The question as to the age of the Lignitic beds is well discussed by Dr. Peale; and in the course of this discussion a full tabular list is given of all papers on the subject hitherto published, their places of publication, and the views they present, the several regions of the beds being taken up in succession.

The conclusions are:

That the Lignitic beds of Coalville and Bear River are undoubtedly Cretaceous: whether the Evanston should be included is left doubtful.

That the Judith beds are Cretaceous, and have their equivalent along the eastern edge of the Mountains (Front Range) below the Lignitic or Fort Union group, and also in Wyoming, and are, either, part of No. 5 (Fox Hills Group) of the Cretaceous, or, a group to be called No. 6.

That the coal (which is partly anthracite) of Rock Creek, Slate Creek, Anthracite Creek and Ohio Creek, is probably all of Cretaceous age. The coal of some beds is excellent, two analyses giving 88.2 and 919 p. c. of carbon. The anthracitic character is owing to a trachytic eruption.

That the Fort Union group (at Fort Union, Fort Clark, and under the White River beds, on the North fork of the Platte River, above Fort Laramie and west of Wind R. Mts., also on Grand River, Nebraska and farther north) and the Bitter Creek series (including beds of Black Buttes, Hallville, Medicine Bow, Carbon, Point of Rocks, the Rock Spring series and Washakie Station) are, although both afford Dinosaurian remains, Lower Eocene.

That the Lignitic beds east of the mountains in Colorado are the equivalent of the Fort Union group of the Upper Missouri, and are Eocene; "also that the lower part of the group, at least at the locality 200 miles east of Greeley, is the equivalent of a part of the Lignitic strata of Wyoming." The Lignitic beds near Golden, Denver, Colorado Springs, Cañon City, Raton Hills, are placed in a table with those of the Fort Union group; but are not afterwards remarked upon.

ume,

13. Age of Angiospermous plants referred to the Cretaceous.In my notice of a paper by DeCandolle, on pp. 447-449 of this volI remark that the "Cretaceous plants of the United States are the plants of beds which had previously been determined, through the animal fossils, to be Cretaceous." This statement needs, as I find, some modification. It is a fact that the plantbearing beds of the Lower Cretaceous of New Jersey and the Rocky Mountain region have been referred to the Cretaceous for stratigraphical reasons; and those of New Jersey on this ground, long before the plants were found. But the chief evidence in favor of this reference in the Rocky Mountain region was, as I learn from Dr. F. V. Hayden, who has been prominent in collecting the facts, the existence of Angiospermous leaves, the animal fossils

having been found in the layers just above those containing the leaves instead of those below. Further we have to admit that the stratigraphical evidence is far from demonstrating in either region that the plant-bearing beds are not Upper Jurassic. DeCandolle's charge is hence not far from right, and should be set aside, if possible, by further observations. Looking over Dr. Hayden's Report for 1874 (noticed above) I find that the Lignitic of the Dakota group (Lowest Cretaceous) is stated by Dr. Peale to have been observed at the mouth of the Gunnison to be underlaid by beds which contain a Cretaceous Scaphite, and Mr. Peale also mentions that Dr. Newberry speaks of the Cretaceous Gryphea Pitcheri being associated with the lower Lignitic beds of the same period. These appear to be pertinent facts. But more are

needed.

J. D. D.

14. Swiss Paleontological Society.-This society was founded in 1874, upon the plan of the Paleontographical Society, for the purpose of publishing the paleontological works of its members, especially those concerning Switzerland, and also of continuing, in a slightly different form, Pictet's Matériaux pour la Paléontologie Suisse. The volume for 1875 has just been distributed. It includes the second part of a monograph of Pholadomya, with 14 plates, by C. Masch; descriptions of Jurassic fossils from Savoy, and remarks upon their vertical distribution, with 7 plates, by E. Favre; further contributions toward distinguishing the Horses of the Quaternary, with 3 plates, by E. Rütimeyer; description of a lower jaw of Dinotherium Bavaricum, with 1 plate, by Is. Bachmann; description of Tertiary Echinoderms of Switzerland, with 8 plates, by P. de Loriol. The volume for 1874 contained the first part of Mosch's monograph of Pholadomya, with 26 plates, and a description of fossil plants from Sumatra, with 3 plates, by O. Heer. The society announces, as in preparation, several papers upon fossil Mollusks, Crinoids, Echinoids, Nummulites, Ammonites, Turtles, Stags, etc. The work deserves better support than it has yet received. Only six American names are upon the list of members. The annual subscription is 25 francs, payable in advance to Prof. Eugene Renevier, Lausanne, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland.

