THE OSPREY (Pandion haliaëtus). - Mr. Allen, on page 569 of Vol. iii of the NATURALIST, refers to the desertion of the seaboard of Massachusetts by this bird. I will relate an incident which came under my observation some time since showing that the Osprey is still, or recently, a very near neighbor and affording some expectation of his return to our coasts where conditions suitable to his peculiar habits still exist.

Walking from Bristol to Warren, R. I., in May, 1868, I noticed with a pleasant surprise an eyrie of a pair of these birds on the denuded top or a stunted oak or butternut, at an elevation, judging from my distance, of less than twenty feet from the ground, located near a solitary farmstead, about half a mile distant on the right of the turnpike, and with but few other trees of dwarfish growth scattered at intervals around. The female bird appeared to be busily engaged in collecting material and repairing her nest; the male meanwhile sedulously pursuing his piscatory avocation over the adjacent bay. I presume I could not have been mistaken in identifying the species on this occasion, having had some years previous a fair opportunity of studying the habits of these birds on the estate of my friend, Dr. Parmley, near Shrewsbury Inlet, New Jersey. J. R. COLLETE, Somerville, Mass.

THE GREAT AUK. The statement (Amer. Nat., iii, p. 539) that "the Great Auk or Gare-fowl, fortunately for itself did not live long enough to receive more than one scientific name" is incorrect. I give several (Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1866), and believe others might be found. The tips of the wings are not white, as stated (1. c.), the primaries not being thus marked. I should judge "less than thirty specimens of the egg. .. now preserved" (op. cit. p. 550), to be an underestimate. Mr. Robert Champley (Annals Mag. Nat. Hist., 1864, p. 235-fide Hartl. Jahrest. 1864, p. 27), records fifty-three. Those who hesitate to credit comparatively southern localities for the species should consult the paper of one of the highest authorities upon the subject, Professor A. Newton. (Ibis, Oct., 1862). Some of Nuttall's observations are more poetical than reliable. Lastly, we have no proof that the Great Auk is extinct; the negative evidence in the case is not so weighty that Professor Newton could not say with propriety "I think there is yet a chance of the Great Auk still existing" (ibid., p. 23).— ELLIOTT COUES.

A RARE VISITOR.- A specimen of Pomarine Jager (Lestris Pomarina), was obtained by Mr. Vincent Barnard on the fourth of July last, on the Susquehanna River at Peach Botton, Lancaster County, Penn. An adult bird of the same species was procured, during the summer of 1840, at Harrisburg on the same river by Professor Baird. When it is remembered that adults of this species seldom come within the limits of the United States, even in the severest winters, young birds only making their appearance along the New England Coast, their occurrence in midsummer may well be considered as quite remarkable.,

THE COW BIRD. In the second number of "Nature," Professor Newton has an uncommonly interesting and suggestive article on the variation observed in Cuckoos' eggs, which seems to depend upon, or to be in some way connected with the characters of the eggs of the birds sclected by the parasite as the foster-parents of its offspring. Has anything of the sort been determined regarding the eggs of the Cow-bird? Do they vary, in the first place, to anything like the extent that the Cuckoo's do; and secondly, do they ever tend unmistakably to assimilate in marking to the eggs of birds usually selected by the Cow-bird as its dupes? Or, again are the birds so chosen, those whose eggs have any special resemblance to a Cow-bird's? It is not always so, I know; but is it so sometimes, frequently, or usually? The subject is worthy of the attention of our ornithologists, from whom it would be well to hear. - ELLIOTT COUES. OCCURRENCE OF THE BROWN PELICAN IN MASSACHUSETTS. - Since writing "Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts," I have received, through the kindness of Mr. Martin, further information respecting the Pelicans mentioned in the February number of the NATURALIST. The gentleman who saw the flock referred to there, and who fired at them, writes that the number was five instead of thirteen, as at first erroneously reported, and that they were the smaller brown species (Pelecanus fuscus) instead of White Pelicans. They came in from the sea, apparently much fatigued, and alighted on the beach near the Sankaty Head lighthouse, where they remained till driven away by being fired at. A White Pelican seems, however, to have been recently killed on Brant Point, Nantucket, as previously stated. The Brown Pelican I have not known to occur previously so far north.-J. A. ALLEN.

