Chapter I: Part I: , p. 1-96, for 1863, printed in April to December, 1863 (1)

” II, p. 97-176, for 1864, ” January to December, 1864.
” III, p. 177-272, for 1865-6, ” January, 1865, to August, 1866.
” IV, p. 273-360, for 1866-7, ” January to September, 1867.
” V, p. 361-401, for 1867, ” May, 1868.

A few copies of Vol. II, pp. 236, remain for sale by the Corresponding Secretary.

Volume I is out of print, but the Academy intends to reprint it when a sufficient number of copies have been ordered to refund the cost.

_The following Memoirs were also published by the Academy, in quarto, in 1867._

No. I. Catalogue of Pacific Coast Mosses, pp. 38, By LEO LESQUEREUX.
No. II. Natural System of Volcanic Rocks, pp. 95, By F. BARON RICHTHOFEN,
Dr. Phil.

ROOMS OF THE ACADEMY,
622 CLAY STREET,
_San Francisco, June, 1868_.

The Academy, desirous of increasing its numbers, and thus adding to its means of scientific research and diffusion of knowledge, has this year altered its title to that of “CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,” and invites all interested in the increase and spread of any branch of knowledge to join in its work. All gentlemen residing within one hundred and fifty miles of San Francisco are, by the new Constitution, eligible to resident membership, with all the privileges of those in the city, including free copies of the proceedings published after their election.

A copy of the new Constitution, Annual Address of the late President, Prof. J. D. Whitney, and list of members at the commencement of 1868, may be obtained free by addressing the Corresponding Secretary.

Meetings are now held on the first and third Mondays of each month, at the rooms of the Academy, where lectures are given, papers read and discussions held on scientific subjects. All desiring to become members may be introduced at the meetings on application to the officers and members.

Rooms open daily, from 12 to 1 o’clock, and the Librarian or other members are usually present.

OFFICERS:

_President_, JAMES BLAKE, M.D., F. R. C. S.,
206 Bush Street.
_Vice President_, JAMES G. COOPER, M.D., 652 Howard
Street.
_Secretary_, THEODORE BRADLEY, Principal Boys’
High School.
_Corresponding Secretary_, HENRY N. BOLANDER, Principal
Cosmopolitan School.
_Treasurer,_ EDWARD BOSQUI, Publisher, 517 Clay
Street.
_Librarian_, A. KELLOGG, M.D., 622 Clay St.,
Academy’s Rooms.
_Director of the Museum_, H. BLOOMER, cor. Montgomery and
Jackson Streets.

CURATORS.

_General Zoology_, E.F. LORQUIN, 522 Pine Street.
_Conchology_, W. G. W. HARFORD, 622 Clay Street.
_Radiata_, J. B. TRASK, M.D., 206 Kearny Street.
_Entomology_, R. H. STRETCH, Room 50, Montgomery Block.
_Geology_, W. A. GOODYEAR, 615 Stockton Street.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.

ANNUAL MEETING, JANUARY 5TH, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Twelve members present.

Ferdinand, Freiherr von Richthofen, was elected Corresponding Member.

The committee on the meteoric iron, presented to the city by General Carleton, reported that permission had been obtained by Professor Whitney to saw a piece from it for analysis, and for distribution to some of the most important collections in this country and in Europe. A piece will be forwarded to Professor Brush, of Yale College, for analysis, and a description of the mass published in the Proceedings of the Academy, as soon as the returns of the analysis have been received.

The Annual Reports of the officers of the Society for the past year (1862) were received, and the following is an abstract of their contents:

The Report of the Treasurer was read, and referred to the Finance Committee.

The Curator of Palæontology reported, that the number of specimens in the collection is 1,007, exclusive of numerous duplicates. They are principally from the cretaceous and tertiary formations of the Pacific coast. The collection has been rearranged in the course of the past year, and is now in as good condition as the accommodations of the Society will admit.

The Curator of Botany reported, that 2,160 specimens were added to the collection during the year 1862, making a total of 6,160 specimens in the Academy’s herbarium. About twenty new specimens have been described in the Proceedings during the past year, and specimens and drawings of all of them have been placed in the collection. The herbarium is in good condition.

The Curator of Entomology made a verbal report, to the effect that the collections in his department, although small, are in good order; but that few additions had been made during the year.

In the Zoological department, the Curator stated, that a few valuable additions had been made to the collection during the year 1862; but that much difficulty was experienced in arranging them, from the limited space and means of the Academy. The alcoholic specimens have not been rearranged during the year; some are in bad condition. All has been done which could be, towards preserving the specimens in this department, with the means at the command of the Curator.

In the absence of the Curator of Conchology (Dr. Trask) it was stated, that the collection of shells had been arranged, and labeled, and placed in cases during the year; the accommodations of the Academy, however, do not admit of their being displayed.

The Curator of Mineralogy (Mr. Hanks) has removed from the city since the last annual meeting; but previous to removing, he had made considerable progress in rearranging and labeling the collection of minerals and ores, and it is now in better order than it has ever before been.

The Librarian reported that valuable additions had been made to the Library during the past year; chiefly through the instrumentality of the Smithsonian Institution. The books are in good order; but many of them need binding, and the want of room renders it impossible to place them where they can be easily got at by the members.

The committee on nominations reported the following list of officers for the year 1863, which was duly elected:

PRESIDENT.

COL. L. RANSOM.

VICE PRESIDENTS.

J. N. ECKEL, M.D., J. B. TRASK, M.D.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

W. O. AYRES, M.D.

RECORDING SECRETARY.

Prof. W. H. BREWER.

LIBRARIAN.

Prof. J. D. WHITNEY.

TREASURER.

WILLIAM HEFFLEY.

CURATORS.

G. F. MOORE Of Mineralogy.
W. M. GABB Palæontology.
A. KELLOGG, M.D. Botany.
J. G. COOPER, M.D. Zoology.
J. B. TRASK, M.D. Conchology.
H. BEHR, M.D. Entomology.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

By Dr. Cooper—Specimens of _Purpura septentrionalis_, from San Francisco, and others from Oakland, of larger size—the latter not being natives of this Bay, but brought from Shoalwater Bay, W. T., in cargoes of oysters.

