GEOGRA PHIC SERIA LS Ci 



The oponitins: exptMises were !?7ri4, 97 1,515, leaving an income from opera- 

 tion of $3()8,()75,047. Two-tliinls of the gro.ss earnings were absorl)e(l in 

 operating expenses, leaving one-third as income from operation. High- 

 water mark in railway earnings, as represented by gross earnings and 

 income from operation per mile of line, was readied in 185)1-92. In that 

 year gross earnings per mile of line were $7,2i;>, and the income from 

 operation was |2,404. From that time nntil 1<S!)4-5I5 the gross earnings 

 diminished, and in that year reai-hed their lowest point, which was 

 $6,050 i)er mile. The income from operation reached its lowest point in 

 1893-94, when it was !?1,94(). In 1895-90 the gross earnings had increased 

 to |(i,519and the income from oi)eration to|2,139 per mile. It is evident 

 from these tigures that the lowest point in the business of transportation 

 has been passed, and that this branch of business is on the upgrade. 

 This gain is not confined to any one part of the country, but is shown to 

 extend to all parts, with the exception of the states of Louisiana and 

 Texas. The dividends declared by the roads during the year aggregated 

 $54,983,732, an amount almost identical witli that of the i)receding year. 



H. G. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 1039. Virginia Cartographj'. A 

 Bibliographical Description by P. Lee Phillips. Washington, 189G. 

 This is an exhaustive account of the early maps of Virginia. Special 

 attention is given to John Wyth's map of 1585, Capt. John Smith's map 

 of 1008, and that of Augustine Herman of 1670. Of the multitude of maps 

 published in recent years only a few are listed, and it is difficult to see 

 upon what basis selection was made, unless it be the fact that they happen 

 to be represented in the Library of Congress. A singidar omission is that 

 of the sheets of theXJ. S. Geological Survey, which constitute the modern 

 mother map. II. U. 



GEOGRAPHIC SHRIALS 



The Bulletin of the Geographical Club of Philadelphia for December com- 

 prises "A Trijo toManika Land," by J. Edward Farnum. This is a little 

 known region in southeastern Africa, just south of Zambesi river. The 

 article is accompanied by a sketch map. 



The Journal of Geologij for November- December, 1896, is of special in- 

 terest from a geographic point of view. It opens with an article on " The 

 Age of the Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada," by W. Lindgren, 

 of the Geological Survey. These gravels were carefully studied by 

 Prof. J. D. Whitney, who assigned them to the Plioceneage. Mr Lind- 

 gren assigns a somewhat greater age to these beds, placing them in the 

 Miocene or even Eocene, the evidence upon which his conclusions rest 

 being mainly derived from i)Iant remains. Mr Harry Fieliling Keid 

 contributes an exceedingly interesting article upon the "Mechanics of 

 Glaciers," and Prof. R. D. Salisbury a paperupon " The Loe-ss in the Wis- 

 consin Drift Formation." Mr Carlos Sapper contributes an article on the 

 'Geology of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Peninsula of Yucatan," accom- 



