■j)ecembeb 26, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



591 



At the University of Manchester the follow- 

 ing appointments have been made: A. G-. 

 Ogilvie, reader in geography; J. MacMurray, 

 lectm-er in philosophy; A. Gardner and R. L. 

 Newall, demonstrators in anatomy. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



A PROPOSAL OF TWO NEW MIOCENE FORMA- 

 TIONAL NAMES 



In the summer of 1916, I organized, with the 

 help and encouragement of Professor G. D. 

 Harris, a paleontological expedition to Santo 

 Domingo, with the hope of differentiating the 

 Taqui Valley Tertiary beds. These had been 

 indiscriminately called Miocene by Professor 

 Gaibb in 1874, and in recent years referred by 

 Dr. Dall and Dr. Pilsbry to the Oligocene. 

 The members of the exploratory party were 

 Mr. Karl Paterson Schmidt, Mr. Axel Olsson 

 and the writer, the actual collecting being 

 very efficiently done by the two gentlemen. 

 The collections were chiefly made from bluffs 

 along tributary streams flowing northward 

 through the Samba Hills into the Eio Yaqui. 

 Our most important collections and sections 

 were made on the Eio Cana near Caimito, the 

 Eio Gurabo near Los Quemados, and the Rio 

 Mao near Cercado. 



While proceeding up the Rio Gurabo, Mr. 

 Schmidt and Mr. Olsson observed a sudden 

 change in the fauna of the bluffs near Los Que- 

 mados. They felt confident that this indicated 

 a different formation from that further down 

 the stream. 



A careful and detailed study of the mollusca 

 we had collected was made by the writer and 

 the presence of two formations verified, the re- 

 sults being published in 1917.^ I then desig- 

 nated these two formations by index fossil 

 names, calling them ithe Lower or Aphera isla- 

 colonis formation, and the Upper or Sconsia 

 laevigata formation.- This was to contrast 

 them with the Orthaulax inornaius formation. 

 I referred ithe Orthaulax formation to the 



; 1 Bulletins American Paleontology, Nos. 29 

 and 30. 



2 Bull. Amer. Pal., No. 30, p. 40, and Correlation 

 Table facing p. 44. 



Upper Oligocene of Tampa; the Lower or 

 Aphera formation to the Lower Miocene; and 

 the Upper or Sconsia formation to the Middle 

 Miocene. 



It now, however, seems desirable to apply 

 geographical names, in conformity with mod- 

 ern stratigraphical nomenclature, to these 

 formations. I therefore propose for the Upper 

 or Sconsia laevigata formation of my 1917 re- 

 port, the name Gurabo Formation. This in- 

 cludes prins,arily our Zones A to F on Rio 

 Gurabo near Los Quemados and our Bluff 1 on 

 Rio Mao near Cercado. For the Lower or 

 Aphera islacolonis formation of my 1917 re- 

 port I now propose the name Cercado Forma- 

 tion. This includes primarily our Bluffs 2 and 

 3 on Rio Mao near Cercado, our Zones H and 

 I on Rio Cana near Caimito, and our Zone G 

 on Eio Gurabo near Los Quemados. The Cer- 

 cado formation also includes a set of fossils 

 from Bulla river loaned to me for study by the 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



Carlotta J. Maury 



PALEONTOLOGICAIi LABORATOET, 

 COBNELL TjNrVERSITT 



SNOW DOUGHNUTS 



To THE Editor or Science: To the descrip- 

 tions of snow-rollers which have appeared in 

 recent numbers of your journal may the 

 following be added? 



During the winter of 1916-17 a heavy snow 

 fell in Monongalia county, West Virginia, 

 which provided for a short period an op- 

 portunity for travel in sleighs. The snow 

 drifted to depths of several feet in places 

 and formed along some roadside fences steep- 

 walled drifts which were, here and there, 

 overhanging at their tops. The writer trav- 

 eled in a sleigh for several miles along the 

 side of Chestnut Eidge, the westernmost of 

 the Allegheny Mountain ridges in this region. 

 The snow was at this time fresh and im- 

 packed. 



At the foot of these steep-walled drifts and 

 also lying part way down their slopes were, 

 in many places, numbers of small snow rings 

 resembling doughnuts in appearance. The 

 rings were a little slenderer than the average 