By Mr. Bloomer—A collection of specimens of wood.

Dr. Cooper exhibited a specimen of coral, of the genus _Porites_, probably an undescribed species. This mass of coral was drawn up by a fisherman, from a depth of four fathoms, at the Farallones, and deposited in the office of the Geological Survey by Mr. Lawson, of the Coast Survey. The same species had been previously obtained by Dr. Cooper in the Bay of Monterey, but it had never been found so far north before.

REGULAR MEETING, JANUARY 19TH, 1863.

Vice President, Dr. Trask, in the Chair.

Present, eleven members.

Dr. W. W. Hays, U. S. A., and Mr. William Ashburner were elected Resident Members.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

A miscellaneous collection of plants, consisting of from two hundred to three hundred species, from the Pacific slope, by H. G. Bloomer; specimens of a _Yucca_, and of _Larrea Mexicana_, from Kern river, by J. E. Clayton.

Mr. Bolander presented the following paper:

Description of a New Species of Melica.

BY H. N. BOLANDER.

MELICA L.

_M. stricta_ Bolander.

Spikelets very large, secund, horizontal, four to six-flowered;
flowers stipitate, upper ones imperfect and abortive, slightly
tinged with purple.

Glumes equal, oblong, membranaceous, five-nerved; nerves
evanescent at about three-quarters the length of the glumes;
scarious margined and pointed, nearly the length (one-half
inch) of the flowers.

Paleæ very unequal, chartaceous; lower oblong, seven-nerved,
all except the middle one evanescent at about two-thirds the
length of the palea; scabrous, largely scarious margined and
pointed; upper palea spathulate, bicarinate, ciliate, one-third
shorter than the lower.

Ovary obovate, contracted near the truncated apex, sessile,
smooth; styles terminal, divergent; stigmas plumose; pilis
fasciculate, minutely serrate; squammulæ very small, connate,
entire; stamens three; caryopsis?

Root perennial; culms upright, terate, striate, one and
one-half feet high, very brittle; sheaths striate, scabrous;
ligula exserted, lacerated; leaves narrow, one-sixteenth to
two-sixteenths of an inch wide, acuminate, outside and margins
scabrous, (four to seven inches long) striately nerved,
upright, nearly appressed.

Raceme upright, rather simple; branchlets smooth, appressed,
few-flowered; pedicels pubescent at the angle.

Collected by Mr. George W. Dunn, at Silver City, Nevada
Territory.

REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 2D, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Present, fourteen members.

Prof. P. P. Carpenter, of Manchester, England, was elected a Corresponding Member.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

Three jars of reptiles and fishes, collected by Mr. J. Xantus, in Lower California, and mostly near Cape St. Lucas, were presented by Mr. Samuel Hubbard.

Donations to the Library:

Volumes 1-27 of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, by H. G. Bloomer. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for October, November, and December, 1862, from the Society. Descriptions of shells collected in the Rocky Mountains in 1860 by Dr. J. G. Cooper, by T. Bland and J. G. Cooper.

The Publishing Committee laid volume two of the Proceedings of the Academy, for the years 1858-62, upon the table: it was ordered by the Academy that one hundred copies be sold to the members at one dollar per copy, and that fifty copies be presented to the Smithsonian Institution for foreign distribution.

Professor Whitney read the following communication:

On the Inaccuracy of the Eighth Census, so far as it Relates to the Metallic and Mineral Statistics of the United States.

BY J. D. WHITNEY.

It has, for a long time, been a subject of regret, that our
United States Census returns are so imperfect; and that, in all
that relates to mining and metallurgy, they are especially and
extraordinarily unreliable. Mr. Kennedy’s “Preliminary Report
on the Eighth Census,” (1860), recently issued, is at hand,
and some remarks may here be made in reference to what appears
in it, which is connected with our mineral interests. It will
soon appear, from an examination of this public document, that
the same unfortunate ignorance in regard to one of the most
important of the sources of our national wealth, which has
characterized previous Census Reports, still prevails among
our officials at Washington; and that all which Mr. Kennedy’s
Report contains must be taken with many grains of allowance. It
is certainly the duty of those who are better posted to give
notice of these deficiencies, and to call public attention to
them again and again, in the hope that something may be done,
hereafter, to make this department of the Government less
ridiculous in the eyes of those who are acquainted with such
matters, and less liable to mislead those who look on a Census
Report as something to be blindly quoted, and relied on as a
document which must necessarily be correct.

The only metals in regard to which anything is stated in Mr.
Kennedy’s report are iron, nickel, lead, zinc, and copper; thus
omitting gold, silver, and quicksilver, of each of which we are
large producers. Of the mineral productions, coal is the only
one noticed.

The first metal mentioned in the text accompanying the tables
compiled from the Census returns is iron, and the quantity of
pig iron produced in 1860 is given at 884,474 tuns, valued at
$19,487,790, and this is stated to be an increase in the value
returned by the Census of 1850, of 44·4 per cent.

Here the question arises, how far are these figures to be
relied on as accurate? This can only be decided by comparison
with returns known to be approximately accurate, and of these
we have none later than the year 1856, in which year the make
of pig iron was ascertained, by the Iron-Makers’ Association,
to be 812,917 tuns. Either the Census returns of 1860 are too
low, as they were in 1850, or else the increase in this branch
of our industry has been very slight since 1849, when the make
of iron was ascertained by the Pennsylvania Iron-Masters to be
800,000 tuns. On the other hand, assuming the Census returns
of 1860 to be correct, there is no ground for making the
statement, as is done by Mr. Kennedy, that there has been an
increase of 44·4 per cent. in the value of the iron produced
in 1860 over that of 1850; it is evident that the increase
has been very slight, since 1846 or 1847 even, in which years
the make of this metal, on reliable authority, reached nearly
800,000 tuns.

