PROCEEDINGS
OP THE
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY
OF
NATURAL SCIENCES.
VOLUME III
1 863- 1 867.
SAN FRANCISCO:
PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY.
1 8 6 8 .
I*
A»v
^'
The date of publication of each sheet will be found at the bottom, of page?. The sheets of this volume have been circulated separately, and also in annual parts, as follows:
Part I, p. 1- 96, for 1863, printed in April to December, 1863.
" II, p. 97-1 76, 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, No. II. Natural System of Volcanic Rocks, pp. 95, hofen, Dr. Phil.
By Leo Lesqi/ereux. Bv F. Baron Richt-
ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY, j
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 op Sciences," and invites all interested in the increase and spread of any branch of knowledge to join in its work. All gentle- men residing within one hundred and fifty miles of San Francisco are, by the new Constitution, eligible to resident membership, with all the privileges oi those in the city, including lice 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 he obtained free by addressing the Corresponding Secretary.
Meetings are now held on the first ami third Mondays of each month, at the rooms of the A.cademy, 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.
President
Vice President, . . . Secretary, .'.... Corresponding S cretary,
Treasurer,
Librarian
Director of the Museum t
?
F F I C ERS
James Blake, M.D., F. R. C. S., 206 Bush Street. James G. Cooper, M.D., 6-j2 Howard Street. Theodore Bradley, Principal Boys' High School. Henry X. Bolandek, Principal Cosmopolitan School Edward Boson, Publisher, 51*7 Clay Street. A. Kellogg, M.D., 622 Clay St., Academy's Booms. H. Bloomer, cor. Montgonmry and Jackson Streets.
(Jew rn I Zoology,
Oonchology,
Radiata,
Entomology, Geology, . .
CURATORS.
E. F. LoRQtrm, 522 Pine Street.
W. G. W. Harford, (122 Clay Street.
J. B. Trask, M.D., 206 Kearny Street.
R. H. Stretch, Room 50, Montgomery Block.
W. A. Goodyear, 615 Stockton Street.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY
O F
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 dis- tribution 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 :
1 April, 1863.
1'eo. Cal. Acad., vol. hi. a
2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
The Report of the Treasurer was read, and referred to the Finance Committee.
The Curator of Palaeontology reported, that the number of speci- mens 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 hi 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 pre- serving 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 instru- mentality of the Smithsonian Institution. The books are in good order ; but many of them need binding, and the want of room
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.
o o
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. 0. 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 Palaeontology.
A. Kellogg, M.D Botany.
J. G. Cooper, M.D Zoology.
J. B. Trask, M.D Conchology.
H. Behr, M.D Entomology.
4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 hun- dred 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 stipi- tate, 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.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 5
Palese 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, cili- ate, one-third shorter than the lower.
Ovary obovate, contracted near the truncated apex, sessile, smooth ; styles terminal, divergent ; stigmas plumose ; pilis fasciculate, minutely serrate ; squammulse 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 nar- row, 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 :
6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 Cen- sus 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,'' (I860), 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 examina- tion 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 arc better posted to give notice of the-e 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 d( cument which musl 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 produc- tions, 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 S19.4s7.790, 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 lie decided by comparison with returns known to be approxi- mately 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 lie 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
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 7
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, allow- ing that 28,000 tuns were made direct in 18G0, the amount, per head, of all the iron made in that year would be (if) pounds, instead of 92, as Mr. Kennedy cal- culates* 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 Commis- sion 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 Keport, 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 refer- ence 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 lie 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 mis- lead and confuse those who resort to Government documents for information in ! d to our metallic and mineral productions.
* 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.
8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 fric- tion 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 slid- ing friction is the greatest ; but experience shows, that the fric- tion is really greatest when the sliding and rolling motions are combined.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 9
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 Ob- servations, 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 Ter- ritory.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Aplopappus Cass. A. Nevadensis Kellogg. [Fig. 1.]
Suffrutescent, caudex branching, branches three to four inches in height, some- what ascending ; rigid, striate, scabrous throughout. Heads solitary and ter- minal, homochromous and many-flowered. Leaves alternate, crowded near the base, oblanceolate, very acute, quite eutire, 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 fim- briate, 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 com- pressed ; 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-subu- late, hispid, much exsert, erect-spreading.
This plant was brought from Nevada Territory by Mr. Herbert C. Dorr.
10
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Fig. 1.
Mir a bills 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 pentan- drous and deciduous.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 11
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 con- trary, 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 ac- count of the methods adopted by the Geological Survey for compu- tation, 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.
12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 vis- ited, 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 corres- ponding member.
Donations to the Cabinet.
By Mr. Rowlandson, specimen of the wool of the Alpacca and Vicuna, 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. Rdmond, containing descriptions of new fossils from California.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 13
Description of two New Species of Bivalve Shells, from the Tertiaries of Contra Costa County.
BY AUGUSTE REM0ND.
Cardium Brug. C. Gabbii Remond.
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 ; sur- face even, with fine imbricated lines of growth. Hinge (of the left valve) com- paratively 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 discov- ered, 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 palsontological studies.
This species occurs in shelly sands, together with Tapes regitlaris 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 Rernond.
The description is from two lower valves, from the collections of Mr. l'Abbe 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. Liga- ment 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.
1 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 REMOND.
Scutella Lam.
S. Gibbsii Remond.
Disk oblong-sub-oval, rounded before and truncated behind, posteriorly cob-
vex above, slightly depressed in front ; inferior surface flat, somewhat concave
about the mouth. Apex about midway between the center and posterior mar-
14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
gin ; ambulacral star non-symmetrical ; petals unequal, open at their extremi- ties. Anterior petal straight, longer than the others ; the lateral ones nearly straight, diverging from the apex with an angle of about eighty degrees ; pos- terior 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, sub- marginal. Ambulacral furrows double, nearly symmetrical, slightly ramified. Each ambulacral and iuter-ambulacral space is occupied by two rows of irreg- ular 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 com- paratively 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 sub- marginal ; ambulacral furrows symmetrical, not much ramified. Inter-ambu- lacral 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, irregu- larly 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. Geol- ogist 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 scutella? were derived had not been discovered, so that the specimens obtained being imperfect, no complete description could be made ;
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 15
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 scutella? 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, Geologi- cal Report, plate IV, fig. 30 ; aud 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
NOTORHYNCHTJS :
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 Heptancbus, of which he considers Notorhynchus a synonym. In 1861, Mr. Gill refers it to Rafincsque's genus Heptranchias. (Annals of the Lye. 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 Notorhyxchus was proposed by Dr. Ayres under a misapprehension." My " misapprehen- sion " 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. Muller 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 Notorhyn- cus 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 Nis- qually, 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.
16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 Jap- anese 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 resem- blance 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 palaeozoic 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 Pro- ceedings 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 min- erals noticed were : calcite, adularia. chalybite, in the form ot'JJos ferri, garnets, small crystals of pyroxene, crystals of mica, pectolite, and another zeolitic min- eral 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 Enrys, 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
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 17
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. Ben- nett, 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.]
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, pedicillate; and with the long, nar- rowly lanceolate, acuminate, bractoid leaves aggregated into a somewhat dense,
Q Mat, 1863.
Pro. Cal. Acad., vol. hi. ^
18
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
V. subsessile head. Calyx obconic, membrauaceously
diaphanous at the base ; segments green, cup pris- matic (or pentangular) ; also with five prominent processes, or folds, at the clefts, the semi-lanced seg- ments 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 J ;
obovate, emarginate. , '} ) J)^
A very diminutive species from the western slope ' \
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, found by Mr. Herbert C. Dorr, yields a beautiful yellow dye, hence the specific name.
The plant
C. micrantha Kellogg. [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 subses- sile, three to seven-nerved ; upper leaves mostly alternate, all somewhat silky, viscid-pubescent. Flowers pedicillate, axillary and terminal in a condensed, sub- cymose head ; calyx lobes sub-equal, linear-lanceolate, often sub-spatulate, acute,
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 19
corneously mucronate, three-uerved, 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, com- pressed (?), 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 communica- tion from Professor Planchon, of South France, in regard to suita- ble 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 Nat- ural Sciences, for September, 1862. Journal of the Boston Nat- ural History Society, volume VII, Nos. 2 and 3.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper :
20
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Description of a New Genus and Species of Plant from Ne- vada Territory.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Pterostephanus Kellogg.
Involucre obconically-corupanulate ; 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). Re- ceptacle 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 erateriform 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 Mala- cothrix and Calycoseris, but with a plumose pappus.
Fig. 4.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 21
P. runcinatus Kellogg. [Fig. 4.]
Acaulescent, several naked scapes, two to four inches high, sub-glabrous, (rarely a few scattering glandular hairs) ; leaves radical, runcinately piunatifid. 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 front San Mateo, and one from Marin County, collected and presented by Mr. Bolander.
Dr. Cooper communicated the following description of a new California!! Mollusc, discovered by Rev. Joseph Rowell, at Marys- ville, in the waters of Feather River.
Gundlachia Pfeiffer. G. Californica Rowell. [Fig. 5.]
Shell with the aperture sub-oval, obliquely expanded towards the left, posteriorly rouaded, and wider anteriorly. Internal shelf reach- ing 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, as an obtuse angle. Struc- ture corneous, with strong concentric lines of growth, and faint radi- ating strire. 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-hundred ths,
Fig. 5.
f
and height six one-huudredtbs of an English inch.
•22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 kuown 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 fun- nel, which in some of our specimens is still shown by the white semicircular ring.
The shell much resembles that of the marine Crypta (Crcpidula), 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 •Taponicus 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. Classifi- cation 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 col-
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 23
lecting, 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 com- menced : 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 gee- ' logical 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. Remond served as volunteer, in the field work, during the season of 1862. Mr. W. M. Gabb took the place of Palaeontologist 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 Feb- ruary last, as Clerk, Commissary, and Barometrical Observer. Dr. J. G. Cooper has been in charge of the department of Zoology, and has been em- ployed, 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 com- bined 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 oper- ations : the first was, to make, as rapidly as could be done, a reconnoissance of
24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 com- plete a geueral idea as possible of their range and extent, so that a foundation might be laid for the detailed work which would follow the preliminary exam- ination ; 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 com- pletion. 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 an- nual 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-fifteeuths may be called mountain- ous, as the valleys include but a small portion of its surface. Into this mount- ainous 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
ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES. 25
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 Eanges, 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 deter- mined 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 baro- metrical 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 t6 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 Coun- ties, 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
26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
the range between Mariposa and Shasta Counties. Our observations have also been extended to the Washoe Region, and we have received considerable collec- tions 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 1 80°) 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 fos- sil 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 struc- ture 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 litholog- ical 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 abuudauce, and the facilities which may exist in each separate district for making them economically available must, after the prelim- inary 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 huudred 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 fool- ish expenditures of time and money in searching for what our general geologi- cal 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 char- acter of a geological reconnoissance than of a detailed survey.
Already, however, during the progress of our work, a large amount of inform- ation has been collected in reo-ard 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
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.
27
important branch of the industry of the Pacific Coast. Considerable work has been done, preliminary to a full report on the geology, mineralogy, and metal- lurgy 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 fif- teen thousand in number, and embracing probably half of all the species de- scribed from the State, besides many new and undescribed ones. The collect- ions have been made by Professor Brewer while engaged in geological explora- tions, 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 corres- pondence entered into to obtain all possible information on this subject from other regions whose climates are similar to our own.
In the zoological 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.
|
* |
O |
W |
O |
H |
O |
|
|
■— n a |
— a "> |
no w O |
-o° |
ff- cs l"*s |
||
|
Class. |
mber of ies in the ection . . . . |
which t re new to fornia . . . . |
ieved t o ie\v, or u cribed . . . |
re — ■ o 5* |
SB |
which t re found tie Mississ |
|
: 9 2 • To |
• B : «-c ■ ? <D |
: v,B. |
off |
liere east ppi. |
||
|
32 170 |
10 28 |
3 4(?) |
45 150 |
77 320 |
14 |
|
|
Birds |
141 |
|||||
|
36 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
45 |
0 |
|
|
58 |
16 |
16 |
75 |
133 |
0 |
|
|
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.
28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Deferring the fitting up of a laboratory, and the engaging of a special assist- ant in the chemical department, until a suitable permanent place could be pro- vided 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 Tale College, under the direction of Professor Brush, who has charge of the metallurgical depart- ment of that institution. The reduction of the appropriation to fifteen thous- and (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 chemi- cal 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 compo- sition 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 ex- tensive, embracing many thousand specimens of rocks, fossils, miuerals, 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 re- quired 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 sub- ject 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 Agricul- tural College, a School of Mines, and a Museum, including the geological col- lections 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 demon- strated 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
ACADEMY OF NATUEAL SCIENCES. 29
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 pre- sent 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 import- ant 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 en- graved 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.
30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Professor Whitney communicated the following letter from Pro- fessor 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 anatysis, and herewith communicate to you my results.
The density of the mass is 7.20. When a fragment of it is placed in a solu- tion of neutral sulphate of copper, it quickly becomes coated with metallic cop- per, 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 porpbyritic, or pseudo- porphyritic, appearance.
When a fragment was attacked with an acid, a portion of the iron was dis- solved, leaving the silicious mineral projecting from the surface of the specimen ; and with a magnifier, black particles of Schreibersite could be seen. After com- plete 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, hav- ing 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 insolu- ble 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 dilu- tion separated by filtration from the silica and insoluble residue.
ACADEMY OF NATUKAL SCIENCES. 31
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 pre- cipitation 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 pre- cipitation, and traces of nickel remained with the iron even after the second precipitation. The nickel and cobalt were separated by rnean^ of nitrite of pot- ash, 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 pkospho-molyb- dic 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, redis- solved 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 car- bonate 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 cent- age composition :
4 Considering the silica to exist as olivine.
Iron 81.5G 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
Protoxyd of Iron )
with trace of t 0.12
Alumina )
Lime 1.16
Magnesia 2.43
Chloriue, )
Sulphur, v . . . . minute traces traces.
Chromium, )
99.08 99.69
Combined with 2.73 )
Protoxyd of Iron, I 10.07 making Olivine . . )
32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 nec- essary 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 0, Si 03). Admitting this to be the correct view, the mass analyzed con- tains 10.07 per cent, of olivine, and by the addition of the oxygen of the pro- toxyd 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, to- gether with the small amount of material in my possession, rendered it impractica- ble 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 03, 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 Bart- lett 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 some- what 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 correspond- ingly 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.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 33
On the twenty-fourth of November, 1862, the Board of Super- visors 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. f
To General George Wright, U. S. Army,
Commander J)cp. 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 fol- lows : '"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 au 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 Pro-
Q Sept. 1863.
Pro. Cax. Acad., vol. hi. u
34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
fessor 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 con- venience of its use as a blacksmith's anvil.
i
The mass is now placed in the Mayor's office, it having been deemed inadvis- able to expose it on the Plaza, as desired by the donor, on account of its liabil- ity 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. Bart- lett'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 —
ACADEMT OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 35
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 differ- ent 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 col- lected 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 vege- tation 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,
36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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 we're 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 vege- table organisms.
