422 



8CIENCU. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 196 



terial himself. He has thus been able to give to 

 each species, not only its locality, but also its 

 stratigraphical position. 



The bulletin contains a preface by the state 

 geologist, together with a summary from his 

 forthcoming report, of the subdivisions of the 

 various deposits which make up the tertiary for- 

 mation in Alabama, and a description of their 

 stratigraphical and lithological features. Then 

 follows Mr. Aldrich's paper, includmg notes and 

 descriptions of species, with a summary of their 

 geological and geographical distribution, illus- 

 trated by six well-executed plates. Mr. Aldrich, 

 besides many new species, describes a new genus, 

 Expleritoma, which somewhat resembles an 

 ecarinate Magilus with the tube broken off. The 

 species E. prima comes from the Claiborne sands. 



Mr. Aldrich's paper is succeeded by one in which 

 Dr. Otto Meyer describes some species of eocene 

 fossils from Alabama and Mississippi. It is illus- 

 trated by three j^lates. Dr. Meyer also gives us a 

 new genus of jateropods, which he calls Bovicornu, 

 differing from Styhola by a slight spiral tvdst. It 

 is from the eocene of Red Bluff, Mississippi. 



These publications will stimulate and encourage 

 the study of the tertiary fossils of the United 

 States, — a field hitherto left to a very few work- 

 ers, and of late almost neglected. All paleontolo- 

 gists will wish success to Mr. Aldrich in his praise- 

 worthy undertaking. 



Brachiopoda and Lamellibranchiata of the Raritan 

 clays and greensand marls of New Jersey. By R. P. 

 Whitfield. Washington, Government, 1885. 4°. 



Volume ix. of the monographs of the U. S. 

 geological survey is a report on the fossil Brachio- 

 poda and Lamellibranchiata of the Raritan clays 

 and greensand marls of New Jersey, by Prof. R. 

 P. Whitfield. It was made to Professor Cook, 

 state geologist of New Jersey, who, deeming it 

 worthy of a place in the series of monographs, 

 transmitted it to the director of the national survey, 

 together with a sketch of the geology of the cre- 

 taceous and tertiary formations of New Jersey. 

 This is illustrated by sections. The whole volume 

 comprises three hundred and thirty-eight pages 

 and thirty-five admirable plates, quarto. The 

 Raritan clays are considered to be cretaceous by 

 Professor Cook, though some paleontologists have 

 considered the estuary forms sparingly found in 

 them to closely resemble those of the Weald en or 

 Jurassic age. Mr. Whitfield seems to incline to 

 this view. The greensand marls are unquestionably 

 cretaceous, and overlie, conformably, the clays. 

 The majority of the fossils described in the report 

 are of this age. Those from the plastic clays are 

 mostly internal casts, i)oorly preserved in a 

 friable matrix, which is also strongly impreg- 



nated with pyrites ; so that, unless immediately 

 soaked in glue, collections soon decompose and 

 crumble, leaving no organized traces liehind. 

 The beds at the top of the marl-bed appear to be 

 eocene, though showing some transitional fea- 

 tm-es. 



The types have been gathered from many 

 sources, the state collection having only a small 

 part of them. The earlier types are nearly all 

 lost, owing to the decomposition above referred 

 to, which affects the marl fossils as well as those 

 from the clays. 



These fossils attracted the attention of paleontol- 

 ogists at an early day. Morton and Vanuxem 

 began describing them in 1828. The bringing- 

 together of the scattered literature and correct- 

 ing it to date will prove of much value to students ; 

 and the work, representing the labor of the 

 pioneers in paleontology on this continent, will 

 remain a standard of reference for a long time to 

 come. 



Ambonicardia is proposed for a form referred to 

 the Veniliidae and related to Veniella ; Melea- 

 grinella and Gervilliopsis, for new forms of Avi- 

 culidae. The total number of species treated of 

 is two hundred and thirty-two, of which seven 

 belong to the Brachiopoda. An edition of this 

 report with the state imprint has been issued at 

 Trenton, N.J., as 'Paleontology of the cretaceous 

 and tertiary,' vol. i ; but it is, for all practical pur- 

 poses, exactly the same work. 



The glaciation of the Lackawanna and Wyo- 

 ming valleys, in north-eastern Pennsylvania, has 

 afforded Prof. J. C. Branner interesting material 

 for a detailed local study, published in the recent 

 Proceedings of the American philosophical soci- 

 ety. The district is of value as being on the 

 line of farthest glacial advance. The author 

 finds that the ice, when at its greatest thick- 

 ness, was influenced only by the greater aver- 

 age features of the surface ; and consequently 

 what appears to have been an upward movement 

 of the ice is upward only in a local sense. Fur- 

 ther, as the ice thinned by melting, its southern 

 margin became more and more under the influence 

 of local topography, and the directions of the 

 striae are changed. Professor Branner does not 

 follow Kjenelf in regarding the preservation of old- 

 er striae under divergent lines of later formation 

 as evidence of no significant glacial erosion, but 

 rather as showing the small power and short dura- 

 tion of the thin ice-margin that made the later 

 striae. The paper includes two contoured maps, 

 with striae iDrinted in red, and accounts of bowl- 

 ders, pot holes, new channels, and other related 

 questions. 