But what shall we say of Mr. Kennedy’s method of arriving at
the production of iron, as related to the amount of population
in the United States, or the number of pounds produced per
head? To obtain this, he adds together the amount of pig iron
and the amount of bar and other wrought iron produced, and
thus obtains a result of 92 pounds of iron produced for each
inhabitant of the United States; which, as he says, “speaks
volumes for the progress of the nation in all its industrial
and material interests.” It speaks a volume or two for his own
ignorance of the elements of metallurgy; since, as everybody,
except the Superintendent of the United States Census, knows,
the bar and rolled iron is nearly all converted from the pig,
and only a small proportion made direct from the ore; so that
his method of computation is as near correct as it would
be, for instance, to estimate the amount of beef consumed
per head in San Francisco, by adding the weight of all the
cattle slaughtered in the city to that of the beef produced by
said slaughtering. As, in 1856, only 28,433 tuns of bar iron
were made directly from the ore, to 812,917 of pig produced;
so, allowing that 28,000 tuns were made direct in 1860, the
amount, per head, of all the iron made in that year would be
65 pounds, instead of 92, as Mr. Kennedy calculates.[1] Taking
the population of the United States at 23,000,000, in 1850, and
the make of iron at 800,000 tuns, as given by the returns of
the Commission of the Iron-Masters of Pennsylvania, the amount
produced, per head, in that year, would be 78 pounds; so that
all Mr. Kennedy’s glorification goes for naught, unless we
admit that his returns for 1860 are wrong.

In regard to the statistics of the other metals mentioned
in the Census Report, it may be said, with truth, that they
are very defective. No mention is made of gold, silver, or
mercury, the value of the first-named of which produced in
this country is nearly double that of all the other metals.
Under zinc, there is no mention made of New Jersey, the great
zinc-producing State. The yield of lead in the Mississippi
Valley is put down at considerably less than its real amount.

But the most important remark to be made, in this connection,
is in reference to the mode of reporting the results adopted by
Mr. Kennedy. Instead of giving the amount of _metal_ produced,
the number of tuns of _ore_ is stated, and no clue given to the
yield of the ore. This is something as an assessor’s report
would be, which should give the valuation of the individuals he
might be called on to appraise, in _pieces of money_, leaving
it uncertain whether five cent or twenty dollar pieces were
intended.

The table given by Mr. Kennedy does not state what amounts
of each metal are produced; and, if we attempt to arrive at
them by examining the columns of values, it is found to be
impossible to decide whether these values are those of the ore
as mined before being smelted, or of the metals produced from
them. In short, the whole matter is left in such obscurity,
that it is much to be wished that the table could be expunged
from the Report, as it can only serve to mislead and confuse
those who resort to Government documents for information in
regard to our metallic and mineral productions.

[1] In point of fact, the amount of bar iron made in the
bloomery furnaces direct from the ore is growing less every
year, and must be now reduced to a very small figure.

Dr. Cooper remarked that, since the publication of his paper on Californian Mollusca, read before the Academy November 3d, 1862, (see Proceedings, vol. II, p. 202) he finds the generic name STRATEGUS preoccupied, and he now proposes, in its place, the name NAVARCHUS.

Professor Whitney exhibited a magnificent specimen of auriferous quartz, in which the gold was associated with _Mispickel_, (Arsenical Pyrites.) The weight of the mass was about five pounds, and the value of the gold estimated at $1,500. It was obtained from the celebrated “Fellows Lode,” on the Middle Yuba, in Sierra County. It is stated, on what is believed to be reliable authority, that from $200,000 to $250,000 has been taken from an excavation on the lode only ten feet long and four feet wide, by crushing in hand-mortars. The occurrence of gold in connection with mispickel, in the California mines, seems to be rare, at least in the southern counties. In the specimen presented, the gold formed a coherent, sponge-like mass, when the mispickel was dissolved.

Baron Richthofen remarked, that gold occurs associated with mispickel in Silesia.

Mr. R. L. Harris made some remarks on the comparative friction of car-wheels, on an iron track, when rolling and sliding, as shown by experiments made on the street-railroad in Washington street. Here the greatest grade is five hundred and twenty-eight feet per mile, or one in ten, and it is found that, on a wet day, if the wheels are stopped by the brakes, they will slide on the track; while, if the brakes are not put down so hard but that the wheels can revolve, the car is entirely under control. This is not the popular opinion, and the authorities generally state, that the sliding friction is the greatest; but experience shows, that the friction is really greatest when the sliding and rolling motions are combined.

REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 16TH, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Fourteen members present.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

From J. E. Clayton, Esq., a set of ores from the Russ District, California.

Donations to the Library:

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1857: from Dr. Cooper. Astronomical and Meteorological Observations, made at the U. S. Naval Observatory during the year 1861: from the U. S. Naval Observatory.

Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:

Description of two New Species of Plants from Nevada Territory.

BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.

APLOPAPPUS Cass.

_A. Nevadensis_ Kellogg. [FIG. 1.]

Suffrutescent, caudex branching, branches three to four inches
in height, somewhat ascending; rigid, striate, scabrous
throughout. Heads solitary and terminal, homochromous and
many-flowered. Leaves alternate, crowded near the base,
oblanceolate, very acute, quite entire, three-nerved; the
reticulate veins and nerves prominent, sub-petiolate (half
to one inch in length, by about one-fourth in breadth); the
lowermost leaves more distinctly petiolate, spatulate, obtuse,
or sub-acute; upper cauline leaves few or solitary, lanceolate,
very acute or acuminate, three-nerved.

Involucre campanulate, the greenish somewhat foliaceous scales
rigid, many-nerved, (chiefly three to five) margins scarious,
cleft-ciliate, or somewhat fimbriate, oblanceolate, acute, in
three series, often one or two bractoid scales at the base.

Receptacle flat, alveolate; alveoli toothed, naked. Rays (about
eight) orange-yellow, oblong-oval, two or three-toothed,
pistillate, fertile, tube slender, about as long as the
achenia, or one-third to half the length of the ligule.

Disk corolla cylindrical, slightly expanding, five-toothed,
erect, glabrous. The achenia (about twenty, including the ray)
angular, oblong, somewhat compressed; base cuneate, satiny
appressed pubescent (with white hairs); pappus of unequal
capillary scabrous bristles, rigid and fragile, or deciduous.

Appendages of the style much longer than the stigmatic portion,
lance-subulate, hispid, much exsert, erect-spreading.

