Reviews — Geology of Virginia. 477 



III. — Virginia Geological Sukvey. 



BTLLETIF No. lY, 1912, consists of a description of " The Physio- 

 graphy and Geology of the Coastal Plain Province of Virginia ", by 

 Dr. W. Pullock Clark and Mr. B. Le B,oy Miller ; with chapters on 

 the Lower Cretaceous, by Mr, E. W. Berry, and on the Economic 

 Geology, by Dr. T. L. Watson, Director of the Survey. 



The Coastal Plain, which is bordered by Pre- Cambrian crystalline 

 rocks and by Cambrian, Ordovician, Triassic, and Lower Cretaceous 

 strata, consists mainly of a series of dissected terraces. These are 

 made up of Eocene and Miocene sands, clays, and marls, and of 

 Pleistocene and Recent deposits of sand, clay, peat, and gravel. 

 Particulars are given of the strata and of the geological events which 

 they indicate, the subject being well illustrated by photographic 

 plates and a good colour-printed map. The economie deposits consist 

 mainly of clays ; there are also marls, used as natural fertilizers and 

 in the manufacture of cement. A deposit of diatomaceous earth, 

 known as the " Richmond earth", is 30 feet thick in places, and is 

 exposed along the numerous streams close to their crossings from the 

 crystalline rocks on to the sediments of the Coastal Plain. The 

 region in general is an agricultural one with a great variety of soil 

 types, and it is recognized as important "to study in great detail 

 the stratigraphy of the various formations, in order fully to interpret 

 the soils". 



IV. — Eegional Geology. 



T' 



publish a Handhuch der Regional Geologie, which should be issued 

 in separate parts so that geologists can purchase the district they 

 require, is proceeding satisfactorily. Already ten parts have been 

 issued as follows: Denmark, • by TJssing (Im. 60); Spain, by 

 II. Douville (8m.); Iceland, by Pieturss (Im. 20); Armenia, by 

 Oswald (2m. 80) ; Persia, by Stahl (2m. 80) ; Philippines, by Smith 

 (Im. 20) ; New Zealand, by Marshall (3m. 50) ; Oceania, by Marshall 

 (Im. 60); Madagascar, by Lemoine (2m. 10); Mid- Atlantic Volcanic 

 Islands, by Gagel (Im. 40). Each part is complete in itself, has maps 

 and sections, gives a full summary of the geology of the area dealt 

 with, and a bibliography. Regional Geology is published in large 

 octavo form by Carl Winter, of Heidelberg, and should prove extremelj^ 

 useful to geologists. The method of publication in areas allows of 

 fresh issues from time to time, each extending and revising the 

 matter dealt with. 



V. EoSSIL AKGIOSrEKMS. 



Earliest Eueopeax Angiosperms. — While preparing a catalogue 

 of the Cretaceous plants in the British Museum, Dr. Marie C, Stopes 

 came across three specimens of petrified wood which prove that higher 

 woody Angiosperms existed in this country in Aptian times. These 

 specimens are described in her paper in the Philosophical Transactions 

 of the Royal Society (ser. B, vol. 203, pp. 75-100, pis. vi-viii, 1912), 

 the objects of which are to record the evidence of this important find, 

 to describe botanically the anatomy of the specimens, which belong 



