Mr. J. B. Russell and Dr. E. Belle were elected Resident Members.
Donation to the Cabinet: Specimens of Copper ore from Chihuahua, by Mr. R. C. Jacobs.
Donation to the Library: On the Corals and Polyps of Panama, with descriptions of new species, by A. E. Verrill, 8vo. pamphlet.
Prof. Whitney presented the following communication from Wm. M. Gabb:
On the Subdivisions of the Cretaceous Formation in California.
BY WM. M. GABB.
The recent appearance of a check list published by the Smithsonian Institute, and entitled “Check List of the Invertebrate Fossils of North America—Eocene and Oligocene—by T. A. Conrad,” renders it necessary that I should state more clearly than has been done heretofore, the relations between the two members of the Californian Cretaceous rocks; and should give all of the proofs that have yet presented themselves, in support of my views.
In 1856, Mr. Conrad published a paper in Vol. 5, Pacific Railroad Reports, pages 320, et seq., in which he described fifteen shells from the “Eocene” rocks of the Cañada de las Uvas, near the present site of Fort Tejon. Of these, eleven were considered by that author as being new to science. The other four were referred to previously described Eocene forms.
These specimens were procured by Mr. Wm. P. Blake, geologist of the expedition. They were obtained from a single boulder, the only one found by that gentleman.