This plant was brought from Nevada Territory by Mr. Herbert C.
Dorr.

MIRABILIS L.

_M. Californica_ Gray, Var. _villosa_ Kellogg.

Stem about a foot in height, somewhat ascending, flexuous,
divaricately branching, nodose, internodes slightly curved;
minutely villous throughout. Leaves rounded-cordate, obtuse,
entire, three to five-nerved; the uppermost ovate-cordate,
petioles short, (one-fourth to one-sixth the length of the
lamina).

Flowers pedicellate, in loose terminal dichotomous panicles,
with a solitary flower in the axils; perigonium pink, pedicels
recurved in fruit.

This plant, from the interior—Devil’s Gate and Carson
River—differs much from the plate of the coast plant of the
Mexican Boundary Report. It is not at all “glabrous,” nor are
the flowers “sub-sessile;” the pairs of leaves are remote,
with a much more open and spreading aspect; the flowers are
pentandrous and deciduous.

Mr. Harris exhibited a section of a pile, from a wharf at Rincon Point, which fell a few days since, having been destroyed by the boring of the _Teredo_, (properly a _Xylotrya_.) The material of the pile is Oregon pine; it had been in the water less than six years, but is now completely perforated in all directions. The subject of the best means of protection for piles, against attacks of the _Teredo_, was discussed at some length by various members.

Dr. Ayres stated that, as yet, no reliable preventive had been discovered, except that of sheathing the pile with metal. Several years ago the same subject came before the Academy, and Drs. Ayres and Trask were appointed a Committee to investigate the subject. All external applications which have been proposed fail in practice, from the wearing away of the surface by the waves, and they are but little better than the natural bark. It has not appeared that the saving in time was equal to the expense incurred by thus protecting the piles. At Boston, where there are two species destructive of timber, they find no preventive, short of sheathing the piles with copper.

In the French works on this subject, it has been stated that the bark affords no protection; but, on the contrary, aids the young animals in introducing themselves into the wood. This has not been found to be the case in this bay, where the bark does, on the contrary, assist in preserving the timber.

The fact was also stated, by one of the members, that the piles of the wharfs in the southern part of the city suffer much from attacks of the _Teredo_; while those of the northern portion are comparatively exempt. The fact was mentioned, that piles have been entirely destroyed here in six months from the time they were placed in the water.

Prof. Brewer made some remarks on the method of calculating altitudes by observation with a single barometer. He gave an account of the methods adopted by the Geological Survey for computation, in cases where there was no station barometer nearer than the bay, or the valley of the Sacramento.

Dr. Trask mentioned that the weight of the Honcut meteoric iron presented by him to the Academy, at the meeting of March 17th, 1862, was six ounces, one hundred and twenty-eight grains, troy.

Professor Whitney called attention to the curious errors in a paper published in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1861, page 133, which purports to be a translation into German of a portion of a work published by Mr. J. Xantus, describing his journey in Lower California. He describes a quicksilver mine of great importance as being worked at Marques; but the description which he gives of it shows that it is the New Almaden mine which, in reality, he visited, and which, by some confusion of his notes, he has located in Lower, instead of Upper California. No mercury mine is worked on the California peninsula, so far as can be ascertained. It is evident that Mr. Xantus’s notice of rich gold, lead and copper mines on the peninsula must be taken with many grains of allowance.

On motion of Dr. Ayres, it was ordered, that twenty-five copies of the second volume of the Proceedings be placed at the disposal of the Publishing Committee for distribution to learned societies, public libraries, and distinguished scientific men in the Atlantic States.

REGULAR MEETING, MARCH 2D, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Present, fifteen members.

Dr. J. P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, Ohio, was elected a corresponding member.

Donations to the Cabinet.

By Mr. Rowlandson, specimen of the wool of the Alpacca and Vicuña, brought from Peru by Capt. Bissell, of the United States sloop-of-war _Cyane_.

Donations to the Library.

The American Journal of Science, for January, 1863, from the editors.

Mr. Gabb communicated two papers by Mr. Rémond, containing descriptions of new fossils from California.

Description of two New Species of Bivalve Shells, from the Tertiaries of Contra Costa County.

BY AUGUSTE RÉMOND.

CARDIUM Brug.

_C. Gabbii_ Rémond.

Shell cordate, ventricose, nearly equilateral; posterior
side truncated, direct; anterior side slightly depressed;
height and length nearly equal. Umbones very prominent; beaks
incurved, approximate; lunule well marked, carinated; surface
even, with fine imbricated lines of growth. Hinge (of the left
valve) comparatively narrow; anterior fosset small, shallow,
triangular; cartilage pit large, deep, long; lateral teeth
heavy, thick, prominent.

Locality: vicinity of Kirker’s Pass, south of New York (of the
Pacific) Plain from a late tertiary deposit.

The _C. Gabbii_ will easily be distinguished from any other
species yet discovered, from its heavy hinge and enormous
lateral teeth. I take great pleasure in dedicating this
beautiful fossil to Mr. W. M. Gabb, to whom I am indebted for
repeated assistance in my palæontological studies.

This species occurs in shelly sands, together with _Tapes
regularis_ Gabb and _Murex ponderosus_ Gabb, two other extinct
species. The specimens are in the collection of Mr. W. M. Gabb
and my own.

OSTREA L.

_O. Bourgeoisii_ Rémond.

The description is from two lower valves, from the collections
of Mr. l’Abbé Bourgeois (Pont-Levoy, France) and Mr. Pioche,
(San Francisco.)

Shell sub-oval, higher than long, strongly contracted near the
cardinal area, sub-rounded on the ventral margin; inferior
valve comparatively thin, convex, irregular exteriorly, with
remote, somewhat rugose, plaits of growth. Ligament fosset
long, profound, minutely wrinkled and finely striated, oblique
and turned downwards; muscular impression very large, oblique,
and sub-central, somewhat prominent.

Locality: vicinity of Kirker’s Pass, from a late tertiary bed.

I dedicate this new species to Mr. Bourgeois, Professor of
Natural History at the School of Pont-Levoy, (Loir-et-Cher,
France) who was my first teacher in geology.