Dr. Kellogg presented the following paper :
Description of Two New Species of Plants.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Conyza Less. C. saliccna Kellogg. [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, lam- ina fleshy, varnished, subglabrous, minute glands scattering, slightly puberulent chiefly honoath (two to three inches in length, about half an inch in breach), panicle mbcorymbose ; heads pedicillate, mostly subtended by linear nerved bracts ; involucral scales ovate-oblong, sub-acute, scarious, margins irregularly cut-toothed or somewhat erose, cut-cilia+e ; 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 " Imear 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.]
Stem erect, divaricately branching, one to three inches high, pubescent, inter- spersed 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
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. Fig. 6. Fig. 7.
37
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, sac- cate base of the tube much compress- ed above, glabrous within, throat con- stricted, the external expansion purple spotted above, filaments hirsute, stigma minutely bilobed. The obconical ex- panding calyx narrowed and slightly depressed above at the base, and cor- respondingly 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. vio- lated of D. C. and appears quite as distinct as any species known to us.
38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
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.
BT A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Hosackia Dougl. H. argentea Kellogg. [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).
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIEIWES.
39
Fig. 8.
40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Flowers orange yellow throughout ; keel obtuse, wings and banner equal ; teeth of the calyx about one-third its length, acuminate, embryo legume terete, appresscd pubescent, two-seeded ; mature fruit unknown.
From Kern River, pendent from rocky cliffs. The Society is indebted to Mrs. Hutchings for this uew and very beautiful species.
Dr. Ayres presented a paper by Dr. T. M. Logan, of Sacra- mento, on the Physics, Hygiene, and Thermology of the Sacra- mento 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.]
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, spread- ing, 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 pedicillate (the uppermost often sessile or sub-sessile) ; two or three linear-subu- late 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 Yisalia.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.
41
Fig. 9.
Fig. 10.
u,m.
X
) f t, :
i
42 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CALIFORNIA
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 Philadel- phia 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. LlNUM L.
L. trisepalum Kellogg. [Fig. 10.]
Stem suSVuticose ; base flexuous, smooth, cinnamou brown, numerously branch- ed above ; brancbes green, slender, erect, subsimple, stellate pubescent from minute scabrous elevations, and also simply short pubescent ; plant sub-triangu- lar throughout. Leaves erect, sub-appressed, small, linear, obtuse, slightly nar- rowed 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, nerve- less, 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 in height, found by Mr.
Bolander on the White Hills back of Oakland.
P. S. — From the ripe fruit since obtained, the capsule is more ovate ; sepa- rating invariably into three valves, only two to three ovules attaining to matur- ity ; the seeds black, sub-compressed ovate, plano-convex or with two plain sides, the third convex, surface rough.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. Fig. 11.
43
44
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
L. decurrens Kellogg1. [Fig. 11.]
Stem annual, smooth, somewhat erect, sparingly branched, four to six inches of their summits racemed (the simple branches but slightly diverging from a vertical direction) much decurreut, from one to two feet in height. Leaves alternate, narrowly lanceolate, one-nerved, sharply acuminate (the lower-most leaves unknown). Flowers secund, large purplish blue, unilateral on long much decurrent pedicels, expansion of the pedicel above the articulation at the base of the calyx quadrangular ; sepals five, ovate-oblong acute, margins scarious, seven-nerved, rather more than half the length of the capsule. Petals obovate, cuneate, claw short emarginate or crenate at the apex, marked by about five deeper blue veins. Styles five, free to the base, stigmas capitate. Stamens five, short ; anthers oblong, white. Capsule ovate, very abruptly short pointed, com- pletely ten-celled. Seeds oblong, hilum slightly narrowed.
Found by Mrs. Thayer on the head waters of Feather River.
Silene L.
Kellogg.
S. Dorrii
Stem simple or dichotomous above, minutely velvety glandular pubescent throughout, upper and cauline leaves lanceolate, acute or acuminate, sessile or sub-sessile, opposite, erect, slightly cilliate at base (radical leaves un- known). Flowers white, very small, sub-solitary on long peduncles ; calyx tubular-campanulate, at length inflated, teeth short, acute (tipped with purple), tube ten-nerved ; petals not crowned, minute border sub-two-lobed, lamina expanded, claws long and very slender ; stamens ten, longer, at length shorter, filaments glabrous, anthers sagittate ; styles two to three, separate, recoiled ; stigmatose along the entire inner face. Ovary somewhat globose, apex slightly contracted ; compressed seeds granular, stipe of the capsule very short.
A plant about three to five inches in height.
Collected by Mr. Herbert C. Dorr in Nevada Territory.
Dr. James Blake read a paper on the gradual elevation of the land in the environs of San Francisco.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 45
On the Gradual Elevation of the Land in the Environs of
San Francisco.
BY JAMES BLAKE, M.D., F.R.C.S.
The gradual elevation and depression of large portions of the earth's surface bas, within the last few years, been attracting considerable attention from geol- ogists. It is a vast geological process of which we are the actual spectators, offering us the most imposing terrestrial phenomenon of which we can be cogni- zant, and at the same time affording us some tangible idea of the vast periods that have been required for bringing the surface of the earth to its present shape. It is the general opinion of geologists that the western shore of our continent is gradually rising. This has been proved to be the case as regards the southern portion of the continent ; but the following facts, observed in the neighborhood of this city, afford undoubted evidence that at least this portion of the northern continent is being gradually elevated above the level of the ocean.'
On the northern bank of Lobos Creek, a small stream running from Moun- tain Lake to the ocean, muscle shells and rolled pebbles are found at an eleva- tion of from eighty to one hundred feet above the present level of the ocean, and probably at the distance of half a mile from the present beach. These shells and pebbles are exactly analogous to those now being deposited at the mouth of the creek, and were undoubtedly placed there when the spots at which they are found formed the beach of the ocean. The surface of the country is so much covered by drifting sands, that it is only in spots that these shore remains show themselves. The deposits first seen contain remains of shells considerably weathered — lower down the creek, shells and larger peb- bles are seen ; still lower down I found the same materials mixed with smaller pebbles, and at an elevation of about fifty feet small bands of black peat earth were found iuterstratified with the sand and gravel. These small bands of vege- table earth were evidently formed near the level of the ocean by the waves throwing up a barrier of sand which dammed up the waters of the creek, so as to form a pond in which a layer of vegetable matter was deposited. This process is going on at the present time, a dam having been thrown up by the heavy storms of the winter of 1861-18G2.
Another evidence of the recent elevation of the country is seen near the western end of the Puerta Suelo, at a distance of about eight miles from the city. Here there is a depression in the hills, extending from the bay to the ocean, and forming a narrow neck to the peninsula on which San Francisco stands. Even at present, the distance from the waters of the bay to the ocean is not more than two or three miles at this point, and it is evideut that at no very distant period this depression formed a channel of communication between them. Near the western end .of this former channel, and at about a mile inland from the present sea beach, the skeleton of the head of a whale is found on the surface of the ground. The specimen measures about six feet across, and must have belonged to an animal fifty or sixty feet long. The bones, which are not at all mineralised, are in a good state of preservation. At the time they were
46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
carried there, there must have been eight or ten feet of water over the surface, and as the place is at present from ten to fifteen feet above the level of the ocean, a rise of twenty-five or thirty feet must have taken place at this spot since the animal was washed there.
Another locality at which evidence of the gradual elevation of the land can be obtained is found to the west of Black Point, where abundant remains of our present bay shells are found at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea ; aud, were not the surface of the country, particularly the lower levels, so completely covered in by the drifting sands, no doubt many analogous deposits could be found. To the south and west of the Mission, and in all the lower levels between there and the range of hills overlooking the Puerta Suelo, the surface is 'covered by these recent post tertiary deposits, through which the older rocks protrude in many places as isolated masses, the recent argillaceous sandstone being deposited in nearly horizontal strata around their base. These sandstones have given rise, by their decomposition, to the extensive surfaces of yellow sandy loam seen between the Mission and the Ocean House. I think the highest of these beds does not attain a greater elevation than one hundred feet above the present level of the ocean.
More recent evidence of the gradual elevation of the land is furnished by the holes made by the marine worms in the rocks on the shores of the bay, many of these holes being found at elevations which the highest tides do not at pres- ent reach.
On the age of these deposits it is useless at present to speculate. All that we know for certain is, that geologically speaking, they are recent ; but whether it is five hundred, or five thousand, or fifty thousand years since the present site of Mountain Lake was on a level with the ocean, our present data do not ena- ble us to form an opinion. All that the facts prove is that this portion of the continent is being gradually raised en masse.
From observations I have made on the main range of the Sierra, I am inclined to think that this process of gradual elevation is not confined to the land bordering the sea coast, but extends far into the interior. The undisturbed position of the post tertiary strata on the western slope of the Sierra, would indicate that the same process of gradual elevation must have been going on for hundreds of thousands of years, so that the original beach of the earlier post tertiary ocean is now at an elevation of four or five thousand feet above the present level of the sea. Should subsequent observations confirm the truth of this supposition, this country would afford a more striking example of the action of existing causes in modifying the surface of the earth, than is to be found in any other portion of the globe. It is desirable that some means should be taken to ascertain and record accurately the present relative level of the sea and land, as, after a few years, such a determination might furnish some very useful geological data. I have no doubt that it will be found that every shock of an earthquake is accompanied by an elevation of the land.
San Francisco, July 6th, 1 863.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 47-
Regular Meeting, July 20th, 1863.
Dr. Ayres in the Chair.
Twelve members present.
J. B. Bayerque, Esq., was elected a Life Member.
Donation to the Cabinet : A number of birds and quadrupeds were deposited by Mr. W. W. Holder.
Donations to the Library :
Ascent of Pike's Peak by Dr. C. C. Parry. Biennial Report of the Chicago Historical Society to the Governor of Illinois.
The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Samuel H. Scudder, Esq., to Dr. Behr, from which the following extracts are taken :
" Through the kindness of Mr. Edwards, I have had the opportunity of look- ing at your two recent papers on Argynnides and on Danaia, and have been much interested therein. Reading the latter article, I instantly had recalled to me some statements in regard to localization of the species at the Sandwich Islands by the sons of one or two American missionaries long resident there — gentlemen in every way to be depended on for common accuracy — by those statements I was led to an opposite conclusion from yours in regard to the means by which it was introduced ; and since I have read your paper I have met with Dr. Gulick, for some time a missionary at Ascension Island, one of the Micronesian group, now in America for his health, from whom I have received some additional facts. They all concur in stating that this butterfly was formerly wanting at the Sandwich Islands, and spread over the Islands just as fast as did the milk-weed upon which they feed — the two keeping pace with, one another. Dr. Gulick makes some more definite statements ; he says that a gentleman in Hawaii sent him on Ascension Island (2,000 or 3,000 miles dis- tant) a large box of plants under glass; that when they reached Ascension Island he found among them the milk-weed, which was set out with others ; in five or six weeks they reached maturity, and then they discovered upon them the larva? of Danais which nearly destroyed them — the natives have never before seen them and the butterfly was altogether unknown, indeed, no such large and showy butterfly exists there. Subsequently and purposely, as an experiment, he took some seeds to the opposite side of the Island, twenty-five miles distant, and sowed them, and was absent some four or five months ; when he returned the larvae were there. A gentleman and the natives had been put upon the watch by him for the butterflies but none had been seen, and these larva? changing produced the first they had any of them seen.
" It seems to me that the appearance of the larva? on the transported plant in its early growth leaves but little room to doubt that the eggs of the insect were transported also in the Wardiau case."
48 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CALIFORNIA
Prof. Whitney read the following notice of the large mass of meteoric iron now in this city, on its way to the Smithsonian Insti- tution :
By a singular coincidence, we have now the pleasure of seeing in this city the two great masses of meteoric iron which have been so often spoken of as being at Tucson, in Arizona, one of which was brought here and presented to the city by General Carleton. in November last, a notice of which, with an analysis, has already appeared in our proceedings. This mass may properly be desig- nated as the " Carleton (Tucson) Meteoric Iron," while the one which is des- tined for the Smithsonian Institution may be called the "Ainsa (Tucson) Meteoric Iron," as it has been rendered accessible for scientific investigation by Mr. Jesus M. Ainsa, as will be seen by the following memorandum of the cir- cumstance kindly furnished by his brother, Mr. James M. Ainsa:
" This aerolite was first discovered by the early Jesuit Missionaries in the mountains called the ' Sierra de la Madera,' near Tucson.
" In 1735, El Capitan de las Provincias del Occidente, Don Juan Bautista Anza, induced by the accounts of the science-loving Jesuits, ordered the aerolite to be removed from the mountains, with the intention of sending it to Spain. However, through the want of wagon roads and the proper means of convey- ance at that time, to take it to San Bias, then the nearest port of entry, the attempt was entirely abandoned.
" The aerolite was left at Tucson, where it continued to attract the attention of the scientific men who visited that country for more than a hundred years. Since the acquisition of Arizona by the United States, greater notice has been taken of this aerolite, it having been mentioned several times in the official reports of the Government agents.
" By a singular coincidence, Augustin Ainsa, the great-grandson of Don Juan Bautista Anza, undertook, in 1860, to transport the aerolite and present it to the Smithsonian Institution. With great difficulty it was brought as far as the Yiiigo hacienda, where it remained until May, 18G3, when Jesus M. Ainsa, in his late visit to Sonora, brought it to this city, with the intention of for- warding it to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, where it will soon be sent."
At present the mass in question lies upon the steps of the Custom House, where it has been most admirably photographed by Mr. Watkins.*
It was said by Mr. Ainsa to weigh 1,600 pounds.
The shape of this meteoric mass is very peculiar ; and, at first, it would hardly be recognized as the identical specimen figured by Mr. Bartlett at Tucson, especially as this gentleman estimated its weight at 600 pounds only. Instead of being, as Mr. Bartlett supposed, a mass supported on two legs, it is, in reality, a ring of metal, of very irregular dimensions, of which about one- quarter was buried in the ground, in order to support it in a convenient position for use as an anvil, when it was seen by him at Tucson.
*The mass was shipped on the Panama steamer, which sailed from San Francisco on the 3d of August.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 49
The dimensions of this ring are as follows :
Greatest exterior diameter 49 inches.
Least exterior diameter 38 "
Greatest width of central opening 26* "
Least width of central opening 23 "
Greatest thickness at right angles to plane of ring 10 "
Width of thickest part of the ring 17^ "
Width of narrowest part 2f "
The weight of the mass corresponds, taking the specific gravity at 7.2, with a circle-ring, having an average width of one foot, and a thickness of a small fraction less than eight inches — the diameter of the circle represented by the exterior of the ring being assumed as four feet.
On examining with a magnifying glass a fractured surface of the mass, it was seen at once to be different in composition from the Carleton Meteoric Iron, and my conjecture that Prof. Smith was mistaken in supposing that he analyzed a fragment from the mass figured by Mr. Bartlett, was confirmed.* It is now almost certain that Messrs. Brush and Smith did analyze fragments of the same meteoric iron.
