Miscellaneon 



i solar spectrum analysis ; by S. P. Langley. 

 by J. J. SYl 

 c sulpho-acids ; by Ira Ri 



of the Union Pa 



2. Excrrn !-,, Roi-ktf X r <»uitain region.— 



A paper on the>e deposits, in Nevada, by H. W. IJenshaw (Proc. 

 Acad. Sci Philad., 1877, 39) sustains the view of Prof. Cope, that 

 they were mn.ie l>y tin- b'.^-eare.i rats, a specie-; of Neotoma, and 

 probably JV. cinerea. They consist of vegetable matter, as shown 

 the volume on Zoology, 

 irt have a bitumen-like 

 look, and others vary from this to pill-like excrements. In a 

 crevice of the rocks one deposit had a depth of two feet, and con- 

 - . small twigs and some birds' feathers. "The mass was 

 the accumulation of years, and had served as a nest. 

 Throughout was a large amount of hard droppings from which 

 the urine had passed, and whose nature was unmistakable. The 

 urine. <Lar_..| with i certain iimuiti t . i vxrv men it io us matters, 

 leposits." Water or 

 the urine has carried the portions it could dissolve down the faces 

 of walls and deposited it on shelves where no animals without 

 wings could reach, and sometimes on the roofs of cavities. All 

 the regions where these deposits occur are inhabited by the Neo- 

 toma, which sjetarian. 



3. Fourth Annual Report of the New Jersey State Board of 



■ for the year 1876. 196 pp. 8vo. Trenton, N. J.— 



account of the Green sand beds of the State by Prof. G. H. Cook 

 th I! mi villi se. i" k, ii 1 le"t iiler.1 I >< ipt . -. 

 alyseaofthe green sand and clayey marls. All belong 

 to the Cretaceous, excepting the upper laver'of the Upper Green 

 sand, which is Eocene Tertiary. The value of the green sand 

 marl, in agriculture, is treated of at length. There is also an 

 account of the .Miocene Tertiary marls of the State. 



4. Primer of Chemist,-,/, !>,' . ■:,.,, ., , ,/y.v/.s ,• i,\ A. Vacheb. 

 108 pp. 12mo. London, 1877. (Churchill).— The "author states 

 that this little book represents ten years' experienee in teaching 

 the rudiments of chemistry ami analysis. The term unit replaces 

 atom and mo/..-,,/,, ;lli ,I .;„,>/„„/,,/ M . n ,., ii, place ..f r-nli.-n, and 

 the student is left to guess at the meaning of atomic weight and 

 equivalent, these terms book. Theecfenee 

 is compressed into a small compass, but the condensation passes 

 the limit of clearness. b. s. 



5. Correction.— Comet b, 1877, was discovered by Winxk, ke. 



