Atigust 7, 1879] 



NATURE 



355 



layer such as is found investing the crown of the teeth of sharks, 

 appears to have been a protection against the drilling power of 

 the borers. 



"Fossils excavated from' the phosphate beds are of a ferru- 

 gmous brown colour, but often much lighter or white upon the 

 surface. Those which are obtained from the rivers contiguous 

 to the beds are usually more or less bkck, with the enamel of 

 teeth iron-gray, and they frequently exhibit the basal attachment 

 of small barnacles, and occasionally the valve of an oyster. 



" From the fossils consisting mainly of the harder and denser, 

 and therefore heavier parts of skeletons and teeth, they are 

 generally assumed to be petrified, but usually the change has not 

 been more than a moderate loss of the ostein basis and the infil- 

 tration of iron oxyd. 



" From the extraordinary variety and profusion of the fossil 

 remains of the Ashley phosphate beds it may be inferred that 

 these were the former rich feeding grounds for multitudes of 

 marine and amphibious animals. At an early period during the 

 formation of the tertiary marl here congregated great sharks, rays, 

 squalodons, &c. At a later period their successors varied their 

 diet with the carcases of great land animals, as elephants, masto- 

 dons, &c., which floated down the broad and swollen rivers, as 

 drowned herds of the bison are said to do in our day upon the 

 Missouri River. 



" Some of the remains of terrestrial animals, comparatively few 

 in number, found as fossils in the Ashley phosphate beds, including 

 even the softer or more spongey bones, exhibit no evidence of 

 violent water action other than the signs of decay from the com- 

 bined influence of moisture and air ; neither do such fossils exhibit 

 the marks of boring molluscs, nor the attachments of barnacles. 

 Usually black and more or less friable, these fossils, such as the 

 bones of mastodon, megatherium, deer, &c. , are no doubt the 

 remains of animals which became mired and sank into marshes 

 of the Ashley phosphate beds after these had become elevated 

 above the surface of the neighbouring sea. Of this nature, also, 

 we may believe, are the remains of more recent animals, includ- 

 ing also specimens of human bones, those of domestic animals, 

 and stone implements, which are occasionally found in the 

 Ashley phosphate beds." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Amtrican yourtial of Science and Arts, July. — Contributions to 

 meteorology, by E. Loomis (eleventh paper). — Silurian forma- 

 tion in Central Virginia, by J. L. Campbell. — New form of 

 spectrometer, and on the distribution of the intensity of light in 

 the spectrum, by J. W. Draper. — Extinct volcanoes about Lake 

 Mono, and their relation to the glacial drift, by J. Leconte. 

 Mineral locality in Fairfield Co., Connecticut, by G. J. Brush 

 and E. L. Dana (third paper). — Note on the progress of experi- 

 ments for comparing a wave-length with a metre, by C. S. 

 I'eirce. — Recent additions to the marine fauna of the eastern 

 coast of North America, by A. E. Verrill. — Position of the 

 planets Philomela and Adcona, by C. H. F. Peters. — Method of 

 preventing the too rapid combustion of the carbons in the electric 

 lamp, by H. W. Wiley. — Bernardinite, a new mineral resin, by 

 J. M. Stillman. — Notice of a new Jurassic mammal, by O. C. 

 Marsh. — On the Hudson River aje [of the Taconic schists, by 

 James D. Dana. — (Several of these papers are noticed by us 

 elsewhere.) 



Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereins der preussischen 

 Rheinlandeund WestfaUnsCRoKD, vol. 35, parts i. and ii., 1878). 

 — From these parts we note the following papers : — Section for 

 Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Palaeontology : Descrip- 

 tion of the Cotopaxi and its last eruption on June 26, 1877, by 

 Th. Wolf (with plates). — On the eruptive rocks in the Saar and 

 Moselle districts (with plates), by A. von Lasaulx. — Chemical 

 examination of Westphalian and Rhenish rocks and minerals, by 

 W. von der Marck. — New researches on the oldest Devonian 

 formations of the Harz mountains, by C, Schliiter. — On some 

 spiders and a myriapod from the brown coal of Rott (with 

 plate), by Ph. Bertkau. — On some ferns from the coal flora, by 

 Dr. C. J. Andrii. — On some new Cephalopoda from the North 

 German chalk deposits, by C. Schliiter. — On the geology of 

 Italy, by Ilerr vom Rath. — On O. Volger's new theory of wells 

 »nd sources, by Dr. Mohr. — On the depths and configurations 

 of the sea-bottoms, by Ilerr Fischer. — On the crystallisation of 

 cyanite, by Herr vom Rath. — On the natural conditions of 

 i'^lberfeld, Barmen, and neighbourhood, by Herr Cornelius, — On 



the development and importance of coal mining in the Rhineland 

 and Westphalia. — On the geognostical conditions of the Oster 

 Wood near Elberfeld, by Herr Buff. — On the mining operations 

 in the Eifel from a historical point of view, by Herr Voss. — On 

 some fossil bones from the Unkelstein, by Herr Schwarze. — On 

 the perception of the earthquake of August 26, 1S78, in the 

 Rhenish mines, by Herr Fabricius, — On a fossil elephant's tu>k 

 from Hennef in the Sieg Valley, by Herr Buff. — On a loss-like 

 formation in the diluvium of the Weser district, by R. Wagener. 

