i6o The Ottawa Naturalist. 



f 



Spencer, Dr. J- W. — " The duration of Nias^ara Falls and the history of the Grea 

 Lake^." 2nd edition. The Humboldt Publ. Co., New York, date not given, Imt 

 delivered to subscribers April, 1896. 



Contains chapters on " The evidence of high continental elevation during 

 the formation of the valleys of the Great Lakes, the origin of the basins of 

 these lakes, ancient shores, boulder pavements, high-level gravel deposits ; defor- 

 mation of the Iroquois Beach, birth of Lake Ontario ; Lundy Beach and birth of 

 Lake Erie ; deformation of the Algonquin ueach and birth of Lake Huron ; high 

 level shores of Warren Gulf and their deformation." This is followed by a contro- 

 versy on pleistocene subsidence versus glacial dams, closing with a chapter on the 

 history and duration of Niagara Falls. Dr. Spencer estimates that 50.000 years have 

 elapsed since the close of the " ice age." — H. M. A. 



HOBBS, W. H. — " A summary of progress in Mineralogy in i8gj.^' From monthly 

 notes in the " American Naturalist." (Dam. Print. Co., Madison, Wisconsin, 

 1896.) 



This work forms a very comprehensive review of the progress of Minerological 

 studies in 1891;- -giving the advances made in this field of research and a review of 

 works by Fletcher, Fuess, Hecht, Behreen, Czapski, Klockmann, Groth, etc. 



H. M. A. 



HoBBS, W. H. — "Z>i> Krystallisirten Mineralien aus dem " Galetta Limestone '■'des 

 sudlichen Wisconsin und des nordlichen Illinois " (Separat Abdruck aus : — 

 Zeitschrift fur Krystallographie etc., XXV, 2 and 3.) Leipzig, 1895. 



This paper is a study of the various crystalline types of minerals from the "Galena 

 limestone " formation of the West. Calcite (Scalenohedra, rhombohedra, dog-tooth 

 spar, nail head spar and other combinations) ; Zinc-blende, Lead ore, Cerussite, 

 Gypsum, Barytes, Malachite, Marcasite and Pyrite are described and accoinpanied 

 by three plates of figures and diagrams of crystalline forms of special interest. 



As the galena limestones are welldeveloped in Manitoba these crystalline forms 

 and minerals may be looked for. — H. M. A. 



GORDDN, C. H. — '■'■ Stratigraphy of the St. Louis and Warsaw formations in S. E, 

 Iowa." Ex. Jour. Geol., Vol. III., 403, April, May, 1895. 



Biology. 



Hyatt, A.\.vvi¥.vs—'' Lost Characteristics" Ex. Amer. Naturalist pp. 9 — 17, Jan- 

 1896. 



This is practically a continuation of Dr. Minot's article " on Heredity and 

 Rejuvenation " — in which the " work done by palaeontologists on the loss of charac- 

 teristics in the development of animals " is recorded by Prof. Hyatt. Prof Hyatt 

 states that the loss of characteristics is not so readily observed by the neobiologist, as 

 by the palaeobiologist, because the latter deals with series of forms often persisting 

 through long periods of time. The limitation of palaeobiological enquiry are not 

 as great as they are sometimes held out to be, for one " does work out of the hard 

 matrix the external skeletons or shells even of embryo corals, brachiopoda, mollusca 

 echinodermata, etc. The work of Cope, Beecher, Schuchert and Jackson assist greatly 

 in following such investigations. — H. M. A. 