The Ainsa Meteoric Iron contains a large per centage of a white — almost transparent — silicious mineral, having a vitreous lustre, which may be olivine ; but the amount seems larger than that in the Carleton mass. The Smithsonian Institution will undoubtedly cause a chemical investigation to be made of this superb meteoric mass, and it will be interesting to compare its composition with that of the Carleton meteorite, as the two were found so near each other that they may be supposed to have formed portions of the same body, and to have fallen at the same time.
The photograph was taken by Mr. Watkins, at my request, partly to be sent abroad as a specimen of the high degree of perfection which has been attained by this gentleman in this department of art, and partly that an exact repre- sentation might be secured of this very remarkable body, in case it should be lost or captured on its way to Washington.
In concluding this notice, the following statement is given of all that is known of the size and position of the masses of meteoric iron which have been noticed by various travelers in Arizona and the adjacent portions of Mexico and New Mexico.
In the Madera range, " Sierra de la Madera," between Tucson and Tubac, "enormous masses of pure iron, some of which were transported to Tucson, and for many years were to be seen in the Plaza of that Presidio." Francisco Velasco, in W. F. Nye's Translation of his work on Sonora, p. 146, published at San Francisco in 1861. — Two of these masses have been brought to this city, the one weighing 1,600, the other 632 pounds; the question arises, how many more are left in the Sierra Madera ? To this, no answer can be given at present.
Pro. Cal. Acad., vol. hi.
*See page 34, of this volume. 4 Sept. 1863.
50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
" At the Hacienda de Conception, on the road from Chihuahua to Rio Flo" rida," a mass of meteoric iron estimated to weigh 3,853 lbs. — Bartlett. The exact locality of this hacienda I have not been able to ascertain.
" Ninety miles north-west of Santa Rosa," supposed to be the Santa Rosa in the province of Coahuila, in Mexico, lat. 28°, long. 101° 30' ; Ass't A. Schott, of the Mexican Boundary Survey, reports a large number of masses of mete- oric iron ; see page 34, Part II, of Major Emory's Report. This statement needs confirmation.
" Sancha Estate, some fifty or sixty miles from Santa Rosa, in the north of Coahuila." This is the locality of the mass of meteoric iron, weighing 252 pounds, and now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, figured, de- scribed and analyzed by Professor Smith ; see Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 154, and Silliman's Journal, (2) XIX, 160. Professor Smith says, " various accounts were given of the precise locality, but none seemed very satisfactory." It is not unlikely that this mass is from the same locality mentioned by Mr. Schott.
" Near the South-western edge of the Balson de Mapimi, on the route to the Mines of Parral, there is a meteorite, near the road, of not less than a ton weight ;" on the authority of Mr. Weidner, of the mines of Freiberg, as stated by Professor Smith (Smithsonian Report for 1855, page 155), Mapimi is in Ion. 103° 30'; lat. 25° 45' nearly.
"At the Hacienda of Venagas, there was (1827) a piece of iron that would make a cylinder, one yard in length, with a diameter of ten inches." It was said to have been brought from the mountains near the Hacienda." Professor Smith, on the authority of Dr. Berlandier (Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 155), makes the above statement; the exact locality of the Hacienda I have been unable to ascertain ; it is probably nearly in lat. 24°, Ion. 101°.
La Paz, New Mexico, near the Colorado River, about lat. 33° 30'. A mass of meteoric iron, weighing 10 pounds, was brought from that locality, in 1862, by Mr. H. Ehrenberg.
A number of other localities of meteoric iron might be added from more southern and central portions of Mexico ; but as that is a region to which the attention of Californian explorers and capitalists has not yet been much directed, it will not be necessary to cite them here. It is hoped that the circulation of the above list may be the means of procuring further information in regard to the masses of iron noticed ; and that, possibly, more of them may be brought to San Francisco.
Regular Meeting, August 3d, 1863.
President in the Chair.
Present, eleven members.
F. M. Spence, of Victoria, V. I., was elected a Corresponding Member.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 51
Donations to the Cabinet :
Two species of grasses collected in Mariposa County, by Mr. Rowlandson.
Donations to the Library :
The following foreign journals and scientific works were received through the Smithsonian Institution :
Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society, Yol. i, Nos. 6 and 7 (1859), 8-19 (1860), 20-31 (1861), Vol. ii, Nos. 1-12 (1862) ; List of the Fellows for
1861 and 1862 ; Der Zoologische Garten, Nos. 1-12, 1862 ; Bulletins de l'Academie Royale de Belgique, Tomes ix-xii, 1860, 1861 ; Memoires de l'Academie de Dijon (2) ix, x, 1861 ; Annuaire de l'Academie Royale de Belgique, Annees 27 et 28 ; Memoires de la Societe Imperiale de Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg, Tome viii, 1861 ; Sitzungsberichte der k. bayr. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Miinchen, 1861, ii, Heft 1-3, 1862, i, Heft 1-4 1862, ii, 1 ; Abhandlungen der Math. Physik. Classe der k. bayr. Aka- demie der Wissenschaften, Band ix, Abtheilung 2, Miinchen, 1862 ; Anualen der Konigl. Sternwarte bei Miinchen, Band xi, 1862; Nachtrage zu Maly's Enumeratio plantarum phanerogamicarum imperii Austriaci universi, von Aug. Neilreich, Wien 1861 ; Verhandlungen der k. k. zool.-bot. Gesellschaft in Wien, 1861, Bd xi; Jahrbuch der k. k. geolog. Reichsanstalt 1861 and 1862, Baud xii ; Untersuchungen iiber die Dichten und Brechungs-exponente, von Dr. Ad. Weiss und Ed. Weiss ; Geognostische Beschreibung der preuss. Oberlausitz. von E. F. Glocker, Gorlitz. 1857 ; Abbandlungen der Natur- forschenden Gesellschaft zu Gorlitz, Band ii, 1860; Memoires de l'Academie imperiale de St. Petersburg, Tome iii, No. 12, iv, Nos. 1-9 ; Schriften der k. phys.-okon. Gesellchaft zu Konigsberg, Jahrgang 1, Heft 2 (1861), ii, 2,
1862 ; Die Culturpflanzen Norwegens, von Dr. P. C. Schubler, Christiana, 1862 ; Meteorologische Beobachtungen des Observatoriums zu Christiana i and ii, 1862 ; Beskrivelse over Lophogaster typicus, von Dr. M. Sars, Christiana, 1862 ; Geologiske undersogelser af Dr. Theodor Kierulf, Chris- tiana, 1862 ; Zwei Karten zur geognostischen Beschreibung der preuss. Oberlausitz, von E. P. Glocker ; Mittheilungen der Naturf. Gesellschaft in. Bern, 1858, Nos. 408-423, 1859, 424-439, 1860, 440-468 ; Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturf. Gesellschaft, 43*e Versammlung, Bern, 1859 ; Correspondenzblatt des Naturf. Vereins zu Riga, 12ter Iahrgang, 1862 ; Bericht iiber die Thatigkeit der St. Gallischen Naturwissens. Gesellschaft, 1858-1860 ; Atti della Societa elvetica delle Scienze Naturali riunita in Lugano, 1860, 44th Session ; Verhandelingen van bet Bataviaasch Genoot- schap, Part xxvii, 1860, xxviii. 1860 ; Tijdschrift voor indische Taal-Land-en Volkenkuude, Deel vi, 2-7, vii, 1-6, viii, 1-6, ix, 1-6, x, 1-6 (1860) ; Studien aux der Natur, von Dr. Ad. Weiss und J. G. Weiss ; Fluorescein der Farbenstoffe, von Dr. Ad. Weiss.
52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFOKNIA
Mr. Gabb presented the following paper by Mr. Rdmond :
Description of Four New Species of Echinodermata, from the Tertiaries of Contra Costa County.
BY AUGUSTE KEMOND.
Astrodapsis Conrad. A. Whitneyi Remond.
Disk circular, or sub-pentagonal, slightly notched at the extremity of the ambulacra.
Apex central and elevated ; edge depressed.
Ambulacra! star symmetrical, prominent near the apex ; petals equal, reach- ing to the margin of the disk.
Interambulacral spaces much depressed near the edge.
Lower surface slightly and gradually concave ; furrows well marked and straight.
Mouth central, circular ; anal aperture small, sub-marginal.
Papillary tubercles somewhat remote, smaller above than beneath, situated in wide and shallow cells ; miliary tubercles very numerous and crowded, both on the superior and inferior surfaces.
Greatest diameter 1.8 inches
Smallest diameter 1.65 "
Height 0.3 "
Locality : Kirker's Pass formations. Found in lower pliocene beds.
The genus astrodapsis, to which I have referred the above species, was indi- cated by Mr. Conrad, in the Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. VII, Pala?onto- logical Report, page 196, without any generic description.
The genus is closely allied to clypeaster, but differs from it in having the petals of the ambulacral star extending to the edge of the disk, opened at the extremity, and in the margin of the disk being slightly notched at the extremity of each petal. The inter-ambulacral spaces are depressed. On the under surface there is a deep groove corresponding to each petal.
My collection, and that of the State Geological Survey.
A. tumid-us Remond.
Disk rounded sub-pentagonal, tbick, rounded on the edge, very slightly notched at the end of the ambulacral areas.
Apex small, central, depressed.
Ambulacral petals symmetrical, very prominent, reaching to the margin, longitudinally grooved by a median line. The outer pores of the petals abruptly depressed on each side.
Inferior surface slightly concave.
Mouth central, small, rounded.
Ambulacral furrows straight, well marked.
Anus small, sub-marginal.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 53
Papillary tubercles numerous, especially in the ambulacral areas, and in the, center beneath, not prominent, situated in comparatively deep and sub-angular cavities.
Greatest diameter 1.34 inches.
Shortest diameter 1.26 "
Height 0.34 "
Locality : Kirker's Pass formations ; occurs as the preceding species ; also two miles west of Walnut Creek House.
From the collections of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, of the State Geological Survey, and my own.
Echinarachntus van Phels. E. Brewerianus Rem.
Disk small, oval-elongated, broader behind, rather thin.
Upper surface slightly convex ; margin rounded.
Apex posteriorly sub-central.
Petals close, nearly symmetrical, the anterior and posterior ones the longest, as wide as or even wider than the inter-ambulacral spaces ; ambulacral areas composed of very narrow plates, widening on the margin.
Inferior surface plane.
Ambulacral furrows not visible in the specimens examined.
Mouth small, central.
Anus very small, sub-marginal.
Papillary tubercles numerous, rounded, somewhat prominent, more crowded beneath than above.
Length 1.22 inches
Width 1.06 "
Height 0.30 "
Locality : Two miles east of "Walnut Creek House ; from miocene beds.
Collection of the State Geological Survey, and mine.
This species is dedicated to Prof. W. H. Brewer, Botanist to the Survey.
Clypeaster Lamark. C. Gabbii Bern.
Disk rather small, comparatively thick, varying from circular to sub-penta- gonal and irregular sub-oval.
Apex nearly central, sub-elevated ; margin rounded ; genital apparatus sub- angular.
Ambulacral star almost symmetrical ; petals about equal in length, elongated, open at their extremities.
Inferior surface flat near the edge, and gently concave in the center.
Mouth depressed, sub-central.
Ambulacral furrows straight, slightly marked.
Anal aperture very small, marginal.
54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Tubercles of the upper surface numerous, especially in the ambulacra, round and prominent.
Greatest diameter 1.16 inches.
Smallest diameter 1.10 "
Height 0.28 "
Locality : The C. Gabbii occurs abundantly on the eastern shore of San Pablo Bay, south of Mare Islaud, in soft sand-stones of miocene age.
Collections of the State Geological Survey, and Academy of Natural Sciences ; also Mr. Gabb's, Mr. F. L. A. Pioche's, and mine.
Dr. Kellogg read the following paper :
Description of a New Species of Allium.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Allium L.
Allium parvum Kellogg. [Fig. 13.]
Scape short, naked, narrowly ancipital ; leaves two, long linear-lanceolate, acute, apex recurved, plain above, much attenuated towards the subterranean base, which is somewhat canaliculate ; lamina from five to ten-nerved, margins remotely subscabrulose ; flowers pale, purplish, about eight ; umbel convex, pedicels triangular, thickening upwards, about as long as the flowers, nerves of the sepals distinctly purple to the tips ; three outer sepals longer and broader, erect, entire, oblong, somewhat obtuse, carinate ; the three inner linear-lanceo- late sub-acute ; genitals included, iDner stamens slightly longer, anthers pale, blueish, filaments simple, expanded at the base ; style equal, stigma acute, simple (or obsoletely lobed) ; capsule in outline obcordateley trigastric, embryo granular (mature fruit not observed), appears to be somewhat substipitate, as seen in the figure, the three cells somewhat grooved on the back ; spathe per- sistent, two-parted, ovate, sub-acute, about eleven-nerved, hyaline, and lilac purple ; bulb ovate, oblong, externally loosely coated with light-colored, smooth- nerved membranaceous tunics. The scape is often found only an inch above ground, as in the recent specimens from Mount Davidson by Mr. Herbert 0. Dorr. The leaves are two to three times the leugth of the scape. Our figure is from a cultivated specimen furnished by Mr. H. G. Bloomer, from bulbs sent us some years since by Mr. Andrew A. Veatch, from "Washoe. This is the largest form of it we have yet seen. The bulbs, however, under culture, are often three or four times the size here represented. It has none of the garlic odor so common in this genus.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. Fig. 13.
55
56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Regular Meeting, August 17th, 1863. Dr. Trask in the Chair.
Present, eleven members.
Donations to the Cabinet :
Three boxes of ores from various localities, presented by Dr. Trask. Mr. Lorquin presented a number of land shells collected on the Phillippine Islands by Mr. Lorquin, senior. A box of shells from the Smithsonian Institution.
Donations to the Library :
Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke AkademievanWetenschappen ; Afdeeling Naturkunde, Parts 10-14, 1860-1862; Same, Afdeeling Letter- kunde, Parts 5-6, 1860-1862 ; Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Akademie van Wetensckappen te Amsterdam, 1859, 1860, 1861 ; Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society, Yol. iii, Nos. 1-4, Jan. to April, 1863 ; Nachrickten von der Georg-Augusts Universitat und der Konigl. Gesells. der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1862, Nr. 1-27.
The above were received through the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Cooper read the following paper :
On New or Rare Mollusca Inhabiting the Coast of California.—
No. II.
BY J. G. COOPER, M.D.
The following species were collected while exploring for the State Geological Survey, along the main land and islands bordering Santa Barbara channel, in May, June, and July last. Besides those described as new, I obtained addi- tional specimens of some of those described in 1862, confirming the specific characters then given, and to some extent establishing the generic more accu- rately.
Careful notes and drawings from living specimens furnish the basis of most of the descriptions, together with examination of the specimens in alcohol.
