348 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 



Literature of Russian Geology 



We are glad to note that Dr Nikitin's " Eusskaya gheologhicheskaya 

 biblioteka" for 1896 [dated 1897] reached England 1st September. 

 Like all records this valuable publication grows in bulk year by year, 

 with, of course, a corresponding difficulty of compilation. This diffi- 

 culty has now proved insuperable to Dr Nikitin and his collaborator, 

 Miss Marie Tzvetaev, and the work will in future be continued by a 

 special committee of the members of the Commission of the Geological 

 Committee of St Petersburg, of whose publications this biography 

 forms a part. The compiler records 577 papers in the geology of 

 Russia, which, if in Russian, are given a translation of title and brief 

 abstract in French, and if in any other language, are similarly dealt 

 with in Russian. 



Bibliography of Scientific Serials 

 A new edition of Dr Carrington Bolton's invaluable Catalogue of 

 Scientific Periodicals has just been issued by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. Part I. of the alphabetical catalogue is a reprint from the plates 

 of the first edition, with the necessary changes to bring the titles down 

 to date. Part II. contains additions that could not be made to the 

 plates of Part L, together with about 3G00 new titles. 8600 periodi- 

 cals are noted in this catalogue. 



Scraps from Serials 



The Proceedings of the Geologists Associeitiou for August are de- 

 voted to a sketch of the geology of the Birmingham district by Pro- 

 fessors Lapworth and Watts and Mr W. J. Harrison. The Association, 

 it will be remembered, visited the district this summer, and this 

 modestly-named sketch is 103 pages long, and is fully illustrated by 

 photographs and horizontal sections, and is really a masterly account 

 of the geology of the Midlands. The following list of contents will 

 give some idea of its value :— Physiography ; Geology ; Archaean rocks 

 of Malvern, Wrekin, Barnt Green, Caldecote, and Charnwood ; 

 Cambrian System of Wrekin, Malvern, Nuneaton, and Lower Lickey ; 

 Silurian System of Malvern, Abberley, the central area, Lower Lickey, 

 Walsall, Dudley, etc.; Carboniferous System of S. Staffordshire Coal- 

 field, Lower Lickey, E. Warwickshire and Severn Coal-fields ; Permian 

 System; Triassic System: Post-Triassic Formations; Petrology; 

 Ancient Glaciers of the Midlands ; and last, but not by any means 

 the least important, is a history of discovery in the Birmingham dis- 

 trict, a valuable adjunct to most unofficial work. The Geologists' 

 Association may well be proud of the interest shown in them by Pro- 

 fessor Lapworth and Watts. A new term < Charnian ' is proposed in 

 the paper (p. 335) by Prof. Watts for the Charnwood series. 



No. xvi. of the Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New 

 Brunsivick contains a portrait and life of Dr James Robb by Dr L. 

 W. Bailey. Dr Robb published as early as 1841 a paper on the geology 

 of New Brunswick in the Reports of the British Association, and fol- 

 lowed it up in 1850 with a report on the agricultural capabilities of 

 the province, to which he appended a geological map. He died in 