Description of two Species of Scutella.

BY AUGUSTE RÉMOND.

SCUTELLA Lam.

_S. Gibbsii_ Rémond.

Disk oblong-sub-oval, rounded before and truncated behind,
posteriorly convex above, slightly depressed in front;
inferior surface flat, somewhat concave about the mouth.
Apex about midway between the center and posterior margin;
ambulacral star non-symmetrical; petals unequal, open at their
extremities. Anterior petal straight, longer than the others;
the lateral ones nearly straight, diverging from the apex with
an angle of about eighty degrees; posterior petals very short,
sub-oval, having the anterior side most curved. Four rows of
pores in each petal; the inner pores transverse, the outer
ones pointed obliquely inwards. Mouth posteriorly sub-central;
anal-aperture small, submarginal. Ambulacral furrows double,
nearly symmetrical, slightly ramified. Each ambulacral and
inter-ambulacral space is occupied by two rows of irregular
plates, either pentagonal or hexagonal. Tubercles numerous,
crowded in the ambulacral furrows, but much worn off in the
specimens examined.

Locality: Kern Lake, Buena Vista County.

The specimens described are in the collection of the Academy;
they were found by Dr. Gibbs, to whom the species is dedicated.

Obs.—This species, considered by Mr. Gabb as of probably
miocene age, is closely allied to the _S. striatula_, which is
found living on the Californian coast, and occurs fossil in
the _faluns_ (miocene formation) of Bordeaux, France; but it
differs from it in the outlines and the size of the shell, the
former being comparatively small and longer than broad, while
the latter is broader than long. Besides, the apex of the _S.
Gibbsii_ is situated more posteriorly, and the lateral petals,
in the _S. striatula_, diverge from the apex, with an angle of
from one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifteen degrees;
this latter has also its ambulacral furrows more ramified at
their extremities.

_S. interlineata_ W. P. Blake.

Disk sub-circular, broad, upper surface convex towards the
middle, depressed on the margins, plane beneath; apex central;
ambulacral star symmetrical; petals long, equal, closed at
their extremities, nearly reaching from the apex to the margin
of the shell, terminated by five or six irregular hexagonal
plates. The petals are longitudinally divided into four rows,
which are connected by numerous and regular transverse lines
of pores. Mouth central; anus submarginal; ambulacral furrows
symmetrical, not much ramified. Inter-ambulacral areas occupied
by two rows of pentagonal plates, convex, of equal length,
increasing in size until they unite with the ambulacral plates;
hexagonal from that point and decreasing towards the margin.

Two sorts of appendages; spinous processes numerous and
crowded, above and beneath. Spines of the superior surface
short, striated, pyriform, irregularly pentagonal or hexagonal;
inferior spines slender, comparatively long, dentaliform,
striated longitudinally, tubular and round.

Obs.—Water-worn fragments of this fine fossil occur in
abundance on the beach, between Merced Lake and the Pacific,
south of Point Lobos, in San Francisco County. It was made
known to science by Mr. W. P. Blake, Geologist of the Railroad
Survey, who found it in 1853, among the shingles thrown up
by the surf, and first described by Mr. W. Stimpson. At
that time the locality whence the scutellæ were derived had
not been discovered, so that the specimens obtained being
imperfect, no complete description could be made; this is
the reason why I offer a new and complete description of
the _Scutella interlineata_, from specimens procured _in
situ_. As was suggested by Mr. W. P. Blake, the rocks bearing
these fossils are found a few miles southward, north of the
boundary line between San Mateo and San Francisco Counties,
where the scutellæ stick out from conglomeratic sandstones,
which Mr. Gabb considers as belonging to the _pliocene_ or
_post-pliocene_ formation; we find them in a fine state of
preservation, with their spines retained.

The _S. interlineata_ is figured in the Railroad Reports;
see vol. V, Geological Report, plate IV, fig. 30; and for
Mr. Blake’s remarks and Mr. Stimpson’s description, the same
Report, chap. XII, p. 153.

Dr. J. Blake made some remarks on specimens, presented by him, of infusoria, found in the sand-hills, south of Point Lobos, and which form a kind of concretions, fixing the sand in its place.

Dr. Ayres made the following remarks in relation to the genus NOTORHYNCHUS:

This genus was defined by me in 1855 (Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat.
Sci., vol. I, p. 72) to include a species occurring in the Bay
of San Francisco. In 1858 Girard refers to the species (P. R.
R. Rep., vol. X, p. 367) under the generic name HEPTANCHUS, of
which he considers NOTORHYNCHUS a synonym. In 1861, Mr. Gill
refers it to Rafinesque’s genus HEPTRANCHIAS. (Annals of the
Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., vol. VIII, Dec.) In a more recent paper
(Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., Oct., 1862) Mr. Gill restores my
species to the name under which it was originally described.
He says: “This generic name of NOTORHYNCHUS was proposed by
Dr. Ayres under a misapprehension.” My “misapprehension”
was that I regarded the species as the type of a new genus;
a conclusion at which Mr. Gill himself has, after several
changes, also arrived. He gives as a synonym of NOTORHYNCHUS
only “HEPTANCHUS, Sp. Müller and Henle, Gray, Girard, Gill,”
whereas it is necessary to include also “HEPTRANCHIAS, Gill,”
as above indicated.

I may remark that the description given by Mr. Gill of the
teeth of _Notorhynchus maculatus_, (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.,
Phil., Oct., 1862, p. 495) will not bear examination. It
represents the individual specimen on which it was founded; but
the species is quite common here, and I find that the number
and the forms of the teeth vary so much, that my original
description, which Mr. Gill says is “equally applicable to any
species of the family,” is fully as close as nature will allow
us to draw. I am at a loss to understand how it is possible
for him to refer the jaws of a shark, collected at a point
so far removed from us as Nisqually, to my species, when my
description is so extremely indefinite.

Professor Whitney gave an account of an interesting collection of Japanese minerals and fossils, in the possession of J. H. Van Reed, Esq., of this city.

