718 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885. 



certain zones, are not by any means limited to these zones, but invade 

 each other's territory to an undefined extent ; and that Spirifera Icevis 

 occurs in Middle Pennsylvania higher tlian the Portage group in the 

 Chemung proper, and in company with 8. mcsocostalis (?) (3) The author 

 doubts whether there is any distinct character by which Orthis tuUiensis 

 can be separated from 0. impressa, and he states on Professor Williams's 

 authority that there is in New York an Orthis which cannot be distin- 

 guished from 0. tuUiensis, occurring not at 200 feet only, but at a yet 

 greater height (less than 500 feet) above the Genesee shale. (4) The 

 author states that there is no doubt that Haly sites catenulatus occurs 

 in the Lower Helderberg limestone at the jilace mentioned by Prof. I. 

 C. White, and that there is no doubt as to the stratigraphical position 

 of the bed in which it occurs. (5) The author concludes that all at- 

 tempts to confine the range of species within certain arbitrary limits 

 are attempts that are not likely to succeed, and that the artificial sys- 

 tems of palaeontology which have been constructed by the faithful, earn- 

 est, and devoted labors of the students of the science are but tempo- 

 rary. 



• 

 Cooper, J. C. — On Fossil and Subfossil Land Shells of the United 



States, with Kotes on Living Species. California Academy of Sciences, 



pp. 235-255. October 13, 1885. [San Francisco.] 



Calls attention to the lack of post- tertiary changes that have occurred 

 in the species of the Atlantic slope and to the striking changes in those 

 of the Pacific slope, even in recent times and presumably ever since 

 the Tertiary epochs. He mentions the occurrence of similar changes 

 on }he islands and some parts of the main-land of Western Europe and 

 Africa, and says: "In searching for a common cause of variations af- 

 fecting the west slopes of both continents similarly, we arrive at the 

 conclusion that it is change of climate, produced by Tertiary and recent 

 geological action, and are obliged to admit that such action is still go- 

 ing on." The absence of such action to any marked extent on the At- 

 lantic slope of the United States he considers the cause of the lack of 

 any changes in the land shells there. 



Dall, W. H. — Miocene Deposits in Florida. Science, vol. vi, J^o. 130, 



p. 82. July, 1885. Cambridge. 



^^Totes the discovery of Ecphora quadricostata at Tampa, by Dr. K. 

 E. C. Stearns, and says that it is probable that there is a large area in 

 Florida corresponding in age to what has been called IVMocene in Vir- 

 ginia and the Carolinas. 



Dall, W. H.— Notes on some Floridan Land and Fresh Water Shells, 

 ' with a Revision of the Auriculacea of the Eastern United States. 



Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., vol. viii, pp. 255, 289, pis. xvii, xviii. July 1, 



1885. Washington. 



In this paper Mr. Dall mentions some forma that are found fossil as 

 well as recent. 



