138 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 5. 



uniisual difficulties and in the pure love of 

 science in connection with Professor Jen. 

 ney's work as a mining expert in the Black 

 Hills. All the material comes from the 

 lower portion of what was regarded by 

 Professor ISTewton as the Dakota group ; 

 most of it from nearly the same horizon as 

 that fi-om which the gigantic cycadean 

 trunks now so well known and the small 

 collection of plants made bj' Jenney and 

 Ward in September, 1893, were obtained 

 (see Journal of Geology for April-Maj', 1894, 

 Vol. II., 1^0.. 3, pp. 250-266). The collec- 

 tion has not yet been systematically worked 

 up, but a casual examination of it shows that 

 the plants have no relation to the true Da- 

 kota group, but are certainly as old as Lower 

 Cretaceoiis and are probably of Kootanie 

 age. The genera Gleichenia,Cladophl6bis, Za- 

 mites, Athrotaxopsis, and many others char- 

 acteristic of the Kootanie, the Trinity and 

 the Potomac formations are represented, 

 vrhile no dicotyledonous leaves occur. Upon 

 the whole they may be considered as a com- 

 plete confirmation of the conclusion previ- 

 ously reached that the Dakota group of 

 Newton must be subdivided and that a 

 large portion of it belongs to the Lower Cre- 

 taceous. Professor Jenney is able to sepa- 

 rate it into five distinct horizons, only the 

 uppermost of which belongs to the Dakota 

 of Meek and Hay den, between which and 

 the underlying beds he finds an uncon- 

 formity. 



Mr. Lester F. "Ward delivered two lec- 

 tures on Jan. 8 and 10 before the Peabody 

 Institute of Baltimore, on the Vegetation of 

 the Ancient World, illustrated by over fiftj'^ lan- 

 tern views. These were arranged in such a 

 manner as to pass in review in their ascend- 

 ing geological order all the fossil floras 

 known from the Silurian to the Pleistocene. 

 The greater part of the illustrations were 

 di'awn from American matei'ial, and all the 

 great plant bearing horizons of North Amer- 



ica were represented by groups of typical 

 and characteristic forms. Special attention 

 was given to the wonderful fossil forests of 

 this country, and especially of the National 

 Yellowstone Park. The fossil flora of the 

 Potomac formation, and particularlj' that of 

 the State of Marjdand and the City of Bal- 

 timore, were duly emphasized. Interspersed 

 mth these more scientific illustrations there 

 were thrown on the screen a number of the 

 magnificient ideal landscapes conceived and 

 executed by the gxeat scientific artists, 

 Unger, Heer, Saporta and Dawson. The 

 lectures were well adapted to give to the 

 general public a systematic and compre- 

 hensive view of the forms of plant life that 

 have inhabited the earth and especially 

 those that have flourished in America 

 throughout the past ages of geological 

 time. 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL ATLAS. 



The Director of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey has recently submitted to 

 the Secretary of the Interior an amendment 

 to the ' Sundry Civil Bill,' now before Con- 

 gress, authorizing the printing and distri- 

 bution of an atlas of ten topograpliical map- 

 sheets to the schools, academies and colleges 

 of the country, the proposed atlas to contain 

 illustrations of the various tj^pes of topo- 

 gTaphical form observed in the country, and 

 to be accompanied bj' an explanatory bul- 

 letin which will serve as a primer of topog- 

 raphy for school use. 



If the amendment is carried, and the at- 

 las meets the approval of teachers, it is pro- 

 posed to distribute additional series in later 

 j^ears. Those who are interested in the ad- 

 vance of geography in the schools cannot 

 do better than promptly to address their 

 Congressman, asking for support of this ex- 

 cellent proposition. It is iu effect an econ- 

 omical measure, for it will at a moderate 

 cost give a wide and novel use to a large 

 amount of material that has been gathered 

 at great expense, and that is now stored 



