ASIA. 139 



also met with. Active volcanoes are not known ; but solfataras occur. 

 Coal has been found in several parts ; 75,000 tons were raised in 1872: 

 it is a lignite. Sulphur exists near the coal-mines ; petroleum also 

 occurs. J', D, 



Rexatjd, G. p. a. Rapport van het district Soengeiselan, eiland 

 Bangka. Jaarb. Mijnw. Ned. Oost-Ind. 3 Jaar., 1 Deel, pp. 3-82, 

 chromo-lith. map. 

 Report on the district of Soengeiselan in the Island of Banca, with 

 first sheet of a geological map. Cap. 1 describes the physical geo- 

 graphy of the district ; cap. 2 gives a geological and mincralogical 

 sketch, noting occurrence of tin, bismuth, gold, iron, manganese, and 

 pyrites ; cap. 3 describes occurrence of tin-ore in the river- valleys . 

 Statistics of production of tin from 1850 to 1872 are given. F. W. R. 



RiCHTHOFEx, Baron von. The Loess of Northern China, and its rela- 

 tion to the salt-basins of Central Asia. Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1873, 

 Sections, p. 86 (abstract). 

 This loess is an unstratificd yellow earth ; it covers an area of 

 240,000 square miles, spreading over ground from the level of the sea 

 to 8000 feet above, its thickness varying from very little to upwards of 

 1500 feet. The author thinks it can neither be a freshwater nor a 

 marine deposit, but subaerial, being partly deposited by the wash of 

 rain and partly carried by winds. F. J), 



. On a Coral reef on the coast of Java. See p. 92. 



ScnMiCK, J. H. Die Aralo-Kaspi-Niederung und ihro Befundo im 

 Lichte der Lehre von den siikularen Schwankungen des Seespiegels 

 und der Wiirmezonen. [The Aralo-Caspian lowland, with reference 

 to the doctrine of the secular oscillations of the sea-level and of 

 zones of temperature.] 125 pp., 1 plate. 8vo. Leipzig. 



Stiffe, Lieut. A. W. On the Mud-craters and Geological Structure 

 of the Mekran coast. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxx. pp. 60- 

 53, map and section. 



This coast extends from the head of the Persian Gulf to the W. 

 boundary of India. Heavy rains sometimes fall for a short time in 

 winter, filling the large watercourses ; but at other seasons, and some- 

 times for two whole years, the district is rainless. The hills rise to 

 about 2000 feet ; they consist of clay alternating with, and capped by, 

 calcareous beds, some shells from which are believed by Mr. Ethcridgo 

 to be Miocene. The beds are generally flat, or only slightly inclined, 

 but at the E. and AV. ends of the district have a high dip. 



The author gives notes of two hot springs on the coast, and an ac- 

 count of the denudation of the country. 



The Mud-craters extend along the coast for about 200 miles, within 

 a few miles of the shoro. They are conical hills of clay, with truncated 