This collection comprises over one thousand specimens of rocks,
ores, fossils, and miscellaneous objects of natural history.
It is supposed that they are chiefly of Japanese origin; but,
as there is among them a fragment of a Dutch tobacco-pipe,
carefully labeled, there may be other objects in the collection
from foreign countries. The articles are all labeled, in the
Japanese language: they are carefully fastened to the cases in
which they are arranged, with exquisite Japanese neatness. The
small crystals are inclosed in glass receptacles, having nearly
the form of two large watch-crystals, attached to each other by
the edges.

In the general character of the specimens in this collection,
a singular resemblance was noticed to the productions of
California, especially in the fossils and silicified woods, of
which latter there are a number of beautiful specimens. There
are several bivalve shells of pliocene or miocene tertiary
age, and some casts of gasteropods, exquisitely formed in
chalcedony. A number of sharks’ teeth, of the genus _Lamna_,
were also noticed. Among the fossils is a single shell of
palæozoic age, a _Spirifer_; it is not impossible, however,
that this may have been carried from China to Japan; at all
events, a _Spirifer_ from that country resembling this, and
of Devonian age, has been described in the Proceedings of the
Geological Society of London.

There are quite a number of specimens of copper ore in the
collection; they are all of the common yellow sulphuret,
(chalcopyrite) except one or two of erubescite. This would
indicate that the principal ore of this metal in Japan, as in
other countries, is the sulphuret of copper and iron.

Native gold in quartz is also present in the collection;
but no ores of silver were noticed, except one specimen of
steel-grained galena, which is probably argentiferous. There
are several specimens of realgar. Among the other minerals
noticed were: calcite, adularia, chalybite, in the form of
_flos ferri_, garnets, small crystals of pyroxene, crystals
of mica, pectolite, and another zeolitic mineral resembling
Thomsonite, as also native sulphur, obsidian, and a variety of
volcanic rocks and lavas.

The collection is quite interesting, and would be more so if
the labels could be read. The principal inference to be drawn
from it, is the predominance of volcanic formations, and of the
later tertiary strata, in the region in which this collection
was made.

Dr. Ayres called attention to a remarkable turtle, in the possession of Mr. Van Reed, known as the “Sacred Turtle” of the Japanese. It is a species of Emys, closely allied to _E. terrapin_. Its marked peculiarity is, that its back is covered by a growth of _conferva_, which is often several inches long, and which gives the animal its sacred character among the Japanese, who believe this growth to be _hair_. The species is allied to _C. rivularis_; but the cells are more elongated. Dr. Ayres stated that he had observed a growth of _conferva_ on various aquatic and amphibious animals in New England, and that, in these, it was always attended by disease, with more or less ulcerated at the roots. He was satisfied that this was always the case with fishes exhibiting this growth. The turtle in question, however, does not show any evidence of disease.

Dr. Ayres made some further remarks on the similarity of the fishes of Mr. Van Reed’s collection to species found in California.

Mr. Gabb noticed a resemblance in the fossils to those of this State.

REGULAR MEETING, MARCH 16TH, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Nine members present.

The attention of the Academy was called to the fact that the names of Dr. W. Newcomb, of Oakland, and of Mr. H. C. Bennett, of Columbia, both Corresponding Members of several years’ standing, had been omitted from the published list.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

Specimen of tree cotton, from near Mazatlan, Mexico; presented by Dr. Trask.

Donations to the Library:

Alternate generation of Annelids, by A. Agassiz. Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society, vol. IX, sheets 1 and 2. Report of the Trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum for 1862.

Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:

Description of two New Species of Collomia from Nevada Territory.

BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.

COLLOMIA Nutt.

_C. tinctoria_ Kellogg. [FIG. 2.]

Stem erect, slender, one to three inches in height (often so
minute as to appear almost stemless) villous and pulvurently
viscid glandular throughout. Leaves opposite, lower pair
oblong-spatulate obtuse, lamina slightly decurrent down the
petioles; those above, lanceolate, petiolate, acute, or
acuminate, mucronate, one-nerved, quite entire.

The minute yellow flowers crowded at the summit in pairs,
from the axils of the much abbreviated branchlets, short,
pedicellate; and with the long, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate,
bractoid leaves aggregated into a somewhat dense, subsessile
head. Calyx obconic, membranaceously diaphanous at the base;
segments green, cup prismatic (or pentangular); also with five
prominent processes, or folds, at the clefts, the semi-lanced
segments acute, or acuminate, subulate pointed, three-nerved.

The filiform flowers twice the length of the calyx, border
spreading, tube contracted below, stamens equal, or sub-equal,
inserted into the throat; capsule obovate, emarginate.

A very diminutive species from the western slope of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, found by Mr. Herbert C. Dorr. The plant
yields a beautiful yellow dye, hence the specific name.

_C. micrantha_ Kellogg. [FIG. 3.]

Plant upright, simple, or branching above; somewhat
viscid-pubescent.

Lower leaves opposite, ovate, obtuse, petioles very short;
middle cauline leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute,
corneously mucronate, sessile or subsessile, three to
seven-nerved; upper leaves mostly alternate, all somewhat
silky, viscid-pubescent. Flowers pedicellate, axillary
and terminal in a condensed, sub-cymose head; calyx lobes
sub-equal, linear-lanceolate, often sub-spatulate, acute,
corneously mucronate, three-nerved, ciliate, cleft to the
middle (membranous between the segments as in _Gillia_).

Flowers filiform, very minute, one-third to one-half longer
than the calyx; border blue, throat slightly swelled, stamens
included, three long and two short, style simple, stigma
undivided, about as long as the tube. Capsule oval, compressed
(?), about three-seeded, seeds oblong, cuneate, flattened.

A plant four to six inches in height, found by Mr. G. W. Dunn,
in the vicinity of Silver City, Nevada Territory. In one of
the specimens the first pair of leaves appears to manifest a
serrate tendency.

Dr. Trask stated, that the tree cotton presented by him was said to be the produce of a shrub from four to fifteen feet high. It is described as growing in a pod like a banana, the shrub forming a high chaparral. The staple is long and fine; but nothing is known of its commercial value.

Dr. Behr remarked that it closely resembled species of BOMBAX and ERIODENDRON, abundant in South America and the East Indies, but not there considered as of value as a substitute for cotton.