With regard to localities, it must be noticed that "Santa Barbara" and " Santa Barbara Island " are very distinct both in local characteristics and the groups of animals inhabiting them. The island is about seventy-five miles from the town, and thirty-five from the nearest main land. Catalina Island is twen- ty-four miles from the main land, and very different in its molluscous animals from both the main land and the other islands, being the richest locality on our shores.
I have not been able to compare these species with those from South Amer- ica described by D'Orbigny and others ; but, like our other littoral mollusca, they are probably distinct. I have, however, found the pelagic species Omnia-
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.
57
strephes giganteus D'Orb in large numbers, and " hundreds " of a species of Argonauta washed ashore last spring as far north as Santa Cruz Island, as I was informed by Dr. Shaw, who presented specimens to the State collection.
Fig. 14.
Aplysia Linn. A. californica Cooper. State Collection, species 1045.
Form and external appearance as usual in the genus. Length fifteen inches, breadth five, height about the same. Color pale gray or greenish, becoming purplish on the side, folds of mantle with scattered white specks, from which an irregular network of brown lines extends over the rest of the body, inter- spersed with large brown blotches. Inner surface of mantle varied with alter- nating painted bars of white and dark brown interlocking together. Sole of foot black. Eyes very minute and black.
Shell contained in the substance of the mantle cartilaginous, translucent, trapezoidal or hatchet-shaped, margins rounded, slightly convex above, the nucleus or centre in old specimens distant from the posterior end or apex. Faint radiating lines diverging from the nucleus, crossed by an irregular net- work of darker lines, all ending abruptly at some distance from the margin, which has thus a wide, nearly transparent border. An accessory plate arises on the inner surface from the nucleus, spatulate in form and slightly raised.
The two younger specimens have the clear border and accessory plate less developed, and very young ones do not probably show these characters at all, but resemble the typical Aplysia in the form of the shell. On this account I am unwilling to constitute it a new genus, but propose to call it a sub-genus under the name of Neaplysia.
There was no appearance of a multiplication of shells, said to occur in old specimens of Aplysia. Not having any full description of the internal anatomy
58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
of Aph/sia, I cannot at present determine whether there are many other differ- ences in structure.
The stomach was full of large fragments of Alga,. I found three specimens only, on the beach at San Pedro, July 25th, just after a heavy blow which occurred at the lowest summer tides. Kept in water for some time, they were very slow and uninteresting in movements, showing no evidence of any means of defence except the exudation of a beautiful purple fluid from the mantle when handled. This fluid, common to the Aplysias, though formerly supposed to be poisonous and indelible, possesses no such properties, though it may be a defence against marine animals which attack them.
The figure, taken from a tracing of the shell, and electrotyped by Dr. A. Kellogg, represent the inner surface of the most developed specimen, of the natural size.
Navarchus, Cooper, Proc. Cal. Acad. Ap. 1863.
N. inermis Cooper.
Syn. Strategus inermis Cooper, Proc. Cal. Acad. II, 1862, p. 202.
One small specimen, dredged among seaweeds in ten fathoms, near the east- ern shore of the " Isthmus," Catalina Island, shows no variation from those obtained at San Diego.
Doris, Linn.
D. albopunctata Cooper. State Coll. Species 1000.
Form ovate, pointed behind, flattened, surface shining, minutely rugose. Ten- tacles club-shaped, retractile, branchial plume, 6-8 parted, bipinnately divided, situated near the posterior extremity. Color yellow or orange brown, dorsal surface thickly speckled with small white dots, each forming a slightly raised papilla. Beneath paler.
Dredged from a rocky bottom in twenty fathoms, a mile from the shore at Santa Barbara. Also found on rocks at low water mark near the north-west end of Catalina Island.
Length about one inch, breadth one-third of an inch.
Doris montereyensis Cooper, Proc. Cal. Acad. II, 1862, p. 204. Found at Santa Barbara Island on rocks at low water, differing from the original specimens only in larger size and deeper color. The tentacles are club- shaped, the branchial 7-8 parted, bipinnate and from one opening.
Doris sanguined Cooper, loc. cit. (Asteronotus.) Four specimens found with the last, differ from the type only in having the black spots very small. The tentacles are acute, cyliudro-conic, retractile into a cavity bordered by a toothed membrane. The branchiae form an erect chim- ney-shaped expansion. I cannot discover the slellate valvular structure of the branchial opening, which characterises the genus Asteronotus, in these specimens.
Doris Sandiegensis Cooper, loc. cit. Two found with the last agree exactly with specimens from San Diego. The
ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES. 59
tentacles are conical and acute. The branchial orifice does not present the pecu- liar characters of Actinocyclus. Although all these species differ to some extent, they have no characters to distinguish them generically from the typical Doris, unless anatomical or microscopical examination should reveal them, or the characters of that genus should be more closely limited.
Triopa Johnston, 1838. T. catalinm Cooper. State coll. species, 1002.
Form much elongated, narrow, dorsal surface flat, becoming spatulate poste- riorly. Head expanded laterally and flattened, wider than the body, orna- mented with 14 cilice, equally distributed around its margin, so as to form nearly a circle. Tentacles long, conical, retractile. Three pairs of short ciliae at equal distances apart between the tentacles and middle of the body, connected by the sharp edges of the dorsal surface. Branchial plume five parted, bipin* nately divided, expanding to nearly twice the width of the body, situated a little behind the middle of the body. Two short cilice close together on the medium line, a little behind the branchiae. Length 1.50, breadth 0.25 inch. Color yellowish, speckled with white, filaments vermilion red.
Four specimens found on sea weed among rocks at low water near north end of Catalina Island, June 16th.
Dendronotus Alder and Hancock, 1845. D. iris Cooper. State coll. species 959.
Pale purple, varying to orange red, foot narrowly edged with white, tentacles with white tips and a subterminal orange ring, branchial processes purple, the smaller ones sometimes olive near the base. Length of largest specimens 3, breadth 0.50 inch.
Several found on the beach at Santa Barbara, May 5th, having been washed ashore by an unusually heavy sea, occurring at a very low stage of the tide. One, also, dredged on seaweed, from a depth of 28 fathoms, two miles off shore.
This s"pecies seems more variable in color than the other nudibranchiata of this coast, but I saw no reason for considering them of more than one species. Those washed ashore being somewhat injured, although still alive, I made no drawing of them, and the more perfect one dredged was too small for this pur- pose.
In the " Mollusca and Shells," of the U. S. Exploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes, Dr. Gould mentions a species of Dendronotus collected at Puget Sound, but does not name it or give any clue to its characters, except that the branchim have white tips, unlike our specimens. It is very probable, however, that it belongs to the same species, as so many of the Mollusca of this coast have an equally wide range.
jEolis Cuvier, 1798.
JE. barbarensis Cooper. State coll. species 978.
Rose-red, longer tentacles tipped with yellow, branchial cilice simple, in six longitudinal rows, all short, the middle rows longest and tipped with blue, ante-
60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
rior tentacles two, above the mouth, dorsal tentacles club-shaped, a white streak extending from the median line between them to the mouth. Length nearly an inch.
One specimen dredged on a rocky bottom, in a depth of 16 fathoms, a mile from the shore at Santa Barbara.
Although small, its characters are too different from those of our other spe- cies, when of the same size, to allow us to consider it the young of any of them.
Flabellina Cuvier, 1830. F. opalescens Cooper.
Syn. ^Eolis, (Flabellina?) opalescens, Cooper— Proc. Cal. Acad. II, 1862, p. 205.
9 JFhis species, dredged from the same locality as the last, presented exactly the «ame characters as the original specimens from San Diego. I also found a few of them on the rocky shore of Santa Barbara Island, differing only in having the branchial olive, tipped with white.
Phidania Gray, 1850. P. iodinea, Cooper— Syn. ^Eolis (Phidania?), iodinea, Cooper, loc. cit. sup. I found one of this species on the beach at Santa Barbara, agreeing exactly with those from San Diego.
Chior^era Gould, 1855. C. leonina (?) Gould — Molluscs and Shells, U. S. Expl. Exped.
Wholly translucent, pale yellow, the variations marked only by a darker shade. Form of head nearly conical, the apex anterior, forming an angular roof above the oral opening. Branchial processes five on each side, larger than represented in Gould's figure, imbricated and decumbent. Length 2.75, height 1 inch. Otherwise as in the description and figure of Gould's specimen.
A siugle specimen dredged in 20 fathoms off Santa Barbara, May 15th, dif- fers in the points above mentioned from the northern animal, but being much smaller, the differences may arise from immaturity, and I have therefore pre- ferred to retain the same name for it.
The single specimen which formed the type of the genus was dredged in Puget Sound, was over five inches long and of various bright colors, the head subglobose, higher than oral opening, branchiae in six pairs, comparatively smaller and erect, all of which differences may have arisen from more perfect development, and from having been observed under more favorable conditions.
From its rarity on our southern coast we may expect to find it more abund- ant northward.
Dr. Kellogg read a paper describing a new species of Alsine, collected by Mr. Bolander, in the swamp near Mission and Howard and Seventh and Eighth Streets, San Francisco.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 61
Description of a New Species of Alsine.
BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.
Alsine Wahlenb. A. palustre Kellogg.
Plant slender, somewhat decumbent at the base, simple or slightly branching at the summit, glabrous, sulcate on opposite sides of the stem, sub-flexuous, six inches to a foot in height. Leaves lance-linear, acute, mucronate, glabrous, margins scabrous, sub-connate and slightly sheathing at the membranous base, shorter than the internodes (half to more than an inch in length). Peduncles slightly compressed, axillary, solitary, long, naked. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute or subacute, one to three-nerved, green with scarious margins, about half the length of the petals. Petals white, oblanceolate, obtuse, entire. Stamens ten, subequal, short. Styles three ; stigmas deeply biparted.
A plant very abundant in swamps in this vicinity, known to us for the last ten years, but as we find no description which we recognize, we conclude it must be unknown. Blossoming in July and August. Specimens by Mr. Bolander.
Regular Meeting, September 7th, 1863. President in the Chair.
Present, seven members.
Donations to Cabinet :
Fishes, Crustacea, and shells from the Sandwich Islands, by Andrew Garrett, Esq.
Donations to the Library :
Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. ix, sigs. 13 and 14, May and June, 1863. Proceedings of the Acad- emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for April and May, 1863. Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society, Vol. 3, No. 5, May, 1863. SHliman's Journal, July, 1863.
Professor Whitney presented the following paper by Dr. J. G. Cooper :
62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Fig. 15.
On a New Genus of Terrestrial Mollusca Inhabiting California.
BY J. G. COOPER, M.D.
Binneya Cooper.*
Generic characters. — General form of auimal like Limax, with a shell re- sembling that of Omalonyx or Lamellaria.
Body about three times as long as shell, semicylindrical, obtuse in front, form- ing an acute angle behind ; foot extending the whole length, somewhat distinct anteriorly, and carinate behind. Mantle shield-like, covering the back anterior to the shell for about one-fourth its length, not reflected over the shell. Eye- peduncles moderate, slender, two short acute tentacles in front of head. Lingual teeth resembling those of Helix in form and arrangement.
Shell entirely external, ear-shaped, nearly flat, about one-third as long as the animal, which it does not half cover when retracted. Spire flattened, forming two horizontal volutions, last whorl enormously expanded and slightly arched. Columella distinct, entire, hiding the interior of the convolutions.
Binneya notabilis Cooper. State Coll. Species 988.
Speajic characters. — Animal dark lead-colored, with black reticulations, and a wide brown stripe along the median line, extending from the mantle to the front of head, about one-fourth of the total length.
Shell with a pale brown, smooth and shining epidermis, extending beyond the margin, translucent when youug, becoming thickened by an opaque white deposite on the interior when old. First whorl or nucleus ornamented with about thirty delicate parallel revolving ribs, not concealed by the epidermis, and ending abruptly at the commencement of the transverse lines of growth in the body whorl.
Length 0.46, breadth 0.34, height 0.12 inch.
This genus resembles Limax in its shield-like mantle, but in the more essen- tial characters of the lingual teeth, appears to belong undoubtedly to the Heli- ci&a. It approaches nearest to the subfamily Vitrinirue, in having the mantle in front of the shell, approaching nearest to the Daudebardia of Europe ; but differs in the form and opacity of the shell, which resembles some of the Suc- cinince, especially Omalonyx of South America, etc. It differs from these very
* To all those who have seen the splendid works on the " Terrestrial Mollusks of the United States," by the late Dr. Amos Binney, so ably continued by bis son W. G. Binney, the appropriateness of the name will be at once evident.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 63
much in the form of the animal, and the shell being wholly external, forming one of those connecting links which make it difficult or impossible to divide the Helicidcc into distinct groups.
Habitat. So far this animal has been found only in Santa Barbara Island, one of the group within this State. It there inhabits but one station, so far as I could discover after very careful search. That is the head of a ravine facing the south-east and about two hundred and fifty feet above the sea. During the wet season there may be a little water springing from this place, but for at least five months it is not even damp, while the remainder of the island is entirely destitute of water. Myriads of Helix kelletii and two other species (probably new) inhabit it, but during the dry season retire into a torpid aestivation, not disturbed by the fogs and mists of summer. The Binneya, the rarest of all, and not protected from drought by its shell, burrows down to the under surface of thick succulent roots, and contracting to about twice the size of its shell, covers the rest of its body with a white mucrous secretion, which appears to be impervious to the moisture within, and dries into a tough leathery shell.* When moistened for a few hours, the animal separates the edge of this box from that of its true shell, and becomes active.
The figures [Fig. 15] represent three positions of the shell, the animal acti- vating and also crawling.
I found but three alive, and eighteen dead shells.
Dr. Trask presented, in the name of Mr. Garrett, the following paper :
Descriptions of New Species of Fishes.
BY ANDREW GARRETT, OF HONOLULU, S. I.
Julis Cuv.
Julis ornatissimus Garrett.
D. 9-13 ; A. 2-13 ; V. 1-5 ; P. 12 ; C. 2, 1, 6, 6, 1, 2.
The body of this Julis is rich green, which gradually passes into light blue on the breast and belly. The scales on the green ground are margined with vermillion red, and there is a slight tinge of the latter color on the abdominal scales. Four alternate oblicpie light red and blue vittae pass from the middle of the gill-opening, and gradually fade away beneath the anterior portion of the abdomen. The head, which is emerald green, is ornamented with vermillion red stripes, which have their margins shaded off with brilliant blue. The stripes are disposed as follows : one traverses the upper line of profile, two extend from the upper lip to the eye, one follows the lower line of the head, passing up the hinder margin of the gill covers ; two horizontal ones on the cheek, and, poste- riously to the eye they assume reticulations. Irides golden yellow, with shades of light red ; cornea dusky green. The dorsal, anal and caudal fins are carmine red, margined with pale blue. The former with a basal row of large spots, and
* In this it resembles the Testacellce of Europe, which are otherwise very different.
64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
an intramarginal band, dark green. Two similar bands mark the outer half of the anal fin, and spots of the same color may be observed on the caudal. The ventrals are pale, straw-yellow, with blue, anterior margins. Pectorals have a pale, yellow tinge at their base.
