September i6, 1892,] 



SCIENCE. 



165 



converted into quartzite), and clays. They were laid down in 

 water which was too brackish at times for the establishment of a 

 fresh-water fauna in the estuary and too fresh for a marine fauna. 

 In short, the condilions were those of an estuary during a period 

 of rather rapid sedimentation. This estuary probably was, as 

 naany southern estuaries are now, defended from the sea by low 

 bars or sand islands, on the seaward side of which a marine, 

 probably Chesapeake, fauna flourished, whose remains are now 

 buried 700 to 1000 feet below the level of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 On the shores grew palmettos, and drift-wood in abundance 

 brought down by the rivers was strewn upon them. I regard it 

 as likely that part of the gravels bored thi'ough by artesian wells, 

 in the axis of what was the Gulf of Mississippi, are referable to an 

 earlier period tlian that of the Grand-Gulf epoch, since the same 

 processes were at work there throughout the whole of the Mio- 

 cene. Coeval with the sediments of the Grand Gulf were marine 

 deposits along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, both east and 

 west of the entrance to tlie Gulf of Mississippi. As the erosion of 

 the land became more complete the slope of the drainage became 

 less, the currents slower and the sediment finer and lighter, fine 

 sand and clay replacing the gravel and coarser material of the 

 earlier part of the epoch. In short, the clays to which Johnson 

 has applied the name of the Pascagoula formation, began to be 

 laid down, tlie sea was less energetically pushed back by the out- 

 flowing river-waters, and the conditions became more favorable 

 for the establishment of a brackish-water fauna. 



The word formation has been used very loosely in American 

 geological literature. In the sense in which we use the term for 

 the Chesapeake Miocene, or the Grand Gulf, or Lafayette rocks, I 

 conceive that these clays do not constitute a formation. They 

 really represent for me a phase, the latest and most gentle, of 

 the Grand Gulf, which is represented by the sands with palmetto 

 leaves above the Chesapeake strata in the section at Alum Bluff 

 on the Chattahoochee River. We may, sliglitly modifying John- 

 son's term, refer to them as the Pascagoula clays. 



A correction is also required in the definition of these clays, or 

 lather the fauna they contain. It is not, as supposed by John- 

 son, a marine fauna. All tlie species are or may be a part of a 

 strictly brackish-water formation. The collections of Johnson, as 

 well as material from the Mobile well, have been in my hands for 

 study. The fauna comprises a large oyster, a small Gnathodon, 

 which I have described under the name of O. Johnsoni, a small 

 Mactra, also found in the Chesapeake Miocene, fragments of a 

 Corbieula, and a Hydrobia, which I have named H. MobiUaiia. 

 The supposed Venus of which Judge Johnson speaks is the young 

 of the Gnathodon. All these species are characteristic of estu- 

 aries, and will be discussed in my "Tertiary Mollusks of 

 Florida," of wliich Part II. is now printing. The depth at which 

 this fauna is encountered in the Mobile well is 735 feet, which 

 gives an average dip from the locality near Vernal, Miss., where 

 it comes to the surface, of about 25 feet to the mile; which cor- 

 responds very well to the dips of other strata of the Tertiary, 

 which have been similarly traced. We are under serious obliga- 

 tions to Judge Johnson for the material he has so assiduously col- 

 lected and which has helped so much to determine the geology of 

 our southern tertiary formations. Wm. H. Dall, 



PalseontoloKist U, S. Geol. Survey. 

 Washington, D. C, Sept. 13. 



European Origin of the Aryans. 



Referring to Dr. Isaac Taylor's letter in Science, Sept. 9, I 

 must say that I cannot conceive how he can make the statements 

 it contains, if, as he alleges, he has "carefully read" Omalius 

 D'Hallow's writings. 



Dr. Taylor's words are, " The comparatively modern theory 

 that the Aryan race originated in the highlands of Central Asia, a 

 theory of which D'Halloy does not seem to have heard." Now, 

 in the article published in 184S, D'Halloy has these words: ■' On 

 a voulu tirer la conclusion que ces langues (indogermaniques) 

 derivaient du sanserif, et que tons les peuples qui les parlaient 

 etaient originaires de I'Himalaya, deux propositions qui sont loin 

 d'etre incontestable." 