Dr. Trask made some remarks in regard to certain species of CONFERVA, which appear to be sensitive, like the species of SCHRANKIA.

Prof. Brewer stated that he had recently received a communication from Professor Planchon, of South France, in regard to suitable forage plants for dry regions. In that country the _Medicago sativa_, or Lucerne, was considered the most valuable, and next to it the Sainfoin.

REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 5TH, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Present, ten members; and Mr. W. S. Moses, by invitation.

Donations to the Library:

Chart of the oscillations of the Sacramento River, by T. M. Logan, M.D. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for September, 1862. Journal of the Boston Natural History Society, volume VII, Nos. 2 and 3.

Dr. Kellogg read the following paper:

Description of a New Genus and Species of Plant from Nevada Territory.

BY A. KELLOGG, M.D.

PTEROSTEPHANUS Kellogg.

Involucre obconically-companulate; scales loosely imbricated in
about two to three series; the exterior unequal, calyculate,
suborbicular, oval, or oblong, obtuse; the inner series (of
about eight) sub-equal, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse; scarious
margins entire; (a broad, diffusely green line marks the
centre). Receptacle naked, alveolate, alveoli, toothed. Achenia
(mature wanting), oblong, sub-cuneate, or sub-obovate, somewhat
compressed (?), slightly contracted at the crown, smooth,
sub-pubescent above, on a short stipe. Pappus double; the
exterior coroniform, persistent—a hyaline crateriform cup, with
an even but minutely crenulate edge; interior of five (white)
plumose, glabrous bristles, gradually dilating towards the base.

Californian herbs, with runcinately, pinnatifid, radical
leaves, and numerous naked scapes, bearing solitary,
tigulate, yellow flowers; closely allied to _Malacothrix_ and
_Calycoseris_, but with a plumose pappus.

_P. runcinatus_ Kellogg. [FIG. 4.]

Acaulescent, several naked scapes, two to four inches high,
sub-glabrous, (rarely a few scattering glandular hairs); leaves
radical, runcinately pinnatifid, lobes spinulose, frosty, or
sub-wooly, pubescent, three to seven-nerved, short petioles
winged, dilated at the base; rosulate, from a simple perennial
somewhat fusiform root.

Professor Whitney exhibited a new mass of meteoric iron, found near La Paz, on the Colorado River, in New Mexico, by Hermann Ehrenberg, Esq. A description and analysis will be furnished at a future meeting.

REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 20TH, 1863.

Vice President, Dr. Trask, in the Chair.

Present, seven members.

Philip Lutley Sclater, Esq., of London, England, was elected a Corresponding Member.

Donations to the Cabinet:

Three species of Reptiles from San Mateo, and one from Marin County, collected and presented by Mr. Bolander.

Dr. Cooper communicated the following description of a new Californian Mollusc, discovered by Rev. Joseph Rowell, at Marysville, in the waters of Feather River.

GUNDLACHIA Pfeiffer.

_G. Californica_ Rowell. [FIG. 5.]

Shell with the aperture sub-oval, obliquely expanded towards
the left, posteriorly ronaded, and wider anteriorly. Internal
shelf reaching forward about one-fifth the length of the shell,
its margin slightly concave and oblique.

Dorsal surface convex, becoming somewhat keel-shaped towards
the apex, which is strongly and obliquely deflected so as
to make the right border nearly a straight line, while the
expansion on the left projects nearly as far back as the apex,
at an obtuse angle. Structure corneous, with strong concentric
lines of growth, and faint radiating striæ. Color dark brown,
opaque; inner surface shining and purplish, the plate white
towards the edge, and in some specimens showing a thickened,
white semicircle continuous with its margin across the arch of
the shell.

Length about sixteen one-hundredths, breadth eight
one-hundredths, and height six one-hundredths of an English
inch.

More than fifty specimens were found on water plants in clear
stagnant ponds, two or more often sticking on the back of a
larger one.

The discovery of this little shell in California is of great
interest, the only species hitherto known being found in Cuba.
The generic characters of this shell are strictly parallel
with that species, while those mentioned as specific easily
distinguish it. The Cuban shell is more elongated, regularly
oval, the apex projecting considerably beyond the margin of
the aperture, which is not obliquely expanded posteriorly. Its
size is about one-fifth larger than that of ours. According to
Bourguignat, the young shell is a simple obtuse cone, with a
semicircular aperture formed by the edge of the shelf, and the
thickened dorsal margin; but as it grows, the animal changes
the form of the aperture until the opening beneath the shelf
becomes like the small end of a broad funnel, which in some of
our specimens is still shown by the white semicircular ring.

The shell much resembles that of the marine _Crypta_
(_Crepidula_), and also _Navicella_ of tropical estuaries; but
the animal is quite different in the Cuban species, and will
undoubtedly prove so in the Californian.

Mr. Hanks mentioned that he had collected about two hundred specimens of minerals for the Academy in Owen’s Lake Valley, and that there were also some bones with them from a well thirty feet deep, presented by Mr. H. M. McCormick; all of which would be forwarded to San Francisco as soon as possible.

REGULAR MEETING, MAY 4TH, 1863.

President in the Chair.

Present, eleven members.

Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows:

A collection of pine cones, from H. G. Bloomer. A specimen of rock, containing cretaceous fossils, from the vicinity of Fort Tejon (?), by E. T. Schenck. Two specimens of _Monocentris Japonicus_ Cuv. from Dr. Ayres.

Donations to the Library:

Commercial Relations of the United States for the year ending Sept. 30th, 1861, from the Department of the Interior. Classification of the Coleoptera of North America, by John Le Conte, M.D., Part I. Smithsonian Instructions for collecting eggs and nests of North American birds. Smithsonian Directions for collecting, preserving, and transporting specimens of Natural History: the three last-named volumes were presented by Dr. Ayres.

Professor Whitney read the following communication in regard to the progress of the State Geological Survey of California.

The Act of the Legislature authorizing a geological survey of
this State was approved April 21st, 1860; but operations were
not commenced until about the first of December of that year,
consequently the work has been in progress for a little more
than two years.