15. Geological Survey of New Jersey.-Annual Report of the State Geologist, Prof. G. H. Cook, for the year 1875. 42 pp. 8vo. Trenton, N. J., 1875.-This report is mainly economical in its facts. It is accompanied by a large map showing the triangulations of the U. S. Coast Survey, including the primary stations

selected in 1875.

16. Eocene Corals of Italy.-The memoir of Prof. d'Archiardi, of Pisa, on the Eocene corals of Friuli, has been issued as a separate work. It contains 100 pages of text, in 8vo, (describing a large number of species,) and 16 beautiful lithographic plates. The deposits of Friuli, as described by Prof. Taramelli, are a marly limestone containing echinoderms, and, below this, beds of

different kinds containing the fossil corals. The species are more than 120 in number and many of them are published as new. They show that the Italian seas in Eocene time were within the limits of the coral-reef seas.

17. Physikalische Krystallographie und Einleitung in die krystallographische Kenntniss der wichtigeren Substanzen; von P. GROTH. 528 pp. 8vo. Leipzig, 1876.-Professor Groth of Strassbourg has done excellent service for the science of mineralogy by putting in the hands of students a clear and comprehensive work upon Physical Crystallography. He takes up first the general subject of wave-movements and the undulatory theory of light, and by a series of careful descriptions, aided by excellent illustrations, makes the whole subject very intelligible without the use of mathematical formulæ. The fundamental laws of light are then explained, and, as following from them, the various optical properties of crystallized minerals; the whole being treated in a thorough and comprehensive manner. The properties of crystals in their relation to heat, electricity, and magnetism, are also fully described. The second part of the work embraces a discussion of the forms of crystals, based especially upon the general laws of symmetry which characterize the different systems. The illustrations throughout the work are of a high degree of excellence: this is especially true of the colored plates at the end of the volume. A special chapter is devoted to the description of the various instruments employed in optical researches, and a considerable number of detailed examples are given.

III. ZOOLOGY.

E. S. D.

1. Recent Corals from Tilibiche, Peru, nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level.-Professor A. AGASSIZ, in his recent South American tour, found a coral limestone at Tilibiche, 2,900 to 3,000 feet in elevation, about 20 miles in a straight line from the Pacific. The ravine where it occurs is about 450 feet below the general level of the nitrate basin of Peru. Two species of corals, modern in aspect, are described by L. F. Pourtalès, both new species, Isophyllia duplicata, and Convexastræa? Peruviana, and besides these a Millepore was observed near M. alcicornis. Professor Agassiz concludes that the Pacific, within comparatively recent times, extended through gaps in the Coast Range and made an internal sea, which stood at a height of not less than 2,900 feet, and probably much above this, as the sea must have played an important part in the deposition of the salt and the nitrates of the nitrate beds; and consequently, that there has been an elevation since the formation of the coral reefs, of not less than 2,900 feet. The presence of other extensive saline basins at a height of 7,000 feet seem to make the submergence still greater. The existence of eight species of Allorchestes (Amphipod Crustaceans), a salt-water genus, in Lake

Titicaca, is stated to suggest the presence of the sea, at no very distant period, at a height of 12,500 feet.--Bull. Comp. Zool., iii.

The facts have a special interest from the fact that there are now no coral reefs on the South American Coast south of Cape Blanco, near the equator, owing to the cold oceanic currents of the coast. The Coast Range would have been a protection against those currents in the era of the Tilibiche coral reefs.