THE CHIPMUNK. - One of our chipmunks was noticed a few days ago busily nibbling at a snake that had been recently killed. He could hardly be driven away, and soon returned to his feast when his tormentors had withdrawn a short distance. Does the Tamias striatus in other regions possess such carnivorous propensities? A. J. Cook, Lansing, Mich.

ALBINO RODENTS. In the back yard of a small restaurant in this city is kept a beautiful albino squirrel, of the black and gray species (Sciurus Carolinensis Gm.). It was taken in Central Wisconsin, where another was killed at the same time. There is an albino rat at a bird-store in town.-W. J. BEAL.

CONCHOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 4th, 1869. Mr. Tryon called the attention of the members to specimens of Amnicola grana Say, from Carter County, Missouri, presented this evening. This very minute species was apparently unknown to Professor Haldeman, who in his monograph of the genus, merely quotes Say's original description and citation of locality and does not figure it. The species was for years considered a doubtful one, until Mr. Tryon had discovered it, six or eight years ago, existing in considerable numbers in ditches in the southern part of the city of Philadelphia.

Mr. T. distributed specimens to many of the American Conchologists, most of whom informed him that it was new to their collections. The donation this evening (Nov. 4) indicates that the species has a large area of distribution, and has probably been overlooked by collectors under the supposition that it was merely the young of some larger species.

At the meeting held December 2d, Mr. W. L. Mactier called attention to a specimen of Dolium melanostoma Jay, presented by him this evening. The locality of this shell still remains a mystery, although it has been recently assigned to Japan. Mr. M. also presented a nearly perfect specimen of Voluta Junonia and remarked that it was the rarest of American Volutida, and was found in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Tryon referring to his remarks made at a former meeting in refutation of Dr. Gray's opinion that Crepidula plana Say, is identical with C. fornicata Linn., stated that additional evidence of their non-identity had recently been presented by Mr. George H. Perkins, who in a recent paper states "that the ovi-capsules of plana are broader, shorter, and thinner than those of fornicata, and the ova are differently situated."

GEOLOGY.

FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE AFFINITY BETWEEN THE DINOSAURIAN REPTILES AND BIRDS. Professor Huxley reviewed the evidence already cited by himself and others (especially Prof. E. D. Cope), in favor of the ornithic affinities presented by the Dinosauria; and discusses at length the recently ascertained facts which bear upon this question, some of the most important of which are derived from the species described by him in the preceding paper under the name of Hypsilophodon Foxii. He summed up his paper by a comparison of the different elements of the pelvic arch and hinder limb in the ordinary reptiles, the Dinosauria and Birds, and maintained that the structure of the pelvic bones (especially the form and arrangement of the ischium and pubis), the relation between the distal ends of the tibia and the astragalus (which is perfectly ornithic), and the strong enemial crest of the tibia and the direction of its twist, furnishes additional and important evidence of the affinities between the Dinosauria and Birds.

Sir Roderick Murchison, who had taken the chair, enquired as to the habits of the Hypsilophodon. Mr. Hulke mentioned that Mr. Fox had several blocks containing remains of a large portion of the Hypsilophodon, all procured from a thin band of sandstone near Cowleaze Chine. On one the pelvis is almost entire, as well as the right femur, the tibia, which is longer than the femur, four long metatarsal bones, and an astragalus. All the long bones are hollow. Portions of at least eight individuals have been found in the same bed. Mr. Seeley doubted whether these animals should be called reptiles at all, as they seemed to him to form a group distinct alike from reptiles, birds, and mammals, but occu

pying an intermediate position. In the hinder limbs of Pterodactylus the analogies were closer with mammals than with birds. He thought it possible that the peculiar structure of the hinder limbs of the Dinosauria was due to the functions they performed rather than to any actual affinity with birds. The President, in reply, stated that Hypsilophodon, from the character of its teeth, probably subsisted on hard vegetable food. He expressed a hope that Mr. Fox would allow a closer examination of his specimens to be made. He was unable to agree with Mr. Seeley's views. He was inclined to think that the progress of knowledge tended rather to break down the lines of demarcation between groups supposed to be distinct than to authorize the creation of fresh divisions. — Nature, London.

FOSSIL HORSE IN MISSOURI. In the Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science (Vol. ii, p. 418), Professor Swallow announced the discovery of horse remains in the altered drift of Kansas.

