NOVEMBEK 30, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



685 



clines and synclines which present in structure 

 and topography many resemblances to the 

 Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. The older for- 

 mations here involved include many sand- 

 stones, of which the Table mountain series is 

 the basal and heaviest member. The very 

 ancient Malmesbury series, under the Table 

 mountain sandstone, is presumably of Ar- 

 chean date; it consists largely of slates, with 

 bodies of intrusive granites. This funda- 

 mental complex is exposed chiefly to west of 

 the Karroo basin, as far as the Atlantic. A 

 recent paper by Eogers, of the Cape Colony 

 survey, announces the discovery of a very 

 ancient glacial deposit, much more indurated 

 than the Dwyka tillite, in this series of fun- 

 damental rocks. 



The older formations that underlie the Kar- 

 roo system in the Transvaal, on the north, 

 are much more complicated than those on the 

 southwest. Beginning at the base there are 

 Archean schists and slates, with granitic in- 

 trusions; over these comes unconformably the 

 Witwatersrand system, famous for its gold- 

 bearing Banket or pudding-stone; then fol- 

 lows after a second unconformity the Venters- 

 dorp system with heavy amygdaloids; and 

 again after a third unconformity, the Potchef- 

 stroom system. This entire complex series 

 was deformed by folds of moderate intensity 

 and greatly eroded before a northern equiva- 

 lent of the Table mountain sandstone, called 

 the Waterberg sandstone, was deposited; and 

 this in turn was heavily eroded before the first 

 member — the Dwyka tillite — of the Karroo 

 system was formed. A geological map of this 

 region by Hatch on a scale of 1 :1,250,000, is 

 given at the end of the book. 



The younger rocks are chiefly of Cretaceous 

 age, near the southern and eastern coasts. 

 The ' pipes ' of diamond-bearing volcanic 

 rocks are also younger than at least some of 

 the Karroo formations, inasmuch as the Kar- 

 roo members are cut through by the pipes. 

 The diamond mines of Kimberly and Pretoria 

 and the gold mines of the Rand are described 

 in some detail. The last chapter of the book 

 treats the correlation of the pre-Dwyka for- 

 mations, which are mostly non-fossiliferous, 

 so that the occurrences in widely separated 



areas are of difficult identification. An excel- 

 lent list of papers on South African geology 

 and an index close the volume. 



W. M. D. 



'Gli Iiisetti, loro organizzazione, sviluppo, 

 ahitudini e rapporti coU'uomo. By Pro- 

 fessor Antonio Berlese, director of the 

 Royal Station for Agricultural Entomology 

 in Florence. Milan, Societa Editrice Li- 

 braria. 1906. Published in parts at one 

 lira each. 



With such excellent recent general Ameri- 

 can books on insects as those of Kellogg and 

 Eolsom, it would seem difficult for a book in 

 a foreign language to meet any great demand 

 in this country, yet the admirable work of 

 Professor Berlese, of which seventeen parts 

 have already been published, will undoubtedly 

 prove a very important addition to the libra- 

 ries of all institutions in which advanced 

 morphology is being studied and in all labora- 

 tories in which the study of insects is under- 

 taken from any point of view. 



Berlese is a master, a man of broad ideas, 

 thorough training, admirable in technique, 

 clear in demonstration, an excellent writer, 

 and a capable draftsman. His work when 

 completed will be both sound and comprehen- 

 sive. It will comprise two volumes, of which 

 the first will in a general way contain the 

 anatomy and the second the biology of in- 

 sects. The first volume will consist of from 

 seven to eight hundred pages and will be ac- 

 companied by about one thoiisand figures. Of 

 these, 550 pages have been published in seven- 

 teen parts, and the printed parts contain six 

 hundred figiires and four plates. 



The subjects considered in the first volume, 

 by chapters, are: 



I. Brief History of Entomology. 



II. Size of Insects. 



III. Plan of the Insect Structure. 



IV. Embryology in General. 

 V. Morphology in General. 



VI. Exoskeleton. 



VII. Endoskeleton. 



VIII. Muscular System. 



IX. Integument and its Structure. 



X. Glands. 



