NATURE 



[November 2, 191 1 



older sediinents by pressure and by the intrusion of 

 pegmatite alonfj the planes of foliation (p. 27). Rhyolites 

 form stratified masses on the surface, and contain 

 spherulites (p. 39) up to 4 feet in diameter. These and 

 the desert scenerv are well illustrated. Bulletin 417, by 

 F. H. Moffit and' A. Knopf, on "The Mineral Resources 

 of the Nabesna-White River District, Alaska," is mainly 

 concerned with the geology, and contains pictures of the 

 piedmont glaciers. Bulletin 420 deals with " The Feldspar 

 Deposits of the United States," and is a practical intro- 

 duction to the industrial use of pegmatites. T. L. Watson 

 (No. 426) describes, with adequate illustration, the granites 

 of the south-eastern States. The orbicular gabbro-diorite 

 illustrated on p. 145 is proposed for ornamental purposes. 

 The papers on water-resources show, as usual, a close 

 alliance between the work of the Survey and the living 

 interests of I lie people. 



We may im hikhi Ik :.> a paper issued by the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in 1011, by W. H. Waggaman, on 

 the phosphate fields of Florida, in which it is 





Fig. 2.— The Devil's Tower, south of Hule^^fomlng. 



estimated that the deposits of detrital pebbly phosphite, 

 probably of Pliocene age, are " almost inexhaustible." 

 F'or all that, we may well fear the energy of the modern 

 agriculturist. 



The United States Survey (Bulletin 465) has supplied us 

 with a history of the various Geological Surveys organised 

 by separate States, and we may now mention some recent 

 publications of these bodies. Maryland has issued vols, 

 vii. and viii. of her handsome cloth-bound series. Great 

 attention has been given to road-metal, for roads have 

 now a new meaning- in the wealthier States. It is to be 

 regretted that the only way of preserving certain roads in 

 Maryland from the destruction due to uncontrolled motor- 

 traffic is the formation of depressions across them, which 

 check any attempt at furious driving. As in our own 

 islands, legislation is regarded as powerless to remedy the 

 evil. Vol. vii. is concerned with a topographical re-survey 

 of the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, first 

 marked out in 1763. 



Wisconsin supports a joint Geological and Natural 



NO. 2192, VOL. 88] 



History Survey, and ha« recently issued several maps of 

 the lead aqd zinc mining district, on the large scale 

 of 4 inches to the mile, with contour-lines at intervals of 

 10 feet. 



The annual report of the Iowa Geological Survey for 

 1909 (received in 191 1) contains much matter of interest to 

 the glacialist. The papers written by the geologists, and 

 notably that on Hamilton and Wright counties, by T, H. 

 Macbride, are addressed to any intelligent citizen. They 

 cannot fail to arouse interest in the features that diversify 

 the great flat lands of this central State, nearly four-fifth* 

 of which arc occupied by prairies. The State is being 

 described county by county, and B. Shimek, in Harrison 

 and Monona counties, illustrates the loess deposits, which 

 often form conspicuous bluffs. Land-shells form the 

 immense majority of the molluscan fossils of these beds, 

 and the author strongly supports (p. ^gq) the aeolian .view 

 of their accumulation. The survey of these two counties 

 has led to the discovery (p. 309) of a rich mammalian fauna 

 in the Aftonian interglacial stage, including elephants, 

 horses, and Mylodon. The freshwater molluscs of the same 

 beds are mostly still living in West Lake, Okobozi, Iowa. 

 The botanical report (pp. 426-483) on the prairfe flora and 

 its conditions of growth will interest students of plant- 

 distribution. The huge granite boulders of the earlier or 

 Kansan drift, illustrated by M. F. Arey in Plate xi., 

 remind us of those of the North German plain, and the 

 intelligent citizen before mentioned may like to learn more 

 as to how they came into the ice-sheet. 



Bulletins i and 2 of the Colorado Geological Survey, 

 published in one volume, bound in cloth, describe two 

 mining districts, with the aid of coloured maps. 



The Colorado School of Mines issues a " Quarterly," 

 reviewing the mining progress of the State, and geological 

 papers may also be found in the " Studies " published at 

 Boulder by the University of Colorado. J. Henderson 

 writes in the latter (vol. viii., 1910-11, p. 33) on " Extinct 

 and Existing Glaciers of Colorado," with good illustrations 

 and a general introduction to the subject. The glaciers 

 are, of course, interesting on account of their small size 

 and evidences of retreat. 



Among papers that have reached us from private source.', 

 we may mention several on Pleistocene features by F.' 

 Carney. His inaugural thesis for his doctor's degree at 

 Denison University (Bull. Den. Univ., vol. xiv., p. 335) 

 treats of the glacial phenomena and resulting topography 

 of a part of New York State. The destructive effect of 

 continental ice upon well-bedded and jointed strata beneath 

 is illustrated in Figs. 25 and 26. The same author 

 (ibid., p. 262) has studied the " Raised Beaches " of parts 

 of Ohio, which seem to be glacial lake-terraces rather than 

 raised beaches in the customary sense. They were formed 

 in bodies of water along the frontal margin of the 

 Wisconsin ice-sheet, when it had retreated to the basins 

 of Lake Erie and the other great existing lakes. In 

 accordance with the author's geographic outlook, th» 

 terraces are connected by him with the agricultur. 

 economics of Ohio. He has also described " Geograph; 

 influence in the development of Ohio " in a paper in tho 

 Popular Science Monthly for November, iqog. 



The Grand Canon of Arizona has attracted D. W. 

 Johnson (Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist., vol. xxxiv., 

 p. 135) and L. F. Noble (Am. Journ. Sci., vol. xxix 

 p. 369). The former believes, with W. M. Davis, that tV. 

 faulting of the district is in the main of ancient date , 

 that is, older than the course of the river. His expedition 

 was chiefly concerned with the examination of this im- 

 portant question. Some modification of Huntington and 

 Goldthwait's report is suggested (p. 157). L. F. Noble's 

 contribution deals with new points in the pre-Cambrian and 

 Pateozoic stratigraphy of the canon. 



C. D. Walcott's progressive Cambrian studies have been 

 referred to more than once in Nature (see vol. Ixxxvii.. 

 p. 423). The Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections have 

 been enriched by them for some years past, and now 

 include (vol. Ivii., No. i) a contribution on the " Abrupt 

 Appearance of the Cambrian Fauna on the North American 

 Continent," presented before the International Geological 

 Congress of 19 10. Walcott's view is that life-form? 

 primarily pelagic, adapted themselves to littoral conditio: 

 in Algonkian times, and were first brought over on to tl 



