Revieics — The Anthracite Coal Region. 463 



IV. — First Eeport of Progress in the Anthracite Coal Eegion. 

 The Geology of the Panther Creek Basin, or Eastern End 

 OP the Southern Field. By Chas. A. Ashburner, With an 

 Atlas of 13 sheets of Maps and Sections, 6 page Plates, and 2 

 folded Plates. 8vo. pp. 407. (Harrisburg, 1883.) 



THE above volume contains the results of the investigations 

 carried out by the officers of the Second Geological Survey of 

 Pennsylvania in a small corner of the Anthracite coal region of that 

 state. The greater portion of the book consists of details of various 

 sections of tbe strata and coal-seams, the character of tbe coals in 

 the different beds and the estimated yield, and consequently it is 

 more of local than general interest. 



The beautifully elaborate plans and sections accompanying the 

 report clearly show the extreme complexity of the strata in tbis 

 region. As Dr. Lesley, the State Geologist, remarks, " The most 

 striking feature of the plication of the coal-beds of this basin is its 

 sharpness, the rarity of those soft and gentle curvatures which 

 characterize the bituminous coal-basins, a rigid plainness of the up 

 and down slopes, suggestive of a severe lateral compression in the 

 jaws of a vice, and a humid plasticity of the Coal-measures at the 

 time of compression." These great disturbances make it a very 

 difficult task to identify the seams of coal in adjoining areas, as it is 

 found that even in the same colliery the thickness of the coal beds 

 and the rock intervals between them change considerably within 

 very short distances. Thus in one colliery in the Lehigh district, 

 the thickness of coal in what has been appropriately designated the 

 " Mammoth " bed varies from 42^ to 106 feet. It is stated that in 

 this area it is not generally considered profitable to work an anthra- 

 cite coal bed which is under four or five feet thick. 



It appears that the total product of the anthracite coal-fields of 

 Pennsylvania up to January, 1883, has been over 509 millions of 

 tons. This coal first began to be used in 1820, when the modest 

 quantity of 365 tons was mined ; in 1882 the output amounted to 

 over 31 millions of tons. 



The important scientific and economical facts brought forward in 

 this report should be sufficient to insure the continued support of the 

 State Government to enable the survey to be carried out in a 

 similarly detailed manner throughout the rest of these important 

 coal-fields. G. J. H. 



The Pliocene and Quaternary Euminants op the Auvergne. 

 By M. Charles Desperet. 



V. — Nouvelles etudes sur les Ruminants pliocenes et quater- 

 naires d'Auvergne. Par M. Charles Desperet. Bull, de la 

 Soc. Geol. de France, 3^ s. t. xii. p. 247, pi. v. a viii. 



IN this paper the author gives detailed descriptions and figures of 

 the fossil remains — consisting chiefly of horns and fragments 

 of jaws — of Ruminants which have l)een discovered in the valleys of 

 the Allier and Haute-Loire in the district of Auvergne, Central France. 



