communicate an account of the
expenditures, and to furnish estimates for the continuance of
the Survey.
By an Act of the Legislature of 1862, however, the State
Geologist was authorized to combine his first and second annual
reports into one volume, to be printed during the winter of
1862 and 1863, and an appropriation of $3,000 was made to pay
the expenses of printing, engraving, etc., while the size,
form, and style of the report, and the place of printing, were
left to the discretion of the State Geologist, under the advice
and with the approval of the Governor.
According to this, there is a report now due the State; but, as
no part of the appropriation of last year for the continuance
of the Survey has been yet received, or is likely to be, for
months to come, and as the appropriation for printing is in
the same condition, the work has been necessarily delayed. As
it is presumed that the amount due the Survey from last year
will be available some time next winter, it is not anticipated
that there will be any difficulty in issuing the first volume;
and, if the Legislature takes the necessary steps early in the
session, two, or perhaps three, volumes can be published in
1864. It is intended that they shall be of royal octavo size,
in the best style of typography, and illustrated with maps,
sections, plates of fossils, etc. The maps will be engraved on
copper and printed from transfers, in order the original plates
may be preserved, to be used, after necessary corrections and
revisions, in the final report, or otherwise, as may be found
desirable. The maps will be sold separately, with or without
the geological coloring, as desired. The first volume will
be chiefly devoted to the geology of the Coast Ranges; the
second to that of the Sierra Nevada and the mining districts
of the eastern slope. If my plans are not thwarted by the
Legislature, both these volumes will be issued together next
year, and will form a “Report of a Geological Reconnoissance
of the State of California.” By the law, as it now stands, the
publications of the Survey are required to be copy-righted,
and sold for the benefit of the Common School Fund; hence, it
has been impossible to communicate to the public, from time
to time, through the medium of the Academy’s publications,
the results which have been obtained. It is proper to say, in
this connection, that the extent of territory to be examined,
the complexity of the phenomena, and the bearing which our
investigations will have on important questions of economical
interest, make it eminently proper that there should not be an
undue haste exhibited, on the part of the Survey, to place its
results before the world. We can only hope to influence the
mining public, in this State, by degrees; and it is necessary,
first of all, that it should be made clearly to appear, with
the lapse of time, that our statements are to be relied on as
closely approximating to the truth.
Professor Whitney communicated the following letter from Professor Brush,
giving the results of a chemical investigation of the meteoric iron
presented to the city of San Francisco, by General Carleton:
SHEFFIELD LABORATORY OF YALE COLLEGE,
NEW HAVEN, March 30th, 1863.
_Professor J. D. Whitney, State Geologist, San Francisco, Cal._
DEAR SIR:—I have examined the specimen of meteoric iron
from Tucson, which you sent me for analysis, and herewith
communicate to you my results.
The density of the mass is 7.29. When a fragment of it is
placed in a solution of neutral sulphate of copper, it quickly
becomes coated with metallic copper, proving the iron to be
“active.” An inspection of the specimen with a lens showed it
to be dotted with little cavities, which on the fresh fracture
were lined with a white silicious mineral, giving the surface a
porphyritic, or pseudo-porphyritic, appearance.
When a fragment was attacked with an acid, a portion of the
iron was dissolved, leaving the silicious mineral projecting
from the surface of the specimen; and with a magnifier, black
particles of Schreibersite could be seen. After complete
solution of the iron, a careful microscopic examination was
made of the insoluble residue. With a magnifying power of 25
diameters, it appeared to consist chiefly of two substances:
one a milk-white to transparent mineral, having a fused,
rounded surface, occurring in little globules, or elongated,
rounded particles; while the other constituent was black
and angular, and attractable by the magnet. The first named
substance, when observed with a magnifying power of 100
diameters, proved to contain minute specks of the black mineral
disseminated through it; some of the silicious fragments were
translucent and of a milk-white color, and others colorless
and transparent; a large number, however, were transparent at
one end, shading into milk-white at the other, thus seeming to
indicate that the transparent and translucent portions were not
two distinct minerals. A blowpipe examination of the silicious
mineral showed it to have characters very much resembling
_olivine_. The black mineral proved to be _Schreibersite_. A
minute trace of chromium was also observed in the insoluble
residue.
