Notices respecting New Books. 461 



The lithological and other characteristics of each formation are 

 duly described, together with the economic products, fossils, and 

 places where they are found. The artesian wells and mineral 

 springs of Sparta, Oil-City, La Crosse, Prairie -du-Chien, Jordan, 

 and the water-supply from the Potsdam Formation, — also the 

 Drift and Boulders of the great river-valleys, and the Caves and 

 " Sinks " are especially described. 



Part II. (pp. 99-159), by Mr. L. C. Wooster, is a description of 

 the "Lower St.-Croix District." Under "General Geology" we find 

 an account of: — (1) the exposure of the Archaean rocks, as a granite 

 at Chippewa Palls : (2) the Potsdam Group, as the Eau-Claire 

 Grit, the Eau-Claire Trilobite-beds, the Hudson Trilobite-beds 

 with the variable Lower and Upper Calcareous Bands ; (3) the 

 Lower Magnesian Limestone; (4) St.-Peter's Sandstone; (5) the 

 Trenton Limestone. The Quaternary formations and their his- 

 tory form an interesting chapter here. The " Hydrology " and 

 the " Vegetation " of the district succeed. The latter comprises 

 the following classes : — 1. Prairie and terrace group. 2. Oak and 

 Poplar group. 3. Hardwood and Conifer group. 4. Pine group. 

 5. Grass and Sedge group. 6. Tamarac group. The mutual 

 relations of vegetation, soil, rainfall, and subjacent rock are here 

 treated of ; and the nature of the soils, peat, brick-earth, &c, is 

 the subject of Chapter VI. 



Part III. (pp. 161-349) is a comprehensive account, by Prof. 

 E-. P. Whitfield, of the most prominent and characteristic Fossils 

 discovered at different times in Wisconsin, with a general view of 

 the Paleontology of the State, and detailed descriptions of some 

 new fossils. The illustrations consist of 27 good plates. These 

 are species from the Potsdam Sandstone, the Lower Magnesian 

 Limestone, the Trenton- and more particularly the Galena-lime- 

 stone, and Hudson-River and Niagara Groups, and the Guelph 

 Limestone, and from the Lower Helderberg and the Hamilton 

 (Devonian) Groups. An important Appendix (pp. 350-363) gives 

 a general list of the Fossils hitherto recognized as occurring in the 

 State of Wisconsin, with their respective Geological formations. 



Prof. T. C. Chamberlin, the Chief Geologist of the State Survey, 

 has supplied Part IV., fully descriptive of the " Ore-deposits of 

 South-western Wisconsin" (pages 367-568), noticing previous 

 accounts and theories by Owen, Whitney, Murrish, and others, and 

 entering carefully into the subject, with remarks on the nature 

 of the minerals concerned and the grouping of the ores, thus : — 

 I. Minerals in the form first deposited, as galenite, sphalerite, 

 pyrite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, manganese, sulphide, calcite, dolo- 

 mite, quartz, and barite. II. Secondary Minerals — sulphur, melan- 

 terite or copperas, alum, hematite, lemonite or yellow ochre, 

 siderite, cerussite (lead-carbonate), anglesite (lead-sulphate), smith - 

 sonite, hydrozincite, goslarite, malachite, azurite, gypsum, and 

 pyrolusite. The areas and special distribution of the ores, the 

 strata containing them, and the local conditions of those strata, 

 the aspect and characters of the lodes, the relations of the ores 