The greatest depth of the body, as compared to the entire length of the fish, is about one to four. The scales are rather large. The head constitutes a little less than a fourth of the total length. In addition to the usual teeth which characterize the genus, we observe a spiniform tooth projecting obliquely for- ward from the posterior portion of the branches of the upper jaw. The caudal fin is posteriorly rounded off, and the ventrals are long and pointed.
Length, 4)^ inches.
Habitat, Sandwich Islands.
Remarks. — We have observed only a single example of this very rare and beautiful fish, which was captured at the island of Hawaii in 1856. Its pecu- liar markings will readily distinguish it from any of the numerous species in- habiting our coasts. In shape and markings of the head it resembles Julis pcecila, figured in the Zoology of the Voyage of the " Blossom," but the colors of the body and fins are widely different.
Chironectes Cuv.
Chironectes ruhro-fuscus Garrett.
D. 3-13 ; A. 9 ; V. 6 ; P. 11 ; C. 9.
A single example of this species now before me has been preserved in spirits several years. It is in fine condition, though the colors are much faded. The general shape is oblong-oval, and much compressed. The thickness at the base of the head enters about five and a half times in the total length. The whole surface is covered with crowded minute hispid asperities, and very small, remote, cutaneous, tuft-like appendages. The head, as viewed in profile, is irregularly rounded, the chin forming the anterior end, being slightly in advance of the mouth. The eyes are exceedingly small, elliptically oval in shape, their greatest diameter being only three-twentieths of an inch. Their distance from the mar- gin of the upper jaw is five times their own length. The mouth is vertical. On the top of the snout, midway between the eyes and the end of the upper jaw, is a long setaceous appendage, articulated to a tubercle, and tufted at the end. On the cranium there are two stout, curved processes, which project posteriorly, the hind one the largest, and both enveloped in the integuments. The dorsal fin takes its origin at a point corresponding to the middle of the total length of the fish, caudal exclusive. Its height equals the length of its own base. The caudal trunk and fin are slightly oblique to the horizontal axis of the body. The anal fin is small and rounded off along its outer margin. The rays in all the fins have their ends slightly prolonged in little fleshy points. The color, as noted from the living fish, is dark red, with irregular, cloud-like markings and spots, dusky gray. Everywhere maculated with small, irregular, dusky spots, which are the most numerous on the belly. A few deep black maculations on the vertical fins and scattering ones on the body. The interior of the mouth
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 65
and tongue are mottled with red and white. Irides pale flesh color ; cornea black. The smooth inner surfaces of the pectoral and ventral fins are intensely red.
Length, 8}4 inches.
Habitat, Sandwich Islands.
Remarks. — This fine large species is very rare. As compared with the C. leprosus from the same location, it is much larger, more compressed, the eye3 much smaller and the ground color is quite different. In the leporina the eyes are less than twice their own diameter distant from the auterior margin of the upper jaw. In our fish they are five diameters distant from the same point.
Ch^etodon L.
Chatodon multicinctus Garrett.
D. 13-24 ; A. 3-19 ; V. 1-5 ; P. 14 ; C. 3, 1, 8, 7, 1, 2.
Form oval. The head enters about four and a half times in the total length, The upper line of profile from the snout to the dorsal fin is nearly straight, rising at an angle of 60°. The snout is short. The eye is large, circular, its diameter one-third of the length of the head, and placed just midway between the opercular corner and the end of the snout. The preopercular margin exhibits a few small dentations. The scales are moderate size.
The dorsal and anal fins are posteriorly rounded off, The hinder margin of the caudal is truncate. The anterior soft ray of the ventrals is slightly pro- longed beyond the margin of the fin.
Color creamy-yellow. The sides are marked with five vertical, yellowish- brown, diffuse stripes, the two anterior ones terminate on the side of the belly, and the others at the base of the anal fin. There is a slight indication of a sixth one along the basal half of the soft portion of the dorsal fin. Each scale is marked with a faint, yellowish-brown dot. A yellow line starts from a point above the base of the ventral, follows the line of the belly, and unites with a black one which traverses the anal fin. A blue black spot in front of the dorsal fin gradually passes into the ocular fascia, the latter being brown above and yellow beneath the eye. Irides chrome-yellow. Upper lip brown. A vertical black stripe, shaded off anteriorly with vermillion, marks the middle of the caudal trunk. The dorsal spines and filaments are orange-yellow, the inter- radial membrane is colorless. The soft portion of the dorsal and anal are ochre-yellow along their middle-third, the former with a broad yellow and the latter with a pale greenish margin. The two colors on either fin separated by a narrow black and white line. The caudal is colorless, with a basal vertical luniform bar, its convex margin anterior. The ventrals are whitish, and the pectorals colorless.
Length, Z% inches.
Habitat, Sandwich Islands.
Remarks. — Two examples of this species were procured in Honolulu market.
_ „ 5 Nov. 1863.
Peoc. Cal. Acad., vol. hi. u
66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Ophisurus Lac. Ophisurus Californiensis Garrett.
This Ophisurus is more robust than usual in species of this genus. The head is large, swollen beneath, and comprises about one-twelfth of the entire length. The depth, taken at the origin of the anal fin, enters about twenty-eight times in the total length, or twice in the length of the head. The pectorals are large, elliptical in shape, their tips reaching posteriorly nearly as far as the origin of the dorsal fin. The dorsal and anal fins are well developed, the latter passing over a base considerably more than half the length of the fish.
The color in spirits is brown, paler on the lower half of the head, and cinereous along the throat and belly. A dorsal row of large, roundish, brown- ish-black spots extends from the occipital region to the end of the tail ; the spots being intersected by the fin, and the two anterior ones are saddle shaped. A second row, disposed alternately to the first, occupies the upper half of the flanks. The head is irregularly maculated, the spots becoming paler beneath. The fins are light, brownish-grey ; the dorsal and anal with a narrow darker margin, which is articulated with dark brown.
Length, 19)^ inches.
Habitat, Lower California.
Kemarks. — The specimen described above, was captured at Margarita Bay, by Mr. White, of the whaler Rambler, to whom I am indebted for a valuable collection of objects of natural history.
Dr. Ayres remarked that he had recently received from Tomales Bay specimens of an ichthyic type, new to this coast, and probably new to science. The species is closely allied to Scomber esox, though the jaws are but moderately elongated. It is judged worthy of re- cord, even previous to any description, since no fish of that group has hitherto been found in the waters of California. The specimens exhibited to the Academy were from five to eight inches in length. He also gave notice of the acquisition of a specimen of Thrasher, taken in the Bay of San Francisco. The species is a very close representative of the Atlantic form Alopias vulpes, differing, how- ever, in the proportions of the dorsal and anal fins, and in the posi- tion of the branchial apertures ; the tail constitutes decidedly more than half of the entire length. The specimen is about five feet in length.
Dr. Ayres presented a specimen of Barnacles, found floating at sea in lat. 33° 8' N., Ion. 129° 35' W., by Capt. Geo. Goodrum of San Francisco. They were of the Anatifa type, but exhibited the remarkable feature of being attached, not to some extraneous sub-
ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES. 67
stance, as a fragment of wreck, for instance, but to a spherical, fleshy receptacle, apparently a portion of their own system. This receptacle was of a light, yellowish color, about the size of a small orange, which it somewhat resembled in aspect. To it were at- tached, by the usual flexible pedicles, about a dozen Barnacles, allied to Anatifa, as above indicated, but differing from it in the breadth of the dorsal plate, and in the projection of a strong keel at the base of both dorsal and lateral plates. When this specimen was procured, myriads like it covered the sea for miles in the track of the vessel. Barnacles aggregated in this manner of growth do not appear to have been hitherto reported.
Regular Meeting, October 5th, 1863. President in the Chair.
Seven members jjresent.
A donation to the cabinet of several species of fishes from the Sandwich Islands was received from Mr. Andrew Garrett.
Donation to the Library :
Fragmenta Phytographise Australia?, by Ferdinand Mueller, Vol. Ill, from the author.
Mr. Bolander stated that he had recently collected two grasses believed not to have been before found on this coast, though com- mon in the Atlantic States, viz. : Paspalum distichum (L.) along the shores of Clear Lake, covering large patches of ground, and Leersia oryzoides (Swartz), along Cache Creek, of much larger size than he had met with in the East. He believed Grastridium australe, which covers almost every dry hill in the interior, to be indigenous.
Dr. Behr made some remarks on the date of introduction of some foreign plants, now becoming very common in this vicinity, which he intends to make the subject of a future article.
Fig. 16.
Mirabilis Califobnica. Var. villosa Kellogg. [For description see page 10 of this volume.]
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 69
Regular Meeting, October 19th, 1863. President in the Chair.
Six members present.
Dr. Ferdinand Mueller was elected an Honorary member. Frederick Wideman, of Sinaloa, Alex. Drauphing of San Sebastian, and S. W. Morrell, of Mazatlan, were elected Corresponding mem- bers.
Dr. Cooper exhibited specimens of Lagomys princeps, the " Little Chief Hare," from the summits of the Sierra Nevada. He remarked that this rare animal lived about the limits of perpetual snow, and was so rarely seen that residents for several years near its resorts had never seen it. He found it quite common in a very limited district, though difficult to obtain, from its extreme shyness. Though before found in the Rocky Mountains near South Pass, and Salt Lake, where it is called " Coney," this was the first record of its occurrence so far to the west and south.
Regular Meeting, November 2d, 1863. President in the Chair.
Twelve members present.
Mr. W. G. Binney, of Burlington, N. J., George N. Lawrence, of New York, and William Cooper, of New York, were elected Corresponding members.
Mr. Lorquin presented two species of California Jays for the Cabinet.
Donations to the Library :
Annuaire de 1' Academie Royale de Belgique, 1863. Bulletin de 1' Academic Royale de Belgique, tomes XIII, XIV. On time boundaries in Geological History, by James D. Dana. On the higher subdivision in the classification of Mammals, by James D. Dana. On Cephalization, and on Megasthenes, and Microsthenes in classification, by James D. Dana. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin, sessions of 1860-62. Memoir on Cali- fornia Mosses by Leo Lesquereux.
YO PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Dr. Cooper presented the following paper :
On new Genera and Species of California Fishes— No. I.
BY J. G. COOPER, M.D.
The fishes described in the following articles were collected by me for the State Geological Survey, along the Southern Coast of this State and among the adjoining islands. While it is possible that some of them may have been described in works not now accessible to us, the probabilities are entirely in favor of their being new, as we have very recent lists of all the species des- cribed as inhabitants of this Coast since the report on fishes collected by the Pacific Rail Road Surveys.
For much information and assistance in their determination, I am indebted to Dr. W. 0. Ayres, and also to Dr. George Hewston, for the use of books not contained in any public library in the city.
The outline illustrations, reduced from accurate measurements, were electro- typed and presented by our industrious collaborator, Dr. Kellogg.
The colors described are in all cases those of the living fish.
Dekaya, n. g.*
Generic characters. — General shape elongated and fusiform, head small and short, premaxillaries slightly protractile, eye large, situated above the level of mouth, profile moderately sloping, snout broad and obtuse.
Preoperculum serrated behind, operculum with one obtuse spine ; branchios- tegal rays five on each side. Opercular openings connected below.
Front rows of teeth on premaxillaries small, conical, acute, and slightly recurved ; those of upper jaw largest, their size decreasing from the middle towards each angle, where there are one or two large canines ; those below hid- den by the upper jaw. Behind this row in both jaws, a band of velvet teeth in about six irregular rows near the symphysis, but ending entirely near the middle of each ramus. Tongue and vomer toothless. Pharyngeal bones and branchial arches densely crowded with large velvet teeth.
Infraorbital bone short, curving up under posterior border of orbit, and not connected with the operculum.
Nostrils double, anterior opening smaller, lips rather thick and fleshy.
Scales small, numerous, oblong, subquadrangular, finely pectinated, covering the whole body and head as far as front of orbit, but leaving a bare space around the eye.
Fins scaleless, as well as caudal rays. Dorsal and anal fins very long at base ; spinous rays few. Lateral line normal.
Dekaya anomala, Cooper, n. sp., State coll. No. 618. [Fig. 17.]
Specific characters. — Length of head contained five times in total length. Dis- tance from end of snout to orbit one-third the length of head, and greater than
* Named in memory of the distinguished author of the Zoological portions of the "Natu- ral History of New York, Dr. James E. Dekay.
Fig. 17.
72 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CALIFORNIA
width of orbit. Height of head just behind orbit about equal to distance from tip of snout to edge of preoperculum ; breadth one-third to one-half of its length. Skin on occiput elevated from the bone by a thick layer of fat, not by any bony expansions.
Height of pectoral fin less than length of head ; its width about one-third of its height, middle rays longest.
Dorsal arising above pectoral joint, its length one-third that of the fish ; first spine one-ninth the length of the fin ; the other spines lengthening to the com- mencement of the soft portion, of which the longest ray is one-fifth the length of the fin, and the last ray one-fifteenth ; the entire fin having a gradually arching outline.
Caudal moderately broad, deeply forked, and acutely pointed ; the upper lobe slightly the largest.
Anal similar in form to dorsal, arising opposite its eighth soft ray and pro- longed a little farther back. It is three-fifths as long as dorsal, its height about one-fourth its length, the first (spinous) ray and the last each half as long as the longest.
Ventrals four-fifths the height of pectorals, arising immediately behind them ; their width one-third of their length.
D. VII, 23-2, C 3-1-6-6-1-3, A 1-2-21-2, P 6-1-11, V, 1-1-1-3. Scales 175 , 44~t £.
Colors. — Pale silvery brown, white below ; an obscure row of brown spots and mottlings on sides ; fins and tail olive uear base ; iris dark brown and gilt.
Remarks. — This fish seems to be a very aberrant form of the Percoid family, having many of the characters of other orders. Its general form and dentition are those of some Sciaenoids, while its entire dorsal, opercular armature and only five branchiostegals separate it both from them and the Percoids. The very long anal is another character found in few if any members of these families. I can find nothing in the pharyngeal bones to indicate its affinities, these being closely like those of both the above families as shown in Seriphus politus and Parala- brax clathratus, which on comparison have them almost exactly similar.
The genus Heterognathodon, of Bleeker, has several of the most peculiar char- acters of this one ; but not having a full description of it, I cannot compare them. There are generic differences at least, and the habitat is widely different, being the East Indies. Richardson places it with other aberrant genera in the family Theraponidae — (Datninae, of Swainson.) which is probably a mixture of sev- eral.
The outline figure represents the fish one-third the natural size ; 22 inches.
This fish is caught rather plentifully in autumn at Catalina Island, where I obtained the one here described, in October, 1861. During my late visit there, in June and July, none would bite, and I have not yet obtained any duplicates. It is called by the very vague name of " White-fish." .
The figure being made from a skin may be a little inaccurate in proportions ; but I hope to be able to present a better one in the Report of the Geological Survey.
This white-fish is not remarkable for excellence as food.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 73
Aykesia, n. g.*
Generic characters. — Form elongated, suboval ; the outline more curved above than below. Scales large, finely pectinated, completely covering the body and head, except in front of orbit ; smaller on head, and becoming very small where they extend over parts of the fins and tail.
