280 Reviews—Chev. W. Jervis—The Fossil Fuels of Italy. 
Red Crag, and in certain areas by superficial (Glacial and Post- 
Glacial) deposits. The most interesting portions of the work are 
those referring to the so-called Post-Glacial Beds. It is perhaps 
unfortunate that this term has been used for deposits yielding 
remains of Bison, Hlephas antiquus, E. primigenius, Felis spelea, 
Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, etc.; for these forms are so distinct from 
those which are known to have inhabited this country in Post- 
Glacial times. It must, therefore, be understood that the term is 
used to signify that the deposits are newer than the Boulder-clay of 
the district. ‘ Post-Glacial ”’ Beds are described near Marks Tey, 
Lexden, Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea. An Appendix gives records of 
Well-sections, and Lists of Fossils revised by Mr. Etheridge. The 
work has been edited by Mr. Whitaker. 
IJ.—Tue Fossit Fusrts or Irary, anp THEIR Economic ImporTANcE. 
By Chev. W. Jervis, F.G.S., Keeper of the Royal Italian 
Industrial Museum at Turin. Dei Combustibili Minerali d’Italia, 
e della loro importanza economica, etc. 8vo. pp. 89. (Turin, 
1879.) 
(eae account of the combustible minerals of Italy formed part of 
a long series of Lectures given by the author in 1879 at the 
Turin Museum on mineral fuel in general—from peat to anthracite 
and graphite—showing the slow and regular elimination of certain 
gaseous compounds contained in wood, leaves, grasses, and such- 
like vegetable substances, and the various phases of incomplete 
putrefaction in presence of the air and under water. The influence 
of pressure,—the lacustrine and littoral accumulations of organic 
matter,—the function of mechanical impurities, usually regarded as 
the ash of fuel, but distinct from the small quantity of real ash 
natural to the vegetable organism,—the animal origin of some 
fuels—were among the subjects treated of; but these were not 
included with the technology, topography, and geology of the fossil 
fuels of Italy, which have alone been chosen by the publishers for 
this issue. 
Modest in size and pretension, this little book contains much that 
is of interest and useful, in a succinct form. After a general account 
of peat, lignite, various kinds of coal, anthracite, graphite, and 
diamond, the Palaeozoic coal of the Alpine region of Italy is described 
as occurring in 20 communes belonging to the Provinces of Cuneo, 
Turin, Vicenza, Belluno, and Udine; mostly in the first two and 
the last. 
In the Apennine region coal occurs in six communes of the 
Provinces of Genoa and Florence; and in Sardinia at Seui (Cagliari). 
The Paleozoic coal of Italy is referred by Jervis to the Lower 
Carboniferous ; and to this stage he also thinks that the coal of 
Toulon and Corsica, on one side, and that of Carniola and Styria, on 
the other, also belong. 
The Mesozoic coal of the Alpine region near Verona is mentioned; 
and the Tertiary lignites of the Alpine region on the Tanaro, and at 
Leffe (Bergamo), Monte Bolea and Valdagno (Verona and Vicenza), 
