4o6 NATURAL SCIENCE. august. 



logical map with exact data. Then tliree other years to prepare the 

 map, sections, reports, and descriptions of fossils ; and in fifteen or 

 sixteen years, at most, we should have a good geological map of the 

 United States," &c. He estimates that the work could be done by 

 thirty-three officers, and at a cost of about /'8oo,ooo. 



If only a sketch-map were wanted, the task could possibly be 

 achieved in the manner suggested by M. Marcou, for he contem- 

 plates " a map in ten or twelve large sheets for the whole United 

 States." 



When, however, we read that " The first want and principal 

 object is to construct a geological map ... to be used by Govern- 

 ment in all general (juestions which may arise for Industry, Com- 

 merce, Agriculture, Forestry, Mining, Railroad," &c., and that the 

 map "should be correct in regard to chronology, determination of 

 rocks represented in each geological basin, and also in regard to exact 

 limits of formations," we fear that the critic has had little occasion 

 to use geological maps for practical purposes. Even the one-inch 

 scale of the British Geological Survey is too small for many practical 

 purposes, and M. Marcou would have one about one-thirtieth of that 

 scale! In fact, he is bound to admit that "it is impossible on a 

 general map to mark distinctly the superficial deposits," and although 

 admitting " the importance of the Mississippi river alluvial, and of 

 the coast formations," he would leave surface geology for the most 

 part to volunteers and free geologists, not in the pay of the United 

 States Government. One would have thought that in matters of 

 Agriculture, Forestry, Railroad, &c., as mentioned above, not to 

 forget questions of Water-supply, the mapping of the Drift formations 

 would have been as important as that of any other formations. 



Again, M. Marcou complains of the " Extravagance in the 

 Management of Publications." In this country the United States 

 has usually been regarded as furnishing a noble example — for surely 

 parsimony is detrimental to the growth of Science. 



British Cretaceous Foraminifera. 



For many years it was a matter of reproach to English palaeon- 

 tologists, that, although numerous monographs on Continental 

 Cretaceous Foraminifera had appeared, no papers of any importance 

 had been publislied on the Rhizopoda of our English Chalk or 

 Gault. That reproach has now been partly swept away by the 

 detailed report on the " Foraminifera of the Red Chalk," by Messrs. 

 Burrows, Sherborn, and Bailey, which appeared in 1890, and by the 

 commencement of a monograph on the " Foraminifera of the Gault," 

 by Mr. Frederick Chapman. Both these papers have been published 

 by the Royal Microscopical Society in their Journal, and, as they 

 have been fully illustrated, will form most valuable reference papers 

 for a long time to come. Of the " Foraminifera of the Gault," 



I 



I 



