LITERARY NOTICES. 



421 



were necessary to Americanize the book, 

 and adapt it to the requirements of public 

 and private schools, as well as to home in- 

 struction in this country. 



Report upon the Third International 

 Geographical Congress and Exhibi- 

 tion at Venice, Italy, 1881. By Cap- 

 tain George M. Wheeler. Washing- 

 ton: Government Printing-Omca. Pp. 

 586, with Eleven Maps and Plates. 



The report embraces an account of the 

 proceedings of the Congress and a descrip- 

 tion of the Exhibition, in which the more 

 important nations of the world showed the 

 results of the best work that had been done 

 in them in geography, topography, and 

 cartography. More than this, it draws the 

 lessons from those results of what may be 

 of most benefit to the United States and to 

 individual States. Of this character is the 

 information it contains respecting the ori- 

 gin, functions, history, and progress of the 

 several governmental topographic, hydro- 

 graphic, and geologic surveys. The reports 

 on Government land and marine surveys 

 are full, and represent twenty -five countries. 

 Under the head of works of reference are 

 given copious bibliographies of English, 

 French, German, Italian, Danish, and Span- 

 ish topographic surveys, Portuguese re- 

 ports, and general geologic reports. The 

 chapter on methods of reproduction (of 

 maps), in which the various processes are 

 described, is supplemented by plates giving 

 specimens of the best maps executed in 

 Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Saxony, Java, 

 and France, illustrating as many methods 

 of representation, each of which has its 

 peculiar excellences. The author was a 

 regularly appointed commissioner of the 

 United States to the Congress and Exhibi- 

 tion, and,had liberal facilities afforded him 

 for collecting information. He hopes that 

 what he has presented here may throw some 

 light on the extent and object of the great 

 land and water surveys of the world, and 

 that it may form the basis of further re- 

 searches in the direction outlined. 



Sechrist's Hand-Book and Railway Equip- 

 ment and Mileage Guide Monthly. S. 

 P. Sechrist, Editor. Cleveland, Ohio : 

 J. B. Savage. Pp. 190. 

 This publication is designed particular- 

 ly for the use of operating railroad men. 



; It contains tables of the passenger and 

 I freight equipment of all (American) rail- 

 roads, giving numbers of cars, dimensions, 

 I capacity, etc. ; works and equipment of all 

 freight-lines and private car companies ; 

 official information showing to whom car- 

 traces should be addressed, report of car- 

 service made, and remittances for car-mile- 

 age sent ; and other information cf similar 

 character ; together with lists of railroad 

 officers and offices, connections and junc- 

 tions. It is the official guide of the Car- Ac- 

 countants' Association of the United States 

 and Canada. 



Brachiopoda and Lamellibranchiata op 

 the Raritan Clays and Greensand 

 Marls of New Jersey. By Robert P. 

 Whitfield. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp. 269, with Thirty- 

 five Plates. 



This monograph was prepared for the 

 Geological Survey of New Jersey, and is 

 published in the series of the " Geological 

 Survey of the United States." While the 

 district from which the fossils described 

 come is a limited one, it is one which, ac- 

 cording to Professor George H. Cook, drew 

 the attention of paleontologists earlier, and 

 has been studied longer, " so that it is 

 classic and typical ground for all American 

 geologists." The boundaries of the district 

 and its general features are carefully de- 

 fined and described by Professor Cook in 

 a preliminary note and in an accompanying 

 map. Professor Cook also commends the 

 author's work in bringing the fossils togeth- 

 er and in revising and collecting imperfect 

 descriptions, and in making new and better 

 drawings ; while the new species he has 

 been able to add give completeness to the 

 subject. Heretofore, many of these fossils 

 which were described were not figured, and 

 the descriptions were scattered in so many 

 different works that they were practically 

 inaccessible to most persons. Professor 

 Whitfield has aimed to include in his re- 

 port all the species of the two orders of 

 the greensand marls and clays hitherto 

 described and published, as well as several 

 now made known for the first time. "It 

 will be noticed," he observes, "that very 

 few of the species have been recognized 

 from localities outside of the State. It is 

 certainly peculiar that so many local species 



