LITERARY NOTICES. 



421 



Springs, which flows into the Madison River. 

 He says that this stream " most nearly fills 

 all the natural requirements." It abounds in 

 suitable water vegetation, as well as in small 

 mollusks and insect larvae ; it is already used 

 as a natural hatchery and spawning ground 

 by trout, whitefish, and grayling ; the water 

 never freezes, and, says the assistant commis- 

 sioner, in making his recommendation, " they 

 are among the most remarkable springs that 

 are to be found in the United States." In 

 the second part of the book Dr. Everman 

 gives a report on his investigations made in 

 Texas for a similar purpose. During this 

 investigation thirty new species of fish were 

 discovered, descriptions of which are given. 

 Many excellent locations for a fresh-water 

 station were found in the interior, but Dr. 

 Everman says that " no point on the coast 

 offers entirely satisfactory conditions for the 

 establishment of a combined fresh and salt 

 water station ; but the Swan Lake site, near 

 Galveston, might prove fairly suitable." The 

 reports are illustrated with photographs of 

 the localities investigated and of the fishes 

 inhabiting each locality. 



Coals and Cokes in West Virginia is the 

 title of a pamphlet compiled by William Sey- 

 mour Edwards, which gives, "in a handy 

 form," a more precise knowledge of the coal 

 measures and industry of West Virginia. It 

 consists of a general review of the coal fields, 

 and a series of chapters on their geological, 

 stratigraphical, chemical, and physical con- 

 dition. The greater portion of the work is 

 devoted to tables of the chemical and physi- 

 cal analyses of the coals and cokes of the 

 State "in comparison with those of other 

 States in America and Europe." 



Third Annual Report of the Geological 

 Survey of Texas. E. T. Dumble, F. G. S. A., 

 State Geologist. Austin : Henry Hutchings, 

 1892. Pp. 410, with maps and illustrations. 

 This report embraces not only the geological 

 and mineralogical conditions of Texas, but 

 also gives some interesting historical facts 

 connected with the development of the State. 

 Accompanying the report are papers on ge- 

 ological investigations in Houston County, 

 by W. Kennedy; Section from Terrell to 

 Sabine Pass; Llano Estacado, or Staked 

 Plains, by W. F. Cummins, notes on the 

 geology of the country west of the plains ; 

 Stratigraphy of the Triassic Formation in 



Northwest Texas, by N. F. Drake ; and sev- 

 eral other reports dealing with the paleon- 

 tology of the vertebrata and the cretaceous 

 area, and Trans-Pecos, Texas. A consider- 

 able portion of the mineralogical part of the 

 report is devoted to Prof. Dumble's investi- 

 gations of the coal measures of the State ; 

 and in the chapter on Agriculture he explodes 

 the idea that the Staked Plains was a wide 

 expanse of desert sand. They were marked 

 so on all " the old maps as the Great Ameri- 

 can Desert " ; but the State Geologist says, 

 " This has been proved to be utterly untrue, 

 for there are no spots on this wide expanse 

 upon which there was not formerly a luxuri- 

 ant growth of natural grasses." 



In Brochure I of Volume II of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science, 

 Mr. John Walton contributes a paper on the 

 Mollusca of Monroe County. He gives some 

 useful advice to collectors of mollusca, and 

 illustrates his paper with one hundred and 

 thirty-five cuts of as many different varieties 

 and species. Mr. Charles S. Prosser's paper 

 on The Thickness of the Devonian and 

 Silurian Rocks of Western New York, ap- 

 proximately along the Line of the Genesee 

 River, minutely analyses the stratification 

 of the Genesee section. The brochure also 

 contains an article on the Guelph Formation 

 in Rochester, and an interesting synopsis of 

 the proceedings of the botanical section of 

 the academy. (Edited by P. Max Foshay, 

 secretary, Rochester, N. Y., 1892.) 



The seventeenth year book of New York 

 State Reformatory at Elmira, January, 1893, 

 is a very exhaustive report of the condition, 

 financial, educational, industrial, etc., of the 

 institution. It was entirely produced by the 

 inmates engaged on the institutional journal, 

 The Summary, and is from the Reformatory 

 press. It is beautifully printed on super- 

 calendered paper and is profusely illustrated. 

 The report of the general superintendent 

 contains a plea for the establishment of 

 " well organized and managed reformatory 

 prisons," and he draws attention to the fact 

 that most of the criminals are the product 

 of "civilization" and "emigration to our 

 shores from the degenerated populations of 

 crowded European marts." In that portion 

 of the book entitled Results there is a very 

 interesting examination into the causes of 

 criminality of certain prisoners, their prog- 