The qualitative analysis of the portion soluble in nitric
acid indicated the presence of iron, nickel, cobalt, copper,
phosphorus, lime, and magnesia with unweighable traces
of chlorine, sulphur, and alumina. For the quantitative
examination of the meteorite a fragment weighing 4.3767
grammes was treated with nitro-chlorohydric acid (aqua regia),
and after solution of the iron the whole was evaporated; on
approaching dryness, gelatinous silica separated, showing that
the silicate had been partially, at least, decomposed by the
acid. After heating until the silica was rendered insoluble,
it was repeatedly treated with acid and evaporated, so as to
insure the oxydation of all the Schreibersite, and finally
the soluble part was taken up with chlorohydric acid, and on
dilution separated by filtration from the silica and insoluble
residue.
The filtrate, or _soluble_ part, was accurately measured and
divided into four portions for analysis—two portions were used
for the determination of the iron, nickel, cobalt, phosphorus,
and alkaline earths; a third portion was employed to estimate
the copper, and the fourth portion was reserved to answer in
case of accident.
Two methods were used for the separation of the iron from the
nickel and cobalt—one by precipitation of the iron as basic
acetate, and the other by precipitation with carbonate of
baryta in the presence of an excess of chloride of ammonium;
but in neither case was the separation perfected on the first
precipitation, and traces of nickel remained with the iron
even after the second precipitation. The nickel and cobalt
were separated by means of nitrite of potash, and the cobalt
was subsequently converted into sulphate and as such weighed.
The lime and magnesia were separated by oxalate of ammonia,
care being taken to redissolve and reprecipitate the lime to
insure its being free from traces of magnesia. On spectroscopic
examination of the precipitate, it proved to be lime, free from
other alkaline earths.
The precipitate of iron, after being weighed, was fused with
carbonate of soda; the product of the fusion was dissolved in
chlorohydric acid, and the phosphoric acid precipitated with
molybdate of ammonia. This phospho-molybdic precipitate was
dissolved in ammonia to free it from possible traces of silica
and other impurities, and the phosphoric acid precipitated from
this solution by an ammoniacal mixture of sulphate of magnesia
and chloride of ammonium.
The copper was precipitated as sulphide by sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, redissolved in nitric acid, and determined as
oxyd.
The _insoluble residue_, containing free silica and
undecomposed silicate, was perfectly white, and free from all
traces of Schreibersite. It weighed 0.1855 grm. equal to 4.24
per cent. of the specimen analyzed. It was fused with carbonate
of soda, and the silica and bases determined in the usual
manner. It contained 0.159 grm. silica; 0.0054 protoxyd of
iron, with a minute trace of alumina; 0.0028 lime, and 0.0168
magnesia.
The soluble and insoluble portions gave in the analysis the
following per centage composition:
Considering the silica
to exist as olivine.
Iron 81.56 79.44
Nickel 9.17 9.17
Cobalt 0.44 0.44
Copper 0.08 0.08
Phosphorus 0.49 0.49
Silica 3.63 } Combined with 2.73 }
Protoxyd of Iron with } Protoxyd of Iron, } 10.07
trace of Alumina 0.12 } making Olivine }
Lime 1.16 }
Magnesia 2.43 }
Chlorine, }
Sulphur, } minute traces traces
Chromium, }
----- -----
99.08 99.69
If the silica found in this analysis be considered to exist in
combination with lime, magnesia, and iron, in the proportions
to form olivine, it will be necessary to deduct 2.12 per cent.
from the amount of metallic iron (equal to 2.73 per cent. of
protoxyd of iron), in order to give the silicate the olivine
formula, (3 R O, Si O₃). Admitting this to be the correct view,
the mass analyzed contains 10.07 per cent. of olivine, and by
the addition of the oxygen of the protoxyd of iron the analysis
adds up 99.69 instead of 99.08.
The variable composition of Schreibersite in different
specimens of meteoric iron, and the peculiar character of the
insoluble residue of this meteorite, together with the small
amount of material in my possession, rendered it impracticable
to determine the exact amount of this substance contained in
the specimen.
The composition of this meteorite corresponds very closely
with another meteoric-iron from Tucson, discovered by Mr.