As if this was not enough to make it clear as to what theories 



he was attacking, he specifically states in a note to page 19 of his 

 " Elements d'Ethnographie," referring to this article in the Bul- 

 letin of the Belgian Academy, that it was directed against the 

 linguists who derived the modern European languages and peo- 

 ples from Central Asiatic ancestry; whereas it was his view that 

 the ancient Persian and Indian tongues were imported from Europe 

 into Asia. 



I imagine that if Dr. Taylor had not had before him the " neces- 

 sity of modifying former [printed] statements," he would not 

 have overlooked this positive testimony by Omalius to himself. 



Media, Pa., Sept. 13. D. G. BrINTON. 



The English Sparrow and Other Birds. 



My experience with the English sparrow accords with that of 

 your correspondent X. in your issue of Sept. 2, 1893. Before this 

 sparrow came and multiplied largely, my lawn was populated 

 with cat-birds, red-birds (Cardinal grosbeck), robins, doves, blue- 

 birds, yellow-birds, tomtits, chipping sparrows, wrens, etc. ; but 

 now the English sparrow has full possession of the entire premises. 

 Now and then a cat-bird or a red-bird slips in as if to see whether 

 he may again bring his family to their old umbrageous quarters, 

 and to the rations which were provided for their support; but he is 

 not reassured, and soon disappears. 



The fecundity, energy, and perseverance of the little vandals 

 are amazing. When the small fruits are abundant it requires a 

 week of active shot-gun work to make them even cautious in 

 visiting the fruit-garden. Some of them last spring took a notion 

 to establish nests on the tops of window-shutters which opened 

 under projecting eaves, and although their nests were swept off 

 almost daily, they immediately began in each case to rebuild on 

 the same spots, and continued this for at least a fortnight. In 

 their nesting, as in some other things, they display more perseverance 

 than discretion. The oats found that they were building in con- 

 siderable numbers in a large hay-loft, and suppressed many a 

 germ of mischief. The sparrows sometimes swarm like flies in 

 the stable, where they will enter the troughs of horses, cows, and 

 pigs whilst the animals are feeding. 



I no longer shoot owls or hawks, but give them a welcome, and 

 every cat and nest-hunting boy has tlie freedom of my premises. 



Lexington, Va., Sept. 12. W. H. RUFPNER. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution to July, 1890. Washington, Government Printing 

 Office, 1891. 



The Smithsonian Report for 1890 contains: First, the proceed- 

 ings of the Board of Regents for the session of January, 1890; 

 second, the report of the executive committee exhibiting the finan- 

 cial affairs of the institution, including a statement of the Smith- 

 son fund and receipts and expenditures for the year 1889-1890; 

 third, the annual report of the secretary giving an account of the 

 operations and condition of the institution for the year 1889-1390, 

 with statistics of exchanges, etc. ; fourth, a general appendix com- 

 prising a selection of miscellaneous memoirs of interest to collab- 

 orators and correspondents of the institution, teachers, and others 

 engaged in the promotion of knowledge. This volume is also pro- 

 fusely illustrated, adding greatly to its value and interest. Among 

 the illustrations are maps of the National Zoological Park; maps 

 of the Niagara River; maps of Central Africa, before and after 

 Stanley ; pictures illustrating primitive urn burial, the age of 

 bronze in Egypt, specimens of quartz fibres; and many others too 

 numerous to mention in detail here. 



The object of the memoirs included in the general appendix is 

 to furnish brief accounts of scientific discovery in particular direc- 

 tions; occasional reports of the investigations made by collaborators 

 of the institution; memoirs of a general character or on special 

 topics, whether original and prepared expressly for the purpose or 

 selected from foreign journals; and briefly to present (as fully as 

 space will permit) such papers not published in the Smithsonian 

 Contributions or in the Miscellaneous Collections as may be sup- 

 posed to be of interest or value to the numerous correspondents of 

 the institution. 



