288 REVIEWS 
where topographic conditions are combined with the right humidity. 
Many peat beds are crowded with successive generations of trees growing 
on and in the peat and producing thick deposits. 
3. Examinations of existing and buried peat beds has shown that 
they consist in part of trees and other vegetation im situ and of some 
drift material which can be recognized by its conspicuous lack of tender 
parts. There seems to be no difficulty in recognizing buried forests 
as such, and attention is called to the fact that in many great forested 
swamps broken and overturned stems are well preserved, while the 
stumps which have remained exposed to atmospheric action have 
decayed. The bedding and conformable relations of the various mem- 
bers of the coal series eliminate the probability of landslides as a great 
factor in coal formation. 
E. A. STEPHENSON 
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Vol. I, No. 4, 
Boel \Wroll, IKE, INO, it, 
This is devoted largely to seismology but is of great interest to the 
geologist as well as the seismologist. No. 4 contains a good biographical 
sketch of Major C. E. Dutton, an article on “ Earthquake Epicentres,” 
one on “Displaced Objects in Earthquake Motion,” and an excellent 
contribution on some Canadian post-glacial faults, also many notes on 
recent earthquakes. 
No. 1 of Vol. II contains biographical notes on Professor George 
Davidson and Professor John Milne, seismologist. Mr. Reid’s article 
on the choice of a seismograph is interesting and valuable. The greater 
part of this number is devoted to a discussion of destructive earthquakes 
in China. 
Be AS 