Bartlett, and described by Prof. J. Lawrence Smith, in the
_American Journal of Science_, vol. XIX, page 161. Dr. Smith’s
analysis gives Iron 85.54, Nickel 8.55, Cobalt 0.61, Copper
0.03, Phosphorus 0.12, Chromic-oxyd 0.21, Magnesia 2.04, Silica
3.02, Alumina, trace = 100.18. He considers it to correspond to
Nickeliferous Iron 93.81, Chrome Iron 0.41, Schreibersite 0.84,
Olivine 5.06 = 100.18. By an evident inadvertence Dr. Smith
adds the magnesia and silica together, and gives the sum as
olivine; these substances are obviously not in the proportions
to form the silicate 3 R O, Si O₃, and if we consider the
silicate to be olivine, we must reckon the excess of silica
as combined with protoxyd of iron. To do this, we must deduct
2.78 from the amount of metallic iron (equal to 2.58 protoxyd
of iron), necessary to be combined with the silica and magnesia
to give the olivine formula. The amount of olivine contained
in the Bartlett meteoric-iron will then be 8.64 per cent. Thus
the two masses of iron will be seen to agree very nearly in
composition, the only trifling difference being, that Dr. Smith
has determined quantitatively the small amount of chromium
contained in the Bartlett meteorite, while I have found a
little lime and traces of sulphur and chlorine in the specimen
you sent to me. The specific gravity I have stated to be 7.39;
this was taken on about 12.5 grammes of the iron, and probably
is somewhat higher than the portion which I analyzed, as the
two surfaces of the larger mass had been rubbed down, and as
thus a considerable portion of the exposed silicate would be
mechanically removed, it would make the density correspondingly
higher.
I regret that I had not more of this interesting meteorite at
my command, in order to have determined more definitely and
satisfactorily the character of the insoluble residue. I shall
be glad to make a further investigation of this point if you
will supply me with more material.
Very respectfully yours,
GEO. J. BRUSH.
After reading the above letter, Professor Whitney added some remarks on
the form and locality of the meteoric iron analyzed by Professor Brush,
stating the circumstances under which it came in possession of the city
of San Francisco.
On the twenty-fourth of November, 1862, the Board of Supervisors of this
city received, through Mayor Teschemacher, a letter from General George
Wright, commanding the Department of the Pacific, stating that he had
received a mass of meteoric iron from General Carleton, commanding the
“Column from California,” and which mass he, in accordance with General
Carleton’s request, placed at the disposal of the city authorities.
General Carleton’s letter is here appended:
HEAD QUARTERS COLUMN FROM CALIFORNIA,
Tucson, Arizona, June 30th, 1862.
_TO GENERAL GEORGE WRIGHT, U. S. Army, Commander Dep. of the
Pacific, San Francisco, Cal._
MY DEAR GENERAL:—Soon after my arrival at this place I sent
by a train to Fort Yuma, to be shipped to your address at San
Francisco, a very large and beautiful AEROLITE, which I found
here and which I had heard and read of for many years. In
_Bartlett’s Explorations_, vol. 2, page 297, it is described
as follows: “In the afternoon,” July 18th, 1853, “I called to
take leave of General Blanco, and at the same time examine
a remarkable _meteorite_, which is used for an anvil in a
blacksmith’s shop. This mass resembles native iron, and weighs
about six hundred pounds. Its greatest length is five feet. Its
exterior is quite smooth, while the lower part which projects
from the larger leg is very jagged and rough. It was found
about twenty miles distant on the road towards Tubac and about
eight miles from the road.”
I desire that you present this aerolite to the City of San
Francisco, to be placed upon the PLAZA, there to remain for the
inspection of the people and for examination by the youth of
the city forever. It will be a durable memento of the march of
the _Column from California_.
I am, General, sincerely and respectfully,
Your friend and servant,
JAMES H. CARLETON,
_Brigadier General U. S. A._
Soon after this mass of meteoric iron came into the possession of the
city, I obtained permission from the Board of Supervisors to have sawn
from it a small piece for analysis and for distribution to a few of
the principal public institutions in this country and Europe having
collections of aerolites; this has been done, and also a fine photograph
of it taken by Mr. C. E. Watkins, of which copies will be forwarded, with
the specimens of the mass itself, as convenient opportunity offers.
The piece intended for analytical examination was sent to Professor
Brush of Yale College, and a letter has just been received from him
giving the results, which will be found in the preceding pages, and which
may appropriately be followed by a few remarks on the size and general
appearance of the mass, with such other facts in regard to it as may be
of general interest.
The weight of the mass of which the analysis is given above
was six hundred and thirty-two pounds, when it arrived in this
city, and about two pounds have been since cut from it.
Its shape is irregular, but in general it is that of a
flattened elongated slab, having a length of four feet one inch
and an average breadth of about eighteen inches; its thickness
is irregular, varying from two to five inches. It has evidently
been long used as an anvil, having been partly buried in the
ground in an upright position, having a flat face of about
four inches square on the top, with two holes drilled in the
projecting edge for adding to the convenience of its use as a
blacksmith’s anvil.