Teeth numerous, acute, entire, the anterior row largest ; those below larger than above, and flattened posteriorly. A few smaller ones crowded behind these near symphysis. Pharyngeals villiform.
Premaxillars protractile, the upper arched, twice as high as wide, the lower shutting within it.
Preoperculum entire, a very small obtuse spine at angle of operculum.
Pectorals rather long and pointed. Caudal deeply forked, the lobes acute. Dorsal long, anal moderate.
Differs from Pomacentrus (Lacepede) chiefly in a more arched dorsal outline, armed operculum and unarmed preoperculum, pointed fins and tail, proportions of fins.
The dorsal outline appears to become much more convex with age, chiefly from deposit of fat on the occiput, as is the case in some Labroids, as for instance, L. pulcher (Ayres) aud Julis modestus (Girard), the latter also grow- ing higher in proportion to its length throughout. The dotted line represents the dorsal outline of a specimen one-fourth larger than that figured, but other- wise closely like it.
Ayresia punctipinnis, Cooper, n. sp., State coll. No. 596. [Fig. 18.] Specific characters. — Head forming less than a fourth of total length (0.18), eyes less than one-third the length of head, and less than its own diameter from end of snout, height of head behind orbit about equal to its length. Greatest thickness of body about one-eighth of total length.
Height of pectoral equal to one-fourth the distance from snout to fork of tail (0.21). Dorsal commencing above pectoral joint, its spinous portion nearly one-third of its total length, and one-sixth of its height, the first spine shortest. Soft rays becoming three times as high, forming an obtuse point behind ; the last ray about as long as the spines (the first dorsal spine should be one-fourth longer than in the figure). Caudal peduncle slightly contracted, shorter than caudal rays. Fork of tail extending half-way to its base, the upper lobe longest, being one-fifth of the total length. Anal commencing beneath the tenth dorsal spine, and ending a little anterior to end of soft dorsal, its base less than one- sixth of total length (0.17).
Br. V-V D.XIII, 6-1-6, C. 3-1-6 6-1-3, A.II-11, V. 1-8, P-19. Scales 30 4 -| J- lat. line ant. 19.
Color. — Bluish or greenish-black ; sides, paler, sometimes coppery, fins smoky, the dorsal and caudal spotted with black, iris bronzed brown. Beneath whitish in young, all the hues darker in the old fish. Some are also spotted on the body posteriorly.
* The name of Dr. W. O. Ayres, is well known in connection with Ichthyology, especially that of California.
Fig. 18.
ACADEMY OF NATTJKAL SCIENCES. 75
In the winter of 1861-2, 1 caught several in San Diego Bay, which bit freely at the usual baits. I did not hear any peculiar name applied, but they are confounded with " Perch," which they little resemble. Also found at San Pedro.
A larger one, taken in a net at Santa Barbara Island, in May, 18G3, has the different characters supposed to indicate an older fish, and is much fatter ; its head is also shorter in proportion, but as I find a similar difference in specimens of Girella nigricans Ayres, as well as in the Labroids before mentioned, I must consider these as sexual differences, or in part depending on age and condition. They do not differ more than some specimens of Embiotoca jacksoni from each other, and agree closely in the number of spines and rays of their fins.
Orcynus, Cuvier, 1819. Orcynus pacificus, Cooper, n. sp., State collection, species 1033. [Fig. 19.]
Specific characters. — General profile elliptical, height of body nearly one- quarter its length, breadth about half the height.
Head laterally compressed, somewhat flattened on top, the nose horizontally rounded, but laterally pointed. Base of tail vertically compressed, one-third broader than it is high. Head half the length of body, its height behind orbit equal to half its length. Diameter of orbit one-sixth the length of head, its form obliquely oval. Jaws equal, gape of mouth one-third the length of head.
Pectoral fin, arising at middle of vertical of side, nearly half the total length, its width at base one-eighth of its length, but suddenly narrowing to one- fifteenth, which width it retains nearly to the end, its outer third curving gradu- ally downward, and becoming pointed. First dorsal commencing directly above pectoral, its length nearly one-fourth of total length, and its height in front two- fifths of its length. Spines rapidly decreasing in length from the first to the eighth, the next six about equal, and a third of the first, the last one very short. Second dorsal immediately behind the first and a little higher, triangular, nearly one-third higher than long, its base lengthened posteriorly, and one-third the length of the first dorsal. Finlets eight above and eight below, acutely triangu- lar, those near the middle a little larger.
Caudal large, its lobes equal, their length three times their width, and one- third that of the pectoral ; posterior outline arcuately concave, with slightly wid- ened lobes near the middle.
Anal opposite end of second dorsal, similar to it in form, but smaller, and about twice as high as long, its position half way between the ventrals and caudal. Its first spine is only about one-third as long as the second, which is two-thirds the height of fin ; both concealed by the skiu.
Ventrals arising opposite second dorsal spine, about twice as high as wide, their inner margin with a small pointed lobe.
Cartilaginous ridge on side of caudal peduuele moderate, highest anteriorly, its length half that of caudal lobe. Two slight oblique ridges behind the median ridge.
Lateral line imperceptible in front of fourth dorsal spine, parallel with out- line of back. No scales on head. Thoracic corselet of very large consolidated
Fig. 19.
ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES. 77
scales above pectoral, bordered by six rows of large distinct scales, which grow smaller from before backwards. Scales underneath ventrals and around other fins, similarly consolidated, and depressed under pectoral and ventral. Rest of scales nearly uniform in size.
Teeth numerous, very small, in one row, the palatine dense and velvety. Rays of second dorsal and anal fins nearly hidden by adipose skin.
Br. VI-VI D.XIV-12-|-8, P 32, V, 1-8 A.II-8, -|- 8 C.ll-1-6-6-1-12.
Colors.— Above blackish, sides steel-blue, below silvery white, fins smoky, iris brown, finlets yellow edged with blue.
The largest I saw measured thirty-three inches to fork of tail, and weighed twenty-five pounds.
Numerous in summer among the islands off the southern coast of this State, and is said to occur as far north as San Luis Obispo. It affords excellent sport, being caught by trolling while sailing very rapidly, biting voraciously at a white rag. It is in my opinion the best fish for the table that is caught on this coast, but it is said to be sometimes poisonous.
It belongs to the typical Orcynus of Ouvier, distinguished from Thynnus, by the very long pectoral, eight pairs of finlets, small corselet, etc. The type of Orcynus (Scomber alatunga, Linn., or 0. alalonga, Duhamel), is called "Ala longa" (Long-wing) in the Mediterranean and resembles this species closely, but is figured as less high and with a smaller pectoral fin.
This species is one of several confounded by sailors under the Spanish names of Albicore and Bonito. The English name Tunny is applied to an allied species on the coast of Europe, the Thynnus vulgaris, Cuv., and to its near representative the T. secundi-dorsalis, Storer, of the eastern American coast. These, however, are evidently of a different genus, and as Thynnus is preoccu- pied in insects, the name Orycnus, applied by Gill to the same type, may per- haps be retained, although founded on a mistake. O. coretta, Cuv. and Val., probably represents our species in the Gulf of Mexico.
0
Regular Meeting, November 16th, 1863. Dr. Kellogg in the Chair.
Six members present.
Dr. Cooper read a letter from Mr. A. S. Taylor, now of Santa Barbara, complaining that his name had been omitted from the list of corresponding members, though he was elected several years since. It was resolved that his name be restored, having been omitted on account of his new address being unknown to the Secretary.
78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Mr. Bolancler read the following article :
*o
Enumeration of Shrubs and Trees growing in the vicinity of the mouth of San Francisco Bay.
BY HENRY N. BOLANDER.
The territory in question is divided naturally into three parts :
1. The northern part of the peninsula of San Francisco, with an undulating and hilly surface, consists of drifting sand, with a small per centage of humus mingled with it.
2. The Oakland Hills, running N. 54° W. mag., from the Bay of San Pablo to San Leandro, a distance of twenty-three miles, with the adjacent slopes and valleys. Heavy clayey soil predominates ; but where shrubs and trees grow it is mostly a loose, light, and slightly sandy soil.
3. That part of Marin County between San Rafael, the head of Tomales Bay and Bolinas Bay, forming a triangle, with a hilly surface, the ridges running N. 54° W. mag. Soil a heavy clay, in the valleys and on bare hills; or a light, slightly sandy loam among shrubs and trees.
In all parts a metamorphic sand-stone underlies the soil.
Berberis (Mahonia) Aquifolium Pursh. ., A low evergreen shrub, three to four feet high, not gregarious; in clay soil on the hill sides ; rare.
Dendromecon rigidum Benth. A shrub with slender upright branchlets, four to six feet high, rare; on white sand-stone, Oakland hills, third range eastward, not gregarious.
Rh us diversiloba Torr. and Gray. Poison Oak. Everywhere, deciduous, exceedingly variable, three to eight feet high.
Negundo Aceroidcs Mcench. Box-Elder. A medium sized tree, twenty to thirty feet high ; common among the Oakland hills, on banks of creeks.
Acer macrophyllum Pursh. Large-Leaved Maple. Common on the banks of Walnut Creek, N.W. of Mount Diablo; fifty to seventy feet high, and two to five feet in diameter, in light sandy soil.
JEsculus Cahfoniica Nutt. Horse-Chestnut. Mostly a shrub, seldom a medium sized tree, largest on the banks of creeks and moist hill sides ; grows commonly in groups. Common.
Euonymus Occidentalis Nutt. Spindle-Tree. A shrub seven to fifteen feet high, with slender upright branches ; in swampy places, near the head of Tomales Bay ; rare.
Frangida Californica Gray. California Buckthorn. Very common, variable, four to ten feet high ; evergreen, gregarious, in clayey soil.
Ceanothus thyrsijforiis Esch. California Lilac. Very common, and variable in size, sometimes handsome trees ; exceedingly
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 79
gregarious, forming dense chaparral, on the northern and eastern slopes of hills and mountains; evergreen. Much cultivated on account of the profusion of its fragrant flowers, and the various shapes that may be given it by trimming. Ceanothus rigidus Nutt. Low, straggling, four to six feet high, less gregarious than the former ; on the white sand-stone hills, east of Oakland.
Ceanothus .
A small shrub, three to four feet high, with very small glandular leaves ; mostly single or in groups, on Mount Tamal Pais at 2,700 feet elevation.
Lupinus albifrons Benth. Silver-Leaved Lupine. Very common in almost pure sandy soil, oblong in outline, two to six feet high ; growing mostly single, evergreen.
Lupinus macrocarpus Hook, and Arn. Yellow Lupine. Large, spreading, oval in outline, evergreen, with large fragrant flowers ; gre- garious in moist gravelly places along the shore of the bay, and in depressions, or banks of runs, where the soil partakes of a clayey nature.
Pickeringia montana Nutt. Large, spreading, four to seven feet high ; evergreen, and gregarious on the Oakland white sand-stone hills.
Cerasus Ilicifolia Nutt. California Cherry, or Plum. A small tree, eight to fifteen feet high, with thick, shining, spinously serrate, evergreen leaves ; fruit of a yellowish pink color, with a thin pulpy external portion. Hill sides on the peninsula of San Francisco, growing mostly in groups ; rare.
Cerasus serotina Ehrh. Black Wild-Cherry. A group of three or four small trees, eight to twelve feet high, near a road in the Oakland hills. Undoubtedly introduced from the Atlantic States.
Cerasus emarginata ? Dougl. A small shrub, three to four feet high, with very slender reddish and white dotted branchlets, and deciduous leaves ; rare. Tamal Pais, 2,700 feet elevation.
Nuttalliq Cerasiformis Torr. and Gray. Oblong in outline, four to six feet high, deciduous ; common on the northern slopes of hills, in clayey soil. Along the bay and Oakland hills. Spiraea Opulifolia Linn. Nine-Bark. Large, spreading, eight to fifteen feet high ; common on the banks of creeks among the Oakland hills.
Spiraea Aricefolia Smith. Common on banks of creeks and northern slopes of hills, Oakland.
Cercocarpus parvifolius Nutt. Rare, on the hills in Marin County. Its spirally-tailed seeds give the shrub an appearance as if in full blossom,
Adenostema fasciculata Hook, and Arn. Oblong in outline, four to five feet high ; very gregarious, forming extensive
80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
dense chaparral on the southern and western slopes of the Oakland hills ; ever- green.
Rubus Nutkanus Lindl. Thimble-Berry. Rubus velutinus Hook, and Aru. Rubus macropetalus Dougl. Blackberry. Northern slopes of hills, Oakland and Marin County.
Rosa blanda Ait. Wild Rose. Very common on the banks of creeks, forming thickets. Oakland hills and Walnut Creek.
Rosa gymnocarpa Nutt. Hill sides, Oakland. A small but beautiful species, rather rare.
Photinia Arbuti folia Lindl. A handsome evergreen tree of medium size, in sandy soil. Common every- where in the vicinity of water and springs.
Amelanchier Canadensis. Var. Alnifolia Torr. and Gray. Service-Berry. Northern slopes, four to twelve feet high ; in clayey soil, at Mission Dolores and Oakland hills.
Ribes divaricatum Dougl. Black Gooseberry. Ribes glutinosum Benth. Red Gooseberry. Ribes malvaceum Smith. Black Currant. Banks of creeks and northern slopes.
IVhipplea modesta Torr. In loose, light soil, in the Redwoods ; one to two feet high, rare.
Cornus pubescens Nutt. Soft-Leaved Dogwood. Large, spreading, ten to fifteen feet high. Banks of creeks, Oakland hills.
Lonicera involucrata Banks. Twin-Berry. Large, with slender upright branches, ten to fifteen feet high. Borders of creeks and swamps, Bay of San Francisco, Oakland, Marin County.
Lonicera California Torr. and Gray ; et var. hispidula. Honeysuckle. Slender, climbing ; borders of streams. L. hispidula, on the out-croppings of white sand-stone, Oakland hills.
Symphoricarpus racemosus Michx. Snow-Berry. Forming thickets in depressions on the Oakland hills, at 2,000 feet elevation, and along streams in the valleys. Clay soil— three to four feet high.
Sambucus glauca Nutt. Elder. Sambucus pubens Michx. Red-Berried Elder. Dry hill sides and borders of wet places. S. glauca, often tree-like and twenty feet high. Oakland, Marin County.
Aplopappus Laricifolius Gray. A low fastigiate-branched shrub, one to three feet high ; very common in drift- sand on the peninsula of San Francisco.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 81
Lin
osyns
A beautiful little shrub, three to five feet high, with upright branches and long linear leaves, densely set. Branchlets and leaves covered by a resinous exudation. In glades on the northern slopes of Tamal Pais, 1,500 to 2,000 feet elevation.
Grindelia ?
A low shrub, two to six feet high, bordering the channels in the salt marshes at Oakland and San Rafael.