 — Botanical Section : Further researches on the fertilisation of 

 flowers by insects, by H. MiiUer. — On Limodorum ahortivum, 

 Sw., and Epipogium gmelini. Rich., by G. Becker. — On Ophrys 

 arachnites and O. apifera, by the same. — On some rare speci- 

 mens from the Rhenish flora, by the same. — On the persistence 

 of flowers and fruits in their position with regard to the horizon, 

 by Herr von Hanstein. — Anatomical and physiological re- 

 searches on the nectaries of flowers, by Herr Behrens. — On the 

 change of colour in leaves, by Herr Lindemulh. — Section for 

 Anthropology, Zoology, and Anatomy : Herpetological drawings 

 made by Rosel von Rosenhof (from his posthumous papers), dis- 

 cussed by F. Leydig. — On some parasitical hymenoptera, by A. 

 Forster. — On the mollusk fauna of Westphalia, by P. Hesse. — 

 On the clothes of man compared to the natural coats of animals, 

 by Prof. Troschel. — On the whales occurring on the coasts of 

 Japan, by HerrMohnike. — On the spermatogenesis of mammal.-, 

 by Prof, von la Valette St. George. — On the differences between 

 Atypus piceus, Sulz., and A. affinis, Eichw., in the female sex, 

 by Herr Bertkau. — On the bats of the Rhineland and Westphalia . 

 On thirty-six species of fish caught in the Rhine near Linz, by 

 Herr Melsheimer. — Section for Chemistry, Technology, Physics, 

 and Astronomy : On the action of prussic acid, by Herr Wal- 

 lach. — On normal weights made of rock crystal, by Herr Stein. 

 — On a metallurgical work published in Japan in the seventeenth 

 century, by Dr. Gurlt. — On celluloid, by Dr. Koster. — On 

 the nature of the force of attraction, by Prof. Mohr. — On the 

 decomposition of salicylate of soda by carbonic acid, by Herr 

 Binz. — On Prof. Newcomb's researches on the motion of the 

 moon, by Herr Schonfeld. — On the Rott tunnel near Barmen, 

 by Herr Hovel. — On a universal hand-boring machine for hard 

 rocks, by Herr Faber. 



yournal of the Franklin Institute, July. — Power-transmitting 

 mechanism; on the strength of the teeth of wheels, by Mr. 

 Cooper. — Harmonic and basic lines and tendencies, by Dr. Chase. 

 - — Committee report on Olsen's testing machine. — Machines for 

 measuring, by Mr. Richards. — The electric arc, its resistance and 

 illuminating power, by Professors Thomson and Houston.— - 

 Effects of atmospheric changes on textile bands, by Mr. Wood- 

 bury. — Phosphorus in bituminous and anthracite coals, by Mr. 

 Roney. 



The q\i3.ri&Ay1Revue des Sciences naturilles (2nd series, vol. i.. 

 No. I). — On the aphides inhabiting Pistacia terebinthtts and P. 

 lentiscus, by L. Courchet. — Morphological researches on the 

 family of Grarainacece, by D. A. Godron. — On some plants 

 gathered in the neighbourhood of Montpellier in 1877, by M. 

 Duval Jouve. — Catalogue of the land- and river-molluscs of the 

 Herault department, by E. Dubrueil. — On the employment of 

 collodion for obtaining microscopical sections, by M. Duval. 

 — Note on the discovery of a layer of limnacida^-marlstonc 

 (shell-marl) at Celleneuve, near Montpellier, by F. Fontannes. 

 — On the reason of the occasional simultaneous occurrence of 

 limestone plants and silica plants, by Ch. Contejean. 



The Sitzungsberiihte der natunvissenschaftlichen Gesellscha/t 

 Isis zu Dresden (1878, part ii., July-December) contain the fol- 

 lowing papers of interest :— On the earthquake observed at 

 Nolhac on July 24, 1878, by J. von Boxberg. — On the teriiary 

 basin of Bilin, by Herr Deichmiiller. — On the cones of Glyptc- 

 strobus eiiropceus, Brongn., by Herr Engelhardt. — On the bed of 

 the River Priessnitz, near Dresden, by the same. — On J. H. 

 Schmick's work : the sun and moon as constructors of the 

 earth's shell, by Clemens Konig. The reviewer condemns Herr 

 Schmick's theory completely, and draws attention to its nume- 

 rous weak points. — On the mineralogy and geology of the St. 

 Gotthardt, by Herr Roscher. — On some abnormal cone forma- 

 tions in pines, by Dr. Nobbe. — On some Swedish plants, by 

 Herr von IJiedermann. — On some new results in prehistoric 

 research, by Dr. Geinitz, sen.— On a light machine, by Dr. 

 Topler.— On an elementary derivation of the law of gravitation 

 from Kepler's laws, by Herr Helm.— On an exi^edition to the 

 Arctic Ocean and the White Sea, by Herr Baldauf .— On silicified 