The mass is now placed in the Mayor’s office, it having been
deemed inadvisable to expose it on the Plaza, as desired by
the donor, on account of its liability to rust in the damp
atmosphere of San Francisco, and the difficulty of securing it
from injury by careless or mischievous handling.
Professor Brush remarks that “the composition of this meteorite
corresponds very closely with that of _another_ meteoric
iron from Tucson” discovered by Mr. Bartlett and analyzed by
Professor J. Lawrence Smith. A comparison of the analyses of
Professors Brush and Smith and a reference to Mr. Bartlett’s
work seem to render it highly probable, to say the least, that
the two analyses were of pieces cut from the same mass.
In this connection I will add to General Carleton’s quotation
from Mr. Bartlett’s book a few lines which complete what is
said in regard to the meteorites seen by him at Tucson. Mr.
Bartlett adds, after stating that the mass was found about
twenty miles distant towards Tubac and about eight miles from
the road, “where we were told are many larger masses. The
annexed drawing gives the appearance of this singular mass.
There is another large mass within the garrison grounds, of
which I did not take a sketch. With much labor Dr. Webb broke
off a fragment of this meteorite, for the purpose of analysis.”
The wood cut which Mr. Bartlett gives of the meteoric iron,
which he notices as having been used as an anvil, shows at
once, as does also the description, that, contrary to General
Carleton’s idea, this mass and the one which is now in San
Francisco, are not the same. The mass figured by Mr. Bartlett
is of a very peculiar shape, well adapting it to use as a
common blacksmith’s anvil, as it has a broad, flat top, and is
supported by two legs.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is reasonable
to suppose that the mass forwarded by General Carleton is the
one spoken of by Mr. Bartlett as “another larger mass,” and of
which no drawing was made; while, on the other hand, a piece
was taken for analysis. This piece is almost certainly the one
analyzed by Dr. Smith, and hence the close agreement in the two
analyses—this chemist, however, not having apparently made so
complete a separation of the nickel as Prof. Brush has done.
Still it is possible, of course, that different portions of the
mass may differ slightly in composition.
Dr. Blake read the following paper:
Infusoria from the Moving Sands in the Neighborhood of San Francisco.
BY JAMES BLAKE, M.D., F.R.C.S.
The infusoria to which I would call the attention of the
Society, were collected from the sands in the neighborhood of
Point Lobos. These sands form a moving surface, which in dry
weather is drifted by the prevailing winds from the shore of
the ocean landwards, and are entirely devoid of any signs of
vegetation for some distance from the shore. On walking over
these sands when a strong north-west wind was blowing, a wind
that does not bring up any fresh sand from the ocean beach at
that part of the sand field, I noticed a number of small sized
bodies projecting above the surface of the sand as it was being
carried onwards by the wind. A closer examination showed that
these bodies were formed of particles of sand, agglutinated
together by some substance which rendered them almost black,
and where dried possessing considerable tenacity. Some of
these bodies projected as much as an inch and a half above
the surface of the sand, with which however they all remained
connected, forming generally small ridges. On examining a
portion of this agglutinated sand under the microscope, the
water with which I had moistened it was found to be full of
infusoria, which commenced moving about as soon as the sand
was moistened, although it had been quite dry for some days
before being examined. These infusoria probably belong to the
genus Monas, but they are so extremely minute that it was
impossible to resolve them; they were, in fact, the smallest
living infusoria I had ever examined. With a quarter-inch
object glass of Powell and Lelands, they appeared as small
globular moving bodies, although occasionally a movement would
present one of them with apparently a narrow edge. Nothing
much more definite could be made out with the microscope
of my friend, Dr. Trask, when using an eighth object glass
of Smith and Beck, as they could not be resolved into any
form sufficiently definite to classify them. They appeared
mostly as globular bodies moving about slowly, and presenting
sometimes a longer axis, one end being larger than the other,
and offering the appearance as if there was a semi-transparent
mass attached to the larger end. The size was estimated at
from a fifteenth to the twenty-thousandth of an inch. After a
careful examination I was unable to detect any vegetable or
organic nucleus which might have served as a nidus for these
masses of infusoria. They would seem to become developed in the
pure sand, or at least in the sand as it was blown up from the
beach, after the salt had been washed out of it by the rain.
