Geology and Mineralogy. 323 



state, in which direction the state has been found to be very rich, 

 the shales, particularly those of the Coal Measures, which were 

 not many years since supposed to be valueless, now being turned 

 on an extensive scale into pipes and tiles, bricks of various kinds 

 and other products. An account is also given of the petroleum 

 industry, and the volume closes with an illustrated chapter upon 

 the insect galls of Indiana by Melville T. Cook. 



2. Geological Survey of Louisiana, G. D. Harris, Geologist- 

 in-charge. — It is announced that hereafter the biennial reports 

 of the State Survey of Louisiana will be brought out first as 

 Bulletins and subsequently will be bound up in part as regular 

 volumes. Of the Report of 1905, three Bulletins have already 

 appeared : No. 1 — The Underground Waters of Louisiana; No. 

 2 — Magnetic Survey of Louisiana ; and No. 3 — Tide Gauge 

 Work in Louisiana. These may now be had gratis by address- 

 ing Dr. W. R. Dodson, Director Experiment Station, Baton 

 Rouge, La. 



3. Geological Survey of JYew Jersey. Annual Report of the 

 State Geologist, Henry B. Hummel, for the year 1904. 317 pp., 

 19 plates, 18 text figures. Trenton, 1905. — This report contains 

 a popular account of fossil fishes and their place in paleontology, 

 by Dr. C. R. Eastman, followed by a detailed account of the 

 fossil fishes of the Triassic as found in the Newark formation. 

 Dr. Weller contributes papers on the faunas and corresponding 

 formations of the Cretaceous of New Jersey. Professor F. B. 

 Peck has a chapter on the talc deposits of Phillipsburg, N. J., 

 and Easton, Pa., while the molding sands are treated by H. B. 

 Kiimmel and S. H. Hamilton. Progress is noted in the survey 

 of the pre-Cambrian rocks in cooperation with the United States 

 Geological Survey, and further parts treat of well records, forest 

 fires and mining. The work throughout the report is thorough 

 and of high grade; it deals largely with subjects of practical 

 value to the state. j. b. 



4. Brief descriptions of some recently described Minerals. — 

 Beckelite is a silicate of the cerium, metals and calcium, described 

 by J. Morozewicz and named after Prof. Fr. Becke of Vienna. It 

 is found in a rock of the eleolite-syenite type, called by the author 

 mariupolite and forming one of the petrographic elements of the 

 Azov granite table. It occurs in coarse grains of a light yellow 

 color, optically isotropic, also in octahedrons and dodecahedrons 

 resembling pyrochlore. The hardness is 5 and the specific gravity 

 about 4-15. An analyis yielded : 



Si0 2 ZrO, + R,0, Mn 2 3 CaO MgO K 2 Na 2 ign. 

 17-13 65-31 0-07 15-46 tr. 0'39 0'78 0"99=100-13 



The rare elements forming the 65*31 of Zr0 2 + R 2 3 included the 

 following: Zr0 2 2*50, Ce 2 3 28*10, La 2 3 1360, Di 2 3 1800, 

 Y a O, + Er a O s 2-80, A1 2 3 0-30, Fe 3 3 tr. The calculated formula 

 is Ca 3 (Ce, La, Di) 4 Si 3 16 . — Min. petr. Milth., xxiv, 120, 1905. 



Several new species are described by R. H. Solly, in a recent 

 number of the Mineralogical Magazine (xiv, 72). They are 