Baccharis consanguinea P. C. B. pihdaris D. C. et B. glomeridijlora Hooker, seem to be identical. It is an exceedingly varying shrub; on sandy soil, low, creeping, with numerous fastigiate branchlets, the flowers mostly pistillate, and the heads less crowded ; on clayey soil, especially on the banks of creeks, it is often fifteen feet high, quite tree-like, oblong in outline, the flowers mostly staminate, and the heads very much crowded. All forms are subject to excrescences, but especially those growing in a sandy soil. Evergreen.
Bahia Artemisiccfolia Less. Ovate in outline, two to three feet high, evergreen ; common on northern slopes, shores of the bay, and Oakland hills.
Artemisia jilifolia Torr. Wormwood. Large root-stocks with numerous slender branches, three to four feet high. Occupying almost invariably the southern slopes in common with Piplacus glu- tinosus. Both plants, on account of the leaden color of their leaves and branches, give the southern slopes that barren appearance, contrasting so strongly with the vegetation of the northern slopes.
Artemisia pachystachya P. C. Sandy soil, three to four feet high. Peninsula of San Francisco.
Vaccinium ovatum Pursh. Evergreen Huckleberry. A beautiful shrub, five to ten feet high, with slender upright branches ; ber- ries delicious. In light sandy soil, on the eastern slopes of Oakland hills.
Arbutus Mcnzicsii Pursh. Madroiia. Evergreen, twenty to thirty feet high, on the northern and eastern slopes of the Oakland hills, but more common and generally larger and finer on the hill sides near San Rafael.
Arctostaphylos tomentosa Pougl. Mansanita. Low, straggling, evergreen, and gregarious on the out-croppings of white sand- stone in the Oakland hills.
Arctostaphylos pungens H. B. K. Mansanita. Obovate in outline, ten to fifteen feet high ; scattered.
Gaultheria Shallon Pursh. Maris. Sallal. Low, creeping, evergreeu, covering large tracts of land among the hills of Marin County. Berries eatable.
Pkoc. Cal. Acad., vol. hi. ^ Dec. 1863.
82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Azalea occidenlalis Torr. and Gray.
On the banks of creeks in Marin County. Quite common ; five to twelve feet high.
Diplacus glutinosus Nutt.
Southern and western slopes. Resinous, eight feet high ; common.
Sphacele calycina Benth.
Mostly gregarious, five to eight feet high. Near the coast, Marin County ; eastern slopes near San Mateo.
Eriodiction Californicum Benth.
Very glutinous, two to four feet high — evergreen. Dry hill sides, Tamal Pais.
Solanum umbeliiferum Esch. A slender evergreen shrub, two to four feet high on the bluffs of the bay.
Fra.ri mis Oregana Nutt. Oregon Ash. On the banks of creeks, Marin County ; twenty to thirty feet high.
Oreodaphne Caltfornica Nees. Spice Bush, Mountain Laurel, Balm of Heaven.
Often a large tree in moist localities, forty to fifty feet high, sometimes three to six feet in diameter ; used for ship-building.
Dirca palustris Linn. Leatherwood.
Yery common on the eastern slopes of the Oakland hills, where its flowers make it very conspicuous in spring ; two to four feet high.
Croton (Hendecandra) procumbens Hook and Arn. A very low shrub, common on the peninsula of San Francisco, in almost pure sandy soil.
Garrija elliptka Lindl.
Mostly a shrub with slender branches, but sometimes a small-sized tree ; ever- green, gregarious, in sandy soil in this city, and on the eastern slope of the Oak- land hills.
Platanus racemosa Nutt. Sycamore. Banks of San Leandro Creek, Oakland hills.
Alnus viridis D. C. A large tree on the banks of creeks, Oakland hills.
Myrica Californica Cham, and SchL Wax Myrtle.
Mostly a medium sized tree, in moist localities and on the eastern slopes of Oakland hills.
Juglans rupestris Engelm. Var. major Torr. Walnut. A beautiful large tree, forty to sixty feet high and two to four feet in diam-
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 83
eter, with rather smooth bark and dense, graceful foliage ; it may well vie with its Eastern congeners. Banks of Walnut Creek east of the Oakland hills.
Castanea chrysophylla Dougl. California Chinquapin.
A low, straggling evergreen and gregarious shrub, occurring only on the out- croppings of the white sandstone in the Oakland hills.
Quercus densifiora Hook and Arn. Tamal Pais and Eedwoods of Marin County.
Quercus agrifolia Nees. Live Oak. A shrub as well as a large tree ; everywhere in moderately moist situations. Quercus tinctoria var. Californica Torr. Black Oak. Hill sides, Marin County.
Quercus lobata Ne"es. White Oak. Hill sides Marin County and banks of Walnut Creek.
Quercus acutidens 1 Torr. Scrub Oak. Evergreen ; forming dense chaparral on Tamal Pais.
Corylus rostrata Ait. Beaked Hazelnut.
Very common on the eastern slopes of the Oakland Hills. A shrub four to six feet high.
Salix (four species.) Willow. Wet grounds everywhere, six to twenty feet high.
Popidus tremuloides Michx. Aspen. A medium sized tree on the banks of Walnut Creek.
Torre ya Californica Torr. California Nutmeg Tree. A large tree with long spreading branches, and rather smooth bark. Wood valuable ; rare, on banks of Papermill Creek, Marin County.
Sequoia sem-per vir ens Endl. Redwood. A very large tree, forming small groves on the northern slopes of hills in Marin County, and on the eastern slopes of the Oakland hills.
Pinus insignis Dougl. A small tree ten to fifteen feet high, on the outcroppings of white sandstone in the Oakland hills, third ridge eastward ; rare.
Pinus contorta Dougl. A medium sized tree, ovate in outline. Hills of Marin County ; rare.
Abies Douglasii Lindl. Oregon Pine.
A very large tree, yielding excellent timber. Grows with S. sempervirens in small groves on the northern slopes of hills, Marin County.
Cupressus Mac-Nabiai\a ? Murray. Cedar. A spreading shrub, eight to twelve feet high, on Tamal Pais ; rare.
84 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CALIFORNIA
Dr. Behr presented the following article :
On Calif ornian Lepidoptera— No. III.
BY n. BEHR, M. D.
The following species of butterflies were mostly collected by the members of the State Geological Survey, among the higher regions of the Sierra Nevada ; but some of them are from other portions of California.
Danais, Latr. 1. Danais Arcliippus, Cramer.
This species was found everywhere, both on the plains and at the highest elevations, up to the limits of Lepidopterous life, 10,500 feet above the level of the sea. The specimens caught in the Sierra were in a poor condition, and differed remarkably in habits from those found near San Francisco Bay. Like most Dauaids, ours is rather a lazy and heavy butterfly, gifted it is true with great power of flight, which is showu not by swiftness, but by perseverance. It is however quite easily caught. But according to the statement of Mr. Hoffman, of the Geological Survey, this same Danais was on the mountain summits so restless and active that although very common, only two specimens could be obtained.
We consider these specimens as something like " enfans perdus," of an other- wise respectable family, led away by an innate desire to strive against the current. Thus they struggle against the mountain breeze until finally they reach the bleak heights of the Sierra, where such tropical forms contrast strik- ingly with the alpine flora.
Argynnis, Fabr.
2. Argynnis montivaga, Behr, n. sp. [Argynnis, No. 4. Proc. Cal.
Acad. II, 18G2, p. 174.]
If, as I strongly suspect, this species is still undescribed, I propose for it the
above name. It is not found near this bay, but seems to be widely spread
through the Sierra from whence I have specimens collected at different localities.
Those obtained by the Geological Survey are from an elevation of 10,500 feet.
3. Argynnis rupestris, Behr, n. sp. [No. 6 of former article.] To the diagnosis formerly given I add the following character : Margo anterior alarum anteriorum subtus quam disco pallidior.
The saturated coloration of the radical half of the hind wings, is not always equal in its extent beyond the middle macular fascia, so that the diagnosis of No. 9 is in some respects near enough to cause confusion, if it were not that in No. 9 the anterior margin of the forewings is always decidedly darker than the disk, furnishing a good diagnostic character. In general aspect they differ enough to be recognized at the first glance, but it is very difficult to describe the other differences.
The name I propose for No. 6, is derived from its .inhabiting the steep rocky declivities characterizing the lower part of the Sierra. The specimens were collected by Prof. Brewer at a moderate elevation above the sea.
4. Argynnis monticola, Behr, n. sp. [No. 8 of the former article.]
This species was found in Yosemite Yalley and some other localities, being apparently not rare.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 85
5. Argijnnis Antithore, Boisd. One specimen only from Yosemite Valley.
Melitvea, Fabr.
It will be necessary to give a monograph of this genus before we go on with the enumeration of the mountain species.
We have in California eleven well-marked species, a number far exceeding those of the Atlantic Slope, and about equal to those of tbe whole of Europe. In the " Synopsis of North American Lepidoptera," written for the Smithsonian Institution by John G. Morris, I find only two Oalifornian species mentioned and described, viz. : 31. Editha and 31. Folia, the "31. Zerene " of the same work being without doubt an Argynnis. In a catalogue published by the same author in I860, 1 find besides those just mentioned another, viz ; M. Chalcedon.
Dr. Boisduval names several Melitea in bis letters to me, but gives no diagnosis.
Our Oalifornian Melitrca belong to four types.
Type S. The first is that of 31. Thaws, represented by four distinct species in California. This type is peculiar to the American Continent, occuring also in tbe Atlantic States, and in the tropics.
Type II. That of 31. Athalia, represented by 31. Valla, and several others. It is also abundantly represented in Europe, but seems to be wanting in the Atlantic States.
Type III. That of 31. Phaeton, corresponding exactly to the European, 31. Maturna, 31. Artemis, etc., is represented in California by 31. Editha, 31. Chalcedon, and others.
Type IV. That of 31. Leanira is numerous in the tropics of America but seems to be wanting everywhere else except in California.
Melitaea, Type I. 1. 31. montana, Behr. Syn ? 31. Pyrrha, Doubleday.
Alae supra aurantiacae, nigro clathratae, inter secundam et tertiam fasciam nigram magis dilutae ; posticae inter primam et secundam fasciam, serie punctorum nigrorum signatae, fascia prima ab angulo anteriori interrupta, et costam versus quintam tautum denuo cursum ad angulum posteriorem recipiente.
Alae anticae subtus aurantiacae, disco fere concolori, nee maculis pallidioui- bus nee fasciis obscurioribus bene distiuctis, apicem versus flavidae, maculis fasciisque fuscis, et prope angulum posteriorem macula nigra signatae. Alae posticae flavidae signaturis plus minus obscurioribus, in morem Argynnidum undulatis, serie punctorum brunneorum inter primam et secundam fasciam ut supra pertranseunte. Insuper inter costam quintam et sextam exstat lunula submarginalis pallidior, interdum Candida pruinaque argentea induta, quani umbra ampleetitur obscurior. Altera umbra a margine anteriori prope apicem extenditur.
This species is very variable as to the markings of the underside of tbe hind wings. Two specimens, which I received through the kindness of Mr Lorquin, have scarcely any markings there. These were collected in the neighborhood
86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
of Los Angeles. The others, received from the gentlemen of the survey, were mostly collected at the headwaters of Tuolumne Eiver, but some from Yosemite Valley.
2. M. collina, Behr, n. sp.
Alae omnes supra fulvae, nigro clathratae, posticae inter fasciam primam et secundam serie punctorum nigrorum instructae.
Alae anticae subtus fulvae apicem versus gilvescentes, ubique signaturis fuscis, marginemque versus aliquot maculis nigris obsitae.
Alae posticae subtus gilvae, hinc pruina argentea indutae, signaturis fuscis in morem Argynnidum undulatis, binis semper per umbram quandam conuexis, hinc et illinc confluentibus, serie punctorum nigrorum halone amplexorum ut supra inter fasciam primam et secundam pertranseunte. Lunula submar- ginalis inter costam quintam et sextam major quam reliquae lunulae subniar- ginales, et umbra brunnea amplexa.
This species is not rare in the vicinity of San Francisco, and the hills of Contra Costa, especially on the grassy valleys, along creeks, and oja hillsides with a varied vegetation of herbaceous plants. There must be many generations of these annually, for the perfect insect is found from spring to autumn.
3. M. campestris, Behr, n. sp.
Alae supra nigrae fasciis rnacularibus ochraceis et aurantiacis alternantibus. Series punctorum nigrorum in alis posticis in fascia aurantiaca submarginali.
Alae anticae subtus aurantiacae apicem versus luteae. Macula disci et fascia intermedia infracta luteae, haec intus nigro marginata. Alae posticae subtus luteae, linea transversa undulata divisae ; A radice usque ad lineam transversam brunneo signatae et prope mediam lineam transversam umbra obscura indutae ; quae umbra extenditur usque ad seriem punctorum. Lunula inter quintam costam et sextam Candida, aucta et umbra amplexa.
This species is very common in different localities, especially on marshy places, where Hemizonia abounds. Seems to be peculiar to the lower regions, and produces several annual generations.
4. M. pratensis, Behr, n. sp.
Alae supra nigrae fasciis rnacularibus fulvis instructae. Maculae fasciae submarginalis alarum posticarum singulae singula puncta nigra gerentes.
Alae anticae subtus ochraceae maculis pallidioribus hinc et illinc signatae. Marginem versus posticam extant aliquot maculae nigrae. Alae posticae sub- tus hepaticae lineis undulatis, maculis, umbris serieque punctorum cunctis aeque brunneis instructae. Lunula submarginalis vix pallidior et umbra amplectente tantum e reliqua ala discerni potest.
This species is found on grassy hillsides and is common enough in some localities near San Francisco. Several generations are found from spring to the beginning of the rainy season.
Before I had a sufficient series of these nearly allied species in my possession, I considered them local varieties of one single species. Afterwards I had an idea that two of them, M. collina and pratensis might be seasonal varieties or alternating generations, like for instance Arachnia Prorsa, whose vernal genera-
ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES. 87
tion A. Levana was for a long time considered another species. But according to my observations continued through several years, these species are not con- fined to certain seasons, but are to be found throughout the dry season. If they were alternating generations of the same insect the different forms would be found only at certain seasons ; but such is not the case.
M. montana is very variable but never approaches to the characters of the other three species. The rest are as constaut as a species can be. and in a long series of duplicates from different localities I do not find anything like an intermediate form.
The four species of this type agree in the following points :
1. A row of dots between the first and second transverse lines of the hind- wings, in the space that represents in these species the submarginal fascia. This row is clearly visible on both sides.
2. The marginal lunula between the fifth and sixth vein is perceptibly aug- mented on both sides, and on the other side is frequently of lighter color and always surrounded by a deeper shade.
The most positive characters distinguishing the species is found on the disc of the underside of forewings.
1. M. montana, has the disc uniform fulvous the markings of the upper-side shining through the coloration of the disc.
2. 31. collina, has the disc orange color; markings very perceptible and towards the exterior margin bordered by a series of black spots.
3. M. campestris, has the disc with a yellow spot between the first and second primary costa, and is bordered towards the exterior margin by an angular row of yellow spots, which are themselves bordered at the inner side by deep black.