[I would remark that it had been raining some days before I
collected them.] Subsequent researches have shown that these
infusoria are very generally diffused through the sands that
form our drifting sand-hills around the city; and on examining
some sand taken at a depth of fourteen feet from the surface,
where the hills were being cut through, I found it full of
well developed infusoria on placing it under the microscope
a few minutes after it had been collected, so that there can
be no doubt but that these infusoria were present in the sand
at the time it was collected, where they had probably been in
a torpid state for ages. It is possible that they might have
been carried there by the infiltrating water during the rains;
but I am inclined to think that they had been torpid there, as
the circumstances in which they were placed were not favorable
for propagation except by fission, a process that cannot be
carried on indefinitely, even in these lower organisms. In
fact, these infusoria, taken from the deep sands, copulated
most extensively the moment they were placed in water. I am
not aware that analogous observations have been made as to the
office of these lower infusoria in fixing the moving sands, and
thus initiating that series of changes by which they eventually
become clothed with verdure; the first germs of organic life
being generally supposed to be established by the lower
vegetable organisms.
Dr. Kellogg presented the following paper:
Description of Two New Species of Plants.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
CONYZA Less.
_C. salicena_ Kellogg. [FIG. 6.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
Stem fruticose, erect, three to four feet in height; branches
subglabrous or slightly puberulent, angular; leaves lanceolate,
short petiolate, cuneate, base entire, triplinerved, apex
acute with few remote teeth on the upper third, lamina
fleshy, varnished, subglabrous, minute glands scattering,
slightly puberulent chiefly beneath (two to three inches in
length, about half an inch in breadth), panicle subcorymbose;
heads pedicellate, mostly subtended by linear nerved bracts;
involucral scales ovate-oblong, sub-acute, scarious, margins
irregularly cut-toothed or somewhat erose, cut-ciliate; achenia
pubescent; pappus equal, white, scabrous; florets, teeth
villous on the tips and back, tube short; anthers not caudate;
receptacle convex, naked, punctate.
This plant is closely allied to the South American _C.
triplinerva_, but differs in the shrubby character of
the stem—the leaves also are not “ovate-lanceolate,” but
lanceolate, and somewhat glandular, and like the branches
puberulent—the heads are subtended by bracts, the involucral
scales are not “linear lanceolate,” but ovate-oblong and
sub-acute, etc. The white pappus is not short, but equal if not
longer than the florets—the achenia are not “glabrous,” etc.
Found at Clayton, Contra Costa County.
COLLINSIA Nutt.
_C. divaricata_ Kellogg. [FIG. 7.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
Stem erect, divaricately branching, one to three inches high,
pubescent, interspersed with a few short glandular hairs.
Cotyledons oval or oblong obtuse, entire, petioles as long as
the lamina; middle cauline leaves on shorter petioles, ciliate
at the base or subsessile, ovate or oblong sub-acute, entire
at the base, coarsely three to five-toothed, nerves obsolete,
all pubescent above, glabrous below; superior pairs, sessile,
lanceolate, acute, entire.
Flowers small, axillary, and solitary on long divaricate
ascending peduncles, articulated at the base by a swelled
joint, purplish pink alike throughout, twice the length of the
calyx, upper lobes broadest, margins crenulate, saccate base
of the tube much compressed above, glabrous within, throat
constricted, the external expansion purple spotted above,
filaments hirsute, stigma minutely bilobed. The obconical
expanding calyx narrowed and slightly depressed above at the
base, and correspondingly swelled below, segments ovate acute,
fleshy, glabrous; margins minutely ciliate, somewhat unequal,
or three larger and two smaller; capsule globose, pink and
purple spotted above, seeded. Flowering in March and April.
This very minute species—often barely an inch or more in
height—had hitherto escaped our observation, until little
friend George Bloomer discovered it, while on a trip with us
to the hills in this vicinity. The whole plant at length often
assumes a scarlet or purplish hue. It certainly is not the _C.
violacea_ of D. C. and appears quite as distinct as any species
known to us.
Mr. Bolander made some remarks on the peculiar growth of _Carex decidua_,
in Marin County, not on the borders of the creeks, but in the middle
of them. He also spoke of _Hierochloa fragrans_ R. S., as a remarkably
fragrant plant, and as furnishing beautiful grass for lawns.
REGULAR MEETING, MAY 18TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Nine members present.
Messrs. W. S. Sullivant, and Leo Lesquereux, of Columbus, Ohio, were
elected Corresponding Members, and Rev. T. Starr King a Resident Member.
Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:
Specimens of copper ore from the Mammoth Lode, Del Norte County, by Dr.
Trask.