2. Caspian Sea. The zoology of the Caspian Sea has recently been studied by Mr. Oscar Grimm, with important results. He has found in this great half-salt lake 120 animal species, and states that the whole number existing there must exceed 150 species. His discoveries include 6 new species of fish, (a Gobius and five Benthophili), 20 species of Mollusks, (Rissoa dimidiata, Hydrobia Caspia, H. spica, H. stagnalis with two varieties, Eulima conus, Neritina liturata, Lithoglyphus Caspius, Bythinia Eichwaldi, Planorbis Eichwaldi, sp. n., Cardium edule and var. rusticum, C. Caspium, C. crassum, C. Trigonoides, Adacna vitrea, A. edentula, A. plicata, A. læviuscula, Dreissena polymorpha, D. Caspia, D. rostriformis, and some other terrestrial and fluviatile Mollusca), a Bryozoan (Bowerbankia densa Farre, in which the colonial nervous system may be admirably seen), and about 35 species of Crustacea, among which we find the family Gammaridæ in particular represented by colossal forms and Idothea entomon in considerable quantities. Then there are 20 species of worms (Sabellides octocirrata), numerous Turbellaria, two sponges (Reniera flava, sp. n., or perhaps a variety of R. alba O. Schm., and another Reniera in the larval state), and, lastly, 13 Protozoa, among which are 6 new species.

The most interesting gatherings were made at 108 fathoms. At one haul the dredge brought up 350 specimens of Gammarids, belonging to 4 or 5 species, 150 specimens of Idotea entomon, 50 Mysids of colossal dimensions, 6 fishes, a multitude of large specimens of Hydrobia Caspia, Dreissena rostriformis, and enough more of zoological specimens to make four times this number.

Among the author's conclusions are the following. These species common to different seas, show the affinities of the Caspian Sea to the Aral Lake, the Black Sea, and the Arctic Ocean; but the affinities with the glacial sea seem to be more recent than those with the Black Sea; for in the latter certain species, such as the seals, Coregonus leucichthys, and others which are common to the Caspian and glacial seas, are wanting. We may suppose that in the Tertiary epoch there existed in Europe and in the neighboring parts of Asia a vast closed basin of fresh water. By an upheaval of the crust of the earth, due to the action of internal forces which still make themselves felt energetically in the region of the Caspian, this was separated into some smaller basins, which are the existing Black Sea and the Aralo-Caspian basin. The latter in its turn was afterward divided, just as we still see, into two small salt lakes separate from the Caspian. At the same time the

water of the glacial sea penetrated into the basin of the Caspian, which still had a slight connexion with the Black Sea, so that only a small number of animals could arrive there from the glacial sea. Hence we find that the primitive forms of the Caspian are freshwater animals (e. g. Dreissena polymorpha), and then that the emigrants from the glacial sea which reached it are marine animals for the most part inhabiting great depths. Hence, also, we recognize that the Caspian in its fauna presents more affinities with the glacial than with the Black Sea, which, again, has become richer in animals under the influence of the Mediterranean.

The Caspian has not only received species from the glacial sea, but has also furnished it with some-as, for example, a species of sturgeon, which seems to be Acipenser ruthenus, and lives in the rivers of Siberia. I regard the Sturgeons as belonging to the ancient Aralo-Caspian basin, and as having emigrated, as has been said, into the glacial sea, and perhaps even to America, where, as is well known, the nearest relatives of the Scaphirhynchi of the Aral exist. On the other hand we may presume that the place of origin of the Acipenserida was the Indian Ocean, and that they were derived from the Selachia, with which, especially when young, they have many points in common (e. g. their teeth).Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., xxv, 322, 1875, condensed from Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., IV, xvii, 176, Feb. 1876.

IV. ASTRONOMY.

1. Il passaggio di Venere sul Sole, osservato a Muddapur ner Bengala; Relazione di P. Tacchini. Palermo, 1875.-The party of observers under P. Tacchini were provided with five telescopes two of which had spectroscopes. In this volume we have the

results of their observations. P. Tacchini concludes, that the spectroscope can be employed to advantage in transits; that the solar diameter is smaller in the spectroscope than in an ordinary telescope; that the atmosphere of Venus so appears in the spectroscope as to show that it has a large quantity of vapor like the earth's atmosphere.

2. Planets recently discovered.-In the August number of the Journal for 1875, p. 158, was given a table of the recently discovered small planets. We here continue it, repeating some of the planets whose elements were then not well determined. In that table the names Siwa and Polana were interchanged, also the value of for Aethra should have been 22° instead of 2°. The elements below so far as (147) are obtained from the Berlin Astronomische Jahrbuch for 1878.

The name of (139), the planet discovered by Prof. Watson while at Peking, is Jue-wa, written in Chinese by two characters, but in western languages to be written without a hyphen, as in the table.