The plan of the survey, according to the requirements of
the act by which it was organized, demands “an accurate
and complete geological survey of the State,” and a report
containing “a full and scientific description of its rocks,
fossils, soils, and minerals, and of its botanical and
zoological productions.” Provision is also made for the
collection of specimens in all departments of geology and
natural history, which specimens are to be deposited “in such
place as shall be hereafter provided for that purpose by the
Legislature.”

The following persons have been employed on the survey since
it was commenced: Professor W. H. Brewer, as Principal
Assistant, and specially in charge of the department of Botany
and Agricultural Geology. Professor Brewer, however, up to
the present time, has been chiefly engaged in the geological
field work of the Survey. Mr. William Ashburner was employed
from the commencement of the work, up to the spring of 1862,
in the field; and, for a considerable portion of the time, in
examining the gold-quartz mines and machinery in the principal
mining counties of the Sierra Nevada. Mr. A. Rémond served as
volunteer, in the field work, during the season of 1862. Mr. W.
M. Gabb took the place of Palæontologist to the Survey at the
beginning of the year 1862, which position he still continues
to hold. Mr. C. Averill was connected with the Survey from
its commencement up to the month of February last, as Clerk,
Commissary, and Barometrical Observer. Dr. J. G. Cooper has
been in charge of the department of Zoology, and has been
employed, at intervals, as the financial condition of the
Survey permitted, since July 1st, 1861. In the topographical
department, Mr. C. F. Hoffmann has been employed constantly
since March, 1861; and Mr. V. Wackenreuder, at intervals,
during the past year.

The uncertainty peculiar to all undertakings of this kind in
the United States, arising from the necessity of appealing
to each successive Legislature for the means of carrying
on the work, and the disturbed state of the country during
the whole time since we commenced operations, as also the
unfortunate condition of the finances of the State, which has
kept the treasury from one to two years behind in the payment
of the legislative appropriations, have combined to render
it difficult to arrange and carry out as systematic a plan
for the conduct of the work as would, under more favorable
circumstances, have been practicable.

Two ideas have, however, as far as possible, governed the
survey in its operations: the first was, to make, as rapidly as
could be done, a reconnoissance of the State, with the view
of acquiring a knowledge of its general geological structure,
the age of the various formations which occur in it, and as
complete a general idea as possible of their range and extent,
so that a foundation might be laid for the detailed work which
would follow the preliminary examination; the second idea was,
at the same time that the general examination was going on, to
work up in detail certain more important districts, so that the
public might have light on questions of economical interest,
and at the same time be able to form an idea of what the work
might be if ever carried to completion. Besides this, the
natural history part of the survey was to be carried on, in
connection with the geological work, as rapidly as possible,
progress in all departments being necessarily proportioned to
the varying amounts of the annual appropriations.

California is covered by a vast net-work of mountain ranges,
separated by comparatively narrow valleys, with the exception
of those of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which do not,
together, cover more than one-fifteenth of the area of the
State. The remaining fourteen-fifteenths may be called
mountainous, as the valleys include but a small portion of its
surface. Into this mountainous region no accurate surveys have
ever been carried; even the General Land Office work stops at
the base of the mountains. A few ranch lines have been run
among the moderately elevated portions of the Coast Ranges;
but, as a general thing, the genuine Mexican grants were
limited to the plains.

Without considerable topographical work in connection with the
geological survey we should, then, be entirely unable to carry
on our geological work with any pretense to accuracy, as we
could neither locate our observations nor make our descriptions
of the country intelligible. The authority for doing something
for the increase of the geographical knowledge of the State is
found in the clause of the act authorizing the survey, which
requires “proper maps” to accompany the reports.

What has been done, up to the present time, in this department
may be briefly recapitulated as follows:

A series of maps, forty-nine in number, has been compiled by
Mr. Hoffmann from the original documents at the United States
Surveyor-General’s Office; the scale of these is half an inch
to the mile. They contain a compilation of nearly all that is
known at that office in regard to the geography of the State.
The maps, as thus blocked out, have been used by us in the
field, by filling in the topography wherever our route has laid.

The maps which have been or are now being prepared for
publication are:

1st. A map of the vicinity of the Bay of San Francisco, on
a scale of half an inch to the mile, four feet by three; it
extends from near Santa Cruz on the south to Napa on the north,
and from the Pacific to Corral Hollow, east and west. The area
of land which it covers is 4,248 square miles, which is just
twice that of the State of Delaware, and only lacks two hundred
square miles of equaling that of Connecticut. As near as can
be ascertained, it contains one-third of the population of the
State, and has about thirty inhabitants to the square mile—the
average density of the population of California being but
little over two to the square mile. This map, on which all the
details of the topography are given, as minutely as the scale
allows, is nearly completed, and will be soon ready for the
engraver.

2d. A detailed map, on a scale of two inches to the mile, of
the vicinity of Mount Diablo; this is about two and one-half by
three feet in dimensions, and includes the most important coal
mining district yet known to exist in the State. The map can be
made ready for the engraver in a few days.

3d. A map of the Coast Ranges, from the Bay of Monterey south
to Santa Barbara. It is about three feet by two and one-half
in dimensions, is on a scale of six miles to the inch, and
embraces about 16,000 square miles of territory. To complete it
will require about another year’s work in the field with two
sub-parties.

4th. Map of the Washoe silver-mining region—three and one-half
by two and one-half feet in dimensions, on a scale of two
inches to the mile—and extending over all the important
mining ground of the district. This map is from an accurate
trigonometrical survey by V. Wackenreuder; it is nearly
completed.

5th. Map of the Comstock Lode, on a scale of four hundred feet
to the inch, completed.

6th. Map of the central portion of the Sierra Nevada; scale
not yet determined on. Extensive surveys have been made by
Mr. Wackenreuder for this part of the work, and these will be
continued during the present season.

Of the above mentioned maps, Nos. 1 and 2 will accompany the
first volume of the Report. Nos. 4, 5, and probably 6, the
second volume.

It is intended, if the survey is carried to completion, to
construct a final map of the State on a scale of six miles to
the inch, in nine sheets, each about three feet square.