REGULAR MEETING, JUNE 1ST, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Ten members present, and Dr. Hillebrand, of Honolulu, by invitation.
Dr. Kellogg presented the following paper:
Description of a New Species of Hosackia.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
HOSACKIA Dougl.
_H. argentea_ Kellogg. [FIG. 8.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.]
Appressed satiny pubescent throughout, prostrate, much
branching from a perennial crown.
Leaves short, very densely set or crowded along the lower stem,
leaflets three, very small, rounded, and scarcely mucronate;
the upper leaves larger, leaflets four (only one of the lower
pair developed), obovate obtuse, very abruptly mucronate-acute;
stipules red, minute and gland-like, glabrous. Peduncles twice
the length of the leaves; umbels six to ten-flowered, bract of
a single sessile obovate leaf (a few separate pink glands or
embryoid stipules often present).
Flowers orange yellow throughout; keel obtuse, wings and
banner equal; teeth of the calyx about one-third its length,
acuminate, embryo legume terete, appressed pubescent,
two-seeded; mature fruit unknown.
From Kern River, pendent from rocky cliffs. The Society is
indebted to Mrs. Hutchings for this new and very beautiful
species.
Dr. Ayres presented a paper by Dr. T. M. Logan, of Sacramento, on the
Physics, Hygiene, and Thermology of the Sacramento River, which was read
and referred to the Publishing Committee.
REGULAR MEETING, JUNE 15TH, 1863.
Dr. Ayres in the Chair.
Six members present.
Donations to the Cabinet:
Insects from seeds imported from Germany, by Mr. Bevans; plants from
Sonoma, by Dr. Behr.
Donations to the Library:
Annual Report of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology for
1862. American Journal of Science for May, 1863, from the Editor.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:
Description of a New Species of Mentzelia.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
MENTZELIA L.
_M. pectinata_ Kellogg. [FIG. 9.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
Rough, with a white minutely-barbed pubescence throughout;
stem four to six inches high; simple, or slightly branched at
the summit; greenish, or a little blanched at the base; leaves
pinnatifid, lower petiolate, the upper sessile, three-nerved;
flowers of a shining golden color, with a lustrous metallic
hue, shading from a deep, vivid orange to a burnt carmine
center; stamens very numerous, all filiform, scarcely half the
length of the petals; anthers white; style longer, spirally
twisted above at the divisible portion; petals five, spreading,
obcordate or obovate cuneate at the base. Flowers from
three-fourths to one inch in diameter, clustered at the summit
by the short branches; short pedicellate (the uppermost often
sessile or sub-sessile); two or three linear-subulate bracts
above the pedicel at the base of the capsule; capsule thickened
upwards from a sharp base; calyx segments lance-subulate acute.
Root ligneous.
Found by Mrs. Hutchings on the mountains above Visalia.
REGULAR MEETING, JULY 6TH, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Twelve members present.
Professor George Thurber, of New York City, and F. W. Putnam, Esq., of
Cambridge, Mass., were elected Corresponding Members.
Donations to the Library were received as follows:
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for
October-December, 1862. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St.
Louis, Vol. II, No. 1. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at
Cambridge, Mass. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,
Vol. IX, Signatures 11 and 12.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:
Description of Three New Plants.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
LINUM L.
_L. trisepalum_ Kellogg. [FIG. 10.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.]
Stem suffruticose; base flexuous, smooth, cinnamon brown,
numerously branched above; branches green, slender, erect,
subsimple, stellate pubescent from minute scabrous elevations,
and also simply short pubescent; plant sub-triangular
throughout. Leaves erect, sub-appressed, small, linear, obtuse,
slightly narrowed at the base into a very short petiole,
alternate. Flowers small, yellow, in sub-terminal racemoid
panicles; pedicels as long, or twice the length of the flowers;
calyx bi-bracteate (appendaged?); bracts minute (about half the
length of the sepals), linear, foliaceous (rudimentary sepals);
proper sepals three, nerveless, ovate, acute (or sub-acute),
imbricated margins glabrous, as long as the capsule. Petals
obovate, sub-cuneate, scarcely twice the length of the sepals;
stamens ten (yellow), shorter than the calyx; styles one,
short; stigmas three, or united the entire length; capsule
spheroid obtuse, sub-triangular, three-valved, each valve
two-seeded, false dissepiment incomplete.
A small shrubby species, six inches to [Transcriber’s Note:
the second measurement was omitted] in height, found by Mr.
Bolander on the White Hills back of Oakland.