4. M. pratensis, has the disc ochre yellow with irregularly diluted spots and some black marks near the posterior margin.
There are plenty of other points of difference, as may be seen by comparing the diagnoses. But for recognition of any of the species it is sufficient to examine the disc. The other differences are difficult to describe, as all those who know by their own experience the difficulties of analyzing the complicated markings of the underside of the hindwings in this group will testify. As to the larval state of these insects nothing is known, and this want of facts regard- ing their metamorphosis, is the more to be lamented as the natural affinities of this type are by no means very clear or simple. It seems to constitute a kind of intermediate group between the true Mclitcme and the Arctic type of Argynnides. The eyes are more prominent than in the typical species of Melitsea, and I find a similar couformation of the head in M. Tharos from the Atlantic States. At the same time the underside of the hindwings of all these species does not represent the well-defined alternate bands of the typical Melitceae, but the intricate undulations and undefined lights and shadows of the underside of the Arctic type of Argynnis. In fact M. montana ap- proaches in this respect very closely to A. Aphirape.
Type II. This type corresponds to the European type of M. Athalia, and even in the differential characters of the four species known to me there is a striking parallelism to those of four European species, so that each of them
88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
looks as if it was tbe transposition of a foreign species separated by a pecu- liarly Califoruian character, afterwards to be pointed out, from its European con- gener, and separated amongst themselves by the very same characters that separate the four European parallel species from each other. Their analogies are as follows :
California. Europe.
M. Palla, M. Dictynna,
M. Whitneti, M. Athalia,
M. Gabbii, M. Parthenie,
M. HoFFMANNI, M. ASTEKIA.
The Californians differ from their European analogues in the orange color that fills the space between the margin and the marginal line on the underside. In the European species this space always has the same pale tint that forms the ground color.
Then the two waving lines that inclose the submarginal band on the under- side of the hind wings, are not entirely filled by the orange or fulvous spots as in the European, but have an empty space between the first and second, and the second and third veins.
1. Melitoca Palla, Boisd.
Alae maris supra fulvae nigro clathratae, feminae nigrae nonnullis fasciis macularibus gilvis instructae.
Alae posticae subtus gilvae lineis nigris et maculis aurantiacis ordiuariis instructae, necuou serie lunularum fasciae submarginalis fulvarum a vena ter- tia inchoantium usque ad ultimam decurrentium. Quaeque lunula continet ocellum.
I repeat the diagnosis for the purpose of adding a character that has been hitherto overlooked but is essential for separating this species from the follow- ing. It is the eye-spot contained in each of the orange-colored spots of the submarginal band. It is true that these spots are not in every specimen equally visible, and often require the help of the glass to make them visible, but still they are never wanting as in the following species.
M. Palla is the only one of this type found in the vicinity of San Francisco, where it is rather common. Nevertheless I have not yet succeeded in finding the caterpillar, but have heard from our celebrated entemologist, Mr. Lorquin, that he has raised this butterfly from a caterpillar found on a species of Plantago.
2. Melitaea Whitneyi, Behr, n. sp.
Alae maris supra rubricautes nigro clathratae feminae, fere esedem, colore tantum dilution hinc et illinc paululum alternantes.
Alae posticae subtus iis 31. Pallae similes sed lunulae fasciae submarginalis ocellis omnino destitutae.
At the first look the difference between this species and M. Palla is striking enough, for the coloration of the upperside is quite different and the reticulate black marking runs in much thinner lines and is more regular than in M. Palla, where towards the margin the black markings unite more or less and cover the ground color. The striking alteration in the colors of the upper side in
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 89
the series of 31. Palla does not exist here and the female is sometimes quite like the male. Sometimes the ground color alternates transversely with a slightly diluted tint, and for the female this character would be sufficient. But both sexes differ in the constant absence of the eye-spots of the submarginal band. I received this species from the headwaters of the Tuolumne Kiver where it was collected during the stay of the State Geological Survey in the elevated and uninhabited regions. I take this opportunity of showing my respect for Prof. Whitney and the other members of that learned party, to all of whom I am under obligations for the kindness with which, under all kinds of hardships, they collected materials for a Fauna of our Californian Lepidoptera.
3. 31. Gabbii, Behr, n. sp.
Alae maris supra ut in 31. Palla, feminae fasciis transversis alternantibus luteis et fulvis totae nigro clathratae.
Alae inferiores ut in 31. Palla, sed maculae radicales candidae pruinaque argentea renitentes ita ut fascia intermedia lunulaeque marginales. Fasciae, maculae, et margo aurantiacae ordinariae. Fasciae submarginalis spatium, quae non occupatur lunulis aurautiacis, sulphureum.
I received this species from the mountains near Los Angeles and have seen a series of specimens constantly showing the same characters. This description I made from a pair kindly communicated to me by Mr. Lorquiu.
4. 31. Hoffmanni, Behr, n. sp.
Alae et maris et feminae a radice usque ad medium nigrae hinc et illinc maculis luteis fulvisque obsitae, a media ala luteae marginem versus fulves- centes plus minus nigro clathratae.
Alae inferiores subtus ut in 31. Palla, sed fascia submarginalis inter lineas undulatas nigras, non lunulis sed punctis omnino rotundis constituta.
This species is less rare than the two preceding. Nevertheless it has not yet been found near San Francisco and seems peculiar to the higher regions of California.
Melit^a, Type III.
Of this type, we know already as many Californian as European species, but except 31. Phaeton, I do not know any Eastern representative of this type. The most robust and gaily colored species belong to this type and it is one of the most predominant of the diurnal types in California, not only from the number of its species but also of its individuals. 1. 31elitaa Chakedon, Doubleday.
This showy species is very common around the Bay of San Francisco. The caterpillar is somewhat of the coloration of that of Vanessa Antiopa, but short and thick like all the Melitwt caterpillars and beset with short fleshy thorns. The dorsal row of spines is brick red and so is the lateral stripe above the feet. All other parts, both of the body and spines, are black, which tint, being thickly sprinkled with white dots has a bluish luster like the same tint in the caterpillar of V. Antiopa.
Most commonly this caterpillar is found on Scrophularia, but I have found it also on Diplacus glutinosus and on a Lonicera, related to L. Caprifolium.
90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
The chrysalis is white with black and yellow dots. The butterfly is developed towards the end of April and is found until the end of June. There exists only one generation. The caterpillars grow very slowly through the summer. They are social and weave a kind of nest, in which they also hybernate. In spring their growth is quick enough, but they seem to be subject to much disease, and even in their natural state are frequently found half dried up. The butterfly also is often caught with crippled wings.
2. 31. Cooperi, Behr, n. sp.
Alae supra ut 31. Chalcedontis, subtus inferiores sulphureae fasciis et maculis ordinariis fuscis, maculis fasciae submarginalis fuscis concoloribus, nequc ullo halone cicumdatae.
This species is very similar to M. Chakedon, but the want of the yellowish halo around the lunulae of the brown baud on the underside, is a very positive diagnostic character. The brown color of the bands also is always of the same somber hue as that of the underside of the forewings, and never of the fiery brick red that colors this fascia on the underside of 31. Chakedon, forming a perceptible contrast to the somber coloring of the underside of the forewings, which is the same in 31. Chakedon and 31. Cooperi. With all these well- marked differences, the two species look so much alike, that it would have been a long time before 31. Cooperi would have been recognized as a distinct species, if it had not been for the striking difference of its caterpillar, which was dis- covered by Mr. Lorquin near Clear Lake on a species of Scrophularia. This caterpillar is much more elongated thau that of Chakedon. It is nearly of the shape and coloration of that of the European 31. Artemis, brimstone yellow, with a dorsal and a lateral black stripe. We were quite justified in expecting from such a caterpillar something strikingly different from the very common type of Chakedon. But to our surprise our chrysalids gave us a series of crippled butterflies, which could scarcely be distinguished from 31. Chakedon. Since that time I have received a well-devJoped specimen through the kindness of Baron Koels, who caught it with several other insects on an excursion to Mount Tamal Pais.
It is pretty certain that 31. Cooperi will be found in many other localities, as it is only its similarity to our most common vernal butterfly, the 31. Chake- don, that makes it escape our attention.
3. 31. Quino, Behr, n. sp.
31. Chakedo'iiti similis sed antennae clava discolor, fusca nee concolor antennae reliquae aurantiacae.
Alae supra ut in 31. Chakedontc sed series macularum submarginalium in anticis rubra et marginalium in posticis flava rubro tincta. Series quarta in anticis bifida, fere tota rubra, tertia in posticis omnino rubra.
Alae inferiores subtus ut in 31. Chalcedonte sed fascia flava prope radicem in maculas sex dissecta maculaque flava discalis puncto ejusdem coloris extus aucta.
31elitcca Quino may at once be distinguished by the entirely different and much gayer coloration of the upper side, which much more resembles that of
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 91
M. Anicia than M. Chalcedon. To the latter species it comes the nearest in the peculiar shape of the wings, so characteristically different in the two sexes. In 31. Anicia this difference exists but not to the same degree. The yellow part of the underside of the hindwings is much paler than in M. Chalcedon and 31. Anicia. The yellow radical band is dissolved into six distinct but nearly connected maculae. In 31. Chalcedon the band is not interrupted and only the sixth macula is separated, making part of the yellow coloration of the anal side of the wing. From 31. Anicia it differs besides, in the underside of the forer wings being nearly all of a reddish-brown color with scarcely auy indication of the markings of the upperside, closely resembling 31. Chalcedon. From both species 31. Quino differs in the coloration of the club of the antenna.
This species I received from Dr. Cooper, formerly of the State Geological Survey, who collected several specimens near San Diego. I have called it Quino in remembrance of the California Pioneer, Padre Quino, the first European that ever succeeded in erecting a permanent settlement in California, and at the same time contributed very considerably by his learned writings to a more exact knowledge of these then scarcely discovered regions.
4. 31. Anicia, Doubleday.
This species seems to be restricted to the eastern and more elevated part of the State. Most of my specimens are from Mariposa.
5. M. nubigena, Behr, n. sp.
31. Aniciae similis sed antennarum clava nigrescens, et subtus in alis posticis fasciae pallidae intermediae bipartitae pars exterior aurantiaca, ut fascia lunula- rum quae sequitur earn.
This species was caught in considerable numbers by Mr. Hoffman at the headwaters of the Tuolumne Eiver and beyond, up to elevations of 11,500 feet. It evidently stands in the same relation to 31. Anicia as in Europe 31. Merope does to 31. Artemis. I am not certain if 31. nubigena is to be con- sidered an alpine variety of 31. Anicia or an independent species, nor as far as I know is the question yet decided as to the right to distinction of 31. Mer- ope, a long-known alpine insect of Europe. Nevertheless, considering the different coloration of the antenna club, I am very much inclined to think 31. nubigena more than a mere alpine variety.
6. 31. Editha, Boisd.
This species is found in different localities near San Francisco and Contra Costa. Nevertheless, it is much rarer than 31. Chalcedon and of a more rest- less disposition. It makes its appearance before 31. Chalcedon and is one of our first vernal butterflies. About the caterpillar I have not yet succeeded in ascertaining anything.
Melit^ea, Type IV.
Of this type only one Californian species is yet known, but there may be perhaps some other species in the southern parts of the State, as the subtropical territory of New Mexico seems rather to abound in this type.
1. 31. Leanira, Boisd. (In litteris.) Antennae totae fulvae.
92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA
Alae supra nigrae, fasciis macularibus duabus ct radicem versus maculis tribus quadrangularibus omnibus gilvescentibus iustructae. Alae anticae prope marginem anticam, apicem versus et ad margiuem externam mediam, e nigro rubescentes.
Alae anticae subtus rubrae iisdem maculis ut supra ornatae. Fascia macu- laris externa extus nigro marginata. Alae posticae subtus gilvescentes nigro venosae, et nigro marginatae, radicem versus nigro signatae ; supra medium fascia nigra instructae, cateuam moniliformem continente punctorum gilvorum.
Limbus ubique et supra et subtus nigro alboque variegatus.
M. Leanira is so distiuct from all other Melitceae, that it is impossible to make any error in reference to its diagnosis. It is found in June and July in valleys of the Contra Costa hills, where I collected it myself. I received other speci- mens from Yosemite Valley. I have not succeeded in finding the caterpillar.
I have to add a few observations regarding the geographical distribution of the genus Melitcea in general and of its different types separately.
The genus Melitcea spreads from the Arctic zone to the tropic of Cancer and some mountain species even farther. Unlike the genus Argynnis in its geo- graphical distribution Melitcea has no Antarctic species. It has its center of abundance in the temperate zone and decreases towards the tropics as well as the arctic zone. According to that peculiarity of the western slope of conti- nents by which the temperate zone is more developed in extent and quality, than in the eastern slopes, the greatest number of species are found in Europe and on our coast. Eastern Asia has very few species, but the genus is better repre- sented on the Atlantic side of this continent, where however, it appears in the aberrant forms of M. Tharos, M. Pyrrha, etc, whose real nature seems still doubtful and which are at least intermediate between Argynnis and Melitcea.
The genuine type is very uniform, and therefore the diagnosis of the Califor- nian as well as the European species is enveloped in many difficulties, so that even in regard to many European species known and described for more than a century, the limits of the species are frequently more or less doubtful and nearly every Catalogue gives the series of closely allied species in a different form.
California possesses two types wanting to the European Fauna; Europe one type wanting to California. To us the type of M. Cinxia is wanting, to Europe that most characteristic form of M. Leanira, which is a very natural transition to the genus Synchloe. The other wanting to the old world is that of 31. Pyrrha, an osculant form peculiar to the new world where it extends nearly as far as the equator.
As regards the development of the genus in size and brilliancy of color, the Californians have a decided advantage. The giants of the genus are all Cali- fornia!] and the coloration more bright and more distinct than the somber hues of their less-developed European allies.
Like the Argynnides the Melitseae are essentially local. There is no Amphi- geic species, and even the Polar species (which in Argynnis are sometimes Amphigeic) are always different in this genus, never occurring both in Europe and America. In the same way the Atlantic and Pacific species seem always to differ.
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 93
These butterflies not having1 a very powerful flight are generally confined to circumscribed localities, in which they are generally plentiful and easily collected. Their caterpillars are frequently social like those of the Vanessae, preferring the family of Scrophalarineous plants, (Scrophularia in California, Linaria and Veronica in Europe), but inclined more to polyphagy than the Argynnides, in their predilection for the Yiolarineae. Besides the Scrophalarineae the Melituae live on Plantago, Lonicera, Scabiosa, and some even are found on shrubby trees of Salix, Populus, and Fagus.
Dr. Cooper presented a continuation of his descriptions of fishes :
On new Genera and Species of Californian Fishes— No. II.
by j. g. cooper, m. d. Exoccetus, Artedi.
E. Californicds, Cooper, Californian Flying-Fish, State collection, species
1012. [Fig. 20.] Specific characters. — Height of body one eighth of its length from tip of nose to fork of tail, length of head almost one fifth of the same (0-19). Width of forehead in front of eyes more than five