ABSTRACTS 



Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably 

 prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors. 

 The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those appearing in 

 this issue. 



PALEONTOLOGY. — A catalogue of the Mesozoic aitd Cenozoic plants 

 of North America. F. H. Knowlton. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 

 696; Pp. 815. 1920. 



This volume contains a bibliography of 32 pages, a catalogue of 618 

 pages, biologic classification of genera, index of genera and families, and 

 floral lists of the North American Mesozoic and Cenozoic plant-bearing 

 formations, covering 118 pages. It is an extension or up-to-date edition 

 of 5w/tom 752 published in 1898. This catalogue should be of inestim- 

 able value to paleobotanists. R. W. Stone. 



GEOLOGY. — Conservation through engineering. Franklin K. Lane. 

 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 705. Pp. 38. 1920. 



The annual report of the Secretary of the Interior to the President 

 contained a plea for constructive policies that deser\-es a hearing also 

 by the engineers and business men who are developing the power resources 

 of the country. The largest conservation for the future can come 

 only through the wisest engineering of the present. The conditions 

 under which the utilization of natural resources is demanded are out- 

 lined by Secretary Lane, who recommends a program that calls for 

 the cooperation of engineer and legislator. 



The Secretary advocates saving coal by taking more power from each 

 ton, and using each kind of coal for the particular purpose to which it 

 is best adapted. He believes that our water power should be developed 

 and hydro-electric power used instead of coal, and that all power 

 plants serving a common territory should be coordinated. Our petro- 

 leum supply is exhaustible and the oil problem should have deliberate 

 attention. A rigid policy of saving oil is urged, and it is argued that we 

 should have a foreign supply of petroleum. 



To bring this power inventory to the attention of the men who 

 furnish the country with its coal and oil and electricity, this extract 

 from the Secretary's administrative report is reprinted as a bulletin of 

 the United States Geological Survey. 



R. W. Stone. 

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