AUTHORS’ ABSTRACTS. 989 
ponderance of water-laid drift. The eastern half of the range is a 
ridge-like series of sand and gravel knolls, with considerable till, the 
latter partially as a capping. The western half of the range is a 
typical kame-area. The topography of the whole range is decidedly 
morainic. With a trend of about 15° south of west the whole range 
forms part of a curving moraine which beyond the Genesee River swings 
north of west toward Albion. A critical fact is the discovery of a late 
system of glacial striz, over all the vicinity, at right angles to the 
range, or radial to the arc of the curving moraine. ‘These features are 
shown by a sketch map. 
Certain structural features, as the occurrence of extensive deposits 
of horizontal fine sands and silts, sometimes occupying the whole 
breadth of the range, are explained by deposition in the water of the 
glacal Lake Warren, which is believed to have laved the retreating ice- 
front throughout western New York. 
The paper enumerates other kame-areas in the region, two of 
which are of much greater bulk and area than the Pinnacle hills. 
Essential Properties of Building Stones. By H. Foster Bain. Reprint 
Monthly Review Iowa Weather and Crop Service, 22 pp., Des 
Moines, 1895. 
This essay presents in convenient form a summary of information 
on the subject. It is intended for popular distribution so citations to 
original authorities are omitted. The essential properties of a stone in 
relation to its use for building purposes are considered to be (1) 
Strength, (2) Durability, (3) Color, (4) Workability, (5) Availability. 
‘Tne mrst twu topics are treated more fully as being of the greater 
importance. 
Recconnaisance of the Gold Fields of the Southern Appalachians. By 
Geo. F. Becker, Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. 1894-5. Part III. 
This report is based on field work done in 1894, but the work of 
previous observers in the same area is of course taken into consideration. 
It also includes a digest of the literature dealing with the gold deposits 
of Nova Scotia and other northerly auriferous districts, the purpose 
being to present in a single paper the most noteworthy facts of gold 
occurrence on the entire eastern side of the continent. The total pro- 