I have now the honor to announce that similar remains have recently been discovered in a well at Papinville, Bates County, Missouri. Mr. O. P. Ollinger procured a tooth at the depth of thirty-one feet from the surface, resting in a bed of sand beneath a four inch stratum of bluish clay and gravel. Above the last was thirty feet ten inches of yellowish clay reaching to the surface. Beneath the sand, containing the tooth, was a gravel bed five feet in thickness, consisting mostly of rounded pebbles resembling river gravel, generally hornstone, many partially, and some firmly adhering together. Other pebbles shown me from the same bed were of iron ore, coal and micaceous sandstone. I was farther informed that some remains of fluviatile shells were found. I sent the tooth to Professor Joseph Leidy of Philadelphia, and he pronounced it to be the last upper molar of a horse, probably an extinct species.

From a similar gravel bed on the banks of Marais des Cygne, a fragment of a tusk was given me resembling very much that of a mammoth. Its whole length was said to be seven feet four inches. About ten miles above Papinville, the banks of Marais des Cygne River appear to be of a similar formation to the well of Ohlinger, consisting of about twelve feet of brown sandy clay resting on ten feet of blue clay with many pebbles of worn gravel at the lower part.

These gravel beds I consider as of more recent age than the drift, but older than the bluff or loess, and regard them as altered drift. They seem rather to abound on the Osage and its tributaries, and are often reached in digging wells.

The tooth from Maysville, Kansas, was found in altered drift at a depth of forty-five feet from the surfaces.

Dr. Albert Koch exhumed the famous Missourium (Mastodon giganteus), from a bed of gravel and clay on Pomme de Terre River, twenty feet below the surface. In these beds of altered drift we may therefore expect to find many interesting remains of mammals.-G. C. BROADHEAD (Read before the St. Louis Academy of Science, Nov. 15, 1869).

SUDDEN DRYING UP OF STREAMS IN NEVADA. In my article on the "Truckee and Humboldt Valleys," I casually call attention to the intermittent character of the mountain streams in that region. I state that they run freely, even boisterously, during the night and early morning, but dry up totally in the lower part of their course by noon." My offered explanation was rather a surmise than a conclusion. I had at that time seen no other. I have just observed, however, a statement of the fact and a theory to account for it. I refer to an article by Mr. Robert Brown in the January number of the "Country Gentleman," upon "The Forest Trees and Forest Life of North-west America." He says "these streams are hid in high mountains, and the sun is not of sufficient power to melt the snow which forms their volume until late in the day, when they gather force, and again decrease after sunset until they are almost dry."

This solution of the mystery is very plausible and doubtless correct as regards the streams which came under Mr. Brown's observation. It will not apply so well, however, to those of the West Humboldt Mountains, of which I wrote. At the time my attention was drawn to the subject there was no snow upon the range, even the high summit of Star Peak being perfectly bare. Had there been snow, I think the heat of the sun in August was sufficient to melt it any time in the day. I confess that my own offered explanation does not account for the great volume of water in the streams. Although the subject has no direct connection with natural history, I have ventured to call your attention to it in order, if possible, to draw out a theory which will meet the facts. W. W. BAILEY.

QUATERNARY DEPOSITS. — During the summer of 1865, whilst digging a pit for the foundation of a bridge abutment on the Pacific Railroad, four miles north of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, after passing through soil and dark clays at the depth of twelve feet, a bed of gravel and decomposing remains of fresh-water shells was reached, from which I obtained the tooth of an extinct species of ox.

In the year 1868, whilst prosecuting some geological examinations in Moultrie County, Illinois, I found in the bank of Kaskaskia River, the skull, with part of the vertebral column of an ox (probably Bos latifrons). The distance across the skull between the roots of the horns measured twelve inches, and the same between the eyes. The horns were short, thick, and but slightly curved forward and upward. On the bank above there were trees growing two feet in diameter. The bones were surrounded by dark clays and debris.

Besides remains of mammalia, bones and sticks of wood have often been found in modified drift at twenty feet or more beneath the surface. In North Missouri, sticks of wood have been found at a depth of seventyfive feet, part of a grape-vine at forty feet, and in Illinois a piece of cedar has been obtained from more than a hundred feet beneath the surface. In Nevada, Missouri, a walnut log two feet thick was dug up from