SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 113 



The several Sections are preparing interesting and profitable pro- 

 grams for November, ibut we go to press too early to give decails in 

 this place. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Tlie Annual Report of the Carnegfie Museum, Pittsburg-h, for the year 

 ending March 31, 1904, possesses interest to us in Southern California in 

 several ways. First, it shows what can be done by enliglitened public 

 spirit assisting and assisted by donations from tliose who have the good 

 sense to appreciate the prime value of scientific worli and museum col- 

 lections as educational and reflning influences. Secondly, it adds to our 

 discredit for the meager accomplishment liere, by disclosing the purclrase 

 of A. W. Anthony's collection of ten thousand birds of the Pacific Coast, 

 taken out from under the noses of local men of money. But still more, 

 we liave let go to this same museum a valuable collection of plants from 

 Soutliern California, sold by Professor H. M. Hall, of Berkeley. Thirdly, 

 it stands as an example of what opportunity lies open to us, if only we 

 can get togetlier funds enough to make a decent start in conserving what 

 i.s near to our hands. The experience of the Southwest Society of the 

 Archaeological Institute of America, in simply pushing- to the front clearly 

 indicates that ripe fruit needs plucking here in Los Angeles, and the 

 harvest awaiting the reapers of the Academy of Sciences is far more 

 abundant than many of us realize. "Let us then be up and doing"." (C.) 



"A Possil Eg-g" From Arizona" is the title of a paper by Wm. Conger 

 Morgan and Marion Clover Tallman, issued as Bulletin No. 19, Vol. 3, of 

 University of California Publications. The specimen was found embedded 

 in a pebble picked up from gravel on the Gila River. Its age, though 

 not absolutely determinable, was probably as old as the Quaternary (Pleis- 

 tocene) Period. The markings of the shell and the interior structure are 

 well preserved, and the condition of the contents affords proof of actual 

 transformation of animal tissue into bituminous matter. The bulk of 

 the inner space is filled with the mineral, colemanite, with small patches 

 of a tarry stibstance closely allied to the petrolene series of natural as- 

 phalts. The authors fairlj^ demonstrate the impossibility of external 

 origin of the tarry ingredient. (C.) 



Bulletin No. 20, Vol. 3, of University of California Publications, is a 

 paper on "Euceratherium, a New Ungulate From the Quaternary Caves 

 of California," by Wm. J. Sinclair and E. L. Furlong. This discovery in 

 places in Shasta county, is interesting to technical students, who will 

 see in it a link in the chain of ancestry of an important group composing 

 the Sheep Family. The name, signifying beautiful-horned wild beast, is 

 taken from the gentle curve of the horns, which are smaller than those 

 of the Bighorn Mountain Sheep, although the head was larger. (C.) 



"The Useful Properties of Clays," by Allerton S. Cushman, appears as 

 Circular No. 17, Bureau of Chemistry, of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. The intimate relation of clays to progress in civilization, the back- 

 wardness of America in the fashioning of works of art and beauty from 

 this material, and the lack of any cause therefor except indifference of 

 the people, are briefly presented. Then follows an explanation of the 

 reasons for the prestige attained by certain potteries and the final passage 

 of celebrated wares into the domain of the lost arts, mainly because of 

 very slight differences in chemical composition of the materials used. 

 Every deposit of clay is a problem by itself and men skilled in the work- 

 ing of one grade may be entirely at a loss how to manipulate another 

 which differs only in minute particulars. The claj's of the United States 

 are as diverse and as well adapted to the production of art pottery and 

 fine porcelains as tliose of Europe; and yet in 1902, 11.5 per cent, in bulk 

 and over 56 per cent, in cost, of all clays used in this country were im- 

 ported. 



Mr. Cushman gives valuable information on varieties, physical prop- 

 erties, treatment, uses and methods of testing. Eighty-eight modes of 

 use are given, on the authority of the U. S. Geological Survey, and the 

 list quoted does not comprise all that might be mentioned. (C) 



"Informe Acerca de la Fisiografia, Geolog"ia e Hidrologia de los Alrede- 

 dores de La Paz, Baja California, por Ernesto Angermann, Dr. Phil." 1904. 

 26 p. This document forms the first paper of Vol. 1, No. 2, of the Transac- 

 tions of the Instituto Geologico of Mexico. It contains a map made up 

 from the previous work of Dr. Gustav Eisen, the Instituto Geologico and 

 the imperfect railway maps in the Mexican Official Guide, with correc- 

 tions and additions by the author. Upon a tracing sheet superimposed the 

 geological terranes are outlined. Interesting facts regarding the topo- 



