510 . REVIEWS 



A study of the territory between Syracuse and Oneida with special reference to 

 the higher and earlier channels cut by the overflow of the glacial waters is illustrated 

 by a large number of photographs showing the features of these channels and of 

 cataract basins and ancient deltas along them. The retreat of the ice being westward 

 in this region, the eastern channels are older than the western, and they were 

 apparently formed in regular succession westward. 



A reconnaissance in the Cattaraugus-Chautauqua district along the divide 

 between the Ohio and Lake Erie drainage throws light upon the character of the 

 glacial drainage. Few channels cross the divide, the only important one being at 

 Persia Siding, where waters passed from the Cattaraugus to the Conewango drainage 

 basin. Most of the channels which drain southward head in uncut morainic drift. 

 The explanation is found in the fact that there was southwestward escape along the ice- 

 front for the glacial waters of this region as soon as the ice had receded a little fiom 

 the divide. Several channels representing successively lower levels taken by waters 

 draining a lake in the Cattaraugus basin westward along the ice-front into the Erie 

 basin are described in the eastern portion of their course in the vicinity of Gowanda, 

 but were not traced westward their entire length. The report closes with a brief 

 description of drumlinoidal aggregations of drift near the head of Lake Chautaugua. 



Grabau, a. W. Guide to the Geology and Paleontology of Niagara Falls 

 and Vicinity {with a Chapter on Post-Pliocene Fossils, by Elizabeth 

 Letson). Bull. 45, New York State Museum, 284 p., 1901. 

 The introduction deals with the best routes for viewing the Falls region. Chap. 

 I discusses the physical geography of the region and chap. 2 the life-history of the 

 Falls, while chaps. 3 and 4 discuss the stratigraphy and fossils of the hard-rock forma- 

 tions, and chap. 5 (by E. J. Letson) the post-Pliocene fossils. The bibliography of 

 ten pages forms an appendix, and this is followed by a glossary of fourteen pages. 

 This guide-book affords a comprehensive interpretation of the region, presenting the 

 results of the various workers in that field as well as the author's contributions and 

 interpretations. 



Certain parts of the interpretation of the drainage development are extremely 

 hypothetical, and in the reviewer's opinion somewhat doubtful. For example, the 

 eastern end of the Ontario basin is represented to have drained southward in Tertiary 

 time through the Genesee (reversed). The view that the drainage of the Ontario, 

 Erie, and Huron basins was southwestward toward the Mississippi seeiTis to be in 

 harmony with the latest results obtained in Michigan, though it can hardly be con- 

 sidered well established. The drainage of the Ontario and Erie basins toward the 

 Mississippi in Tertiary times seems, however, to be a good working hypothesis. 



Gilbert, G. K. Stimmary History of Niagara Falls. Published with topo- 

 graphic map of Niagara, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901 ; reprinted in Am. 

 GeoL, Vol. XXVII, pp. 375-77, 1901. 



As the title implies, the several events in the history of this region are briefly 

 outlined. The St. David's channel is referred to without question as an interglacial 

 gorge, and it is also stated that there were two times when the upper Great Lakes 

 discharged by other lines than the Niagara River for periods of considerable length. 

 These diversions make it necessary to lengthen the estimates of time required to exca- 

 vate the gorge beyond that necessary for a continuous stream of the present capacity. 



