500 Scien tific Intelligence. 



5. The Production of Coal in 1908 ; by Edward W. Parker. 

 — This advance chapter from the Mineral Resources of the 

 United States for 1908 has been recently issued. It shows that 

 the total amount of coal produced in the country aggregated 

 nearly 416 million short tons. This amount is less than the pro- 

 duction of 1907, in consequence of the business depression, by 

 some 65 million tons, but is greater than that of any year preced- 

 ing, even 1906. Of the total amount produced, one-fifth was 

 Pennsylvania anthracite and the remainder bituminous coal. The 

 details in regard to the different regions are given in this pam- 

 phlet. 



6. The Carnivora and Tnsectivora of the Bridger Basin, 

 Middle Eocene ; by W. D. Matthew. Memoirs Amer. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., Vol. IX, Part VI, pp. 291-559, with Pis. XLIII-LII 

 and 118 figures in the text. — This is the most important memoir 

 on fossil mammals that has appeared in years and probably none 

 is better fitted than Dr. Matthew to carry out the task. It will 

 prove of the utmost value to all students and workers among the 

 Eocene Mammalia. The material upon which the monograph is 

 based is largely contained in the American Museum and is the 

 result of collections made during the years 1903-6. Comparison 

 has of course been made with the type material in the Yale, 

 Princeton, and National Museums. 



The recent collections were made with such care that it is pos- 

 sible to discuss at length the five distinct stratigraphical and 

 faunal horizons into which the Bridger formations are divided, 

 with a table of their entire mammalian contents. The conditions 

 of deposition are next described, followed by a discussion of the 

 relationships and adaptations of the fauna as a whole, emphasiz- 

 ing particularly the degree of brain development which proved 

 so important a factor in the evolution of the various races. The 

 second section is given up to a study of the carnivorous types, 

 and, after a general discussion of the characteristics, adaptations 

 and relationships of the several families, each with its included 

 genera and species is defined in detail. Section III treats of the 

 Insectivora in the same manner. The fourth section includes a 

 discussion of the value of the astragalus, upon which the author 

 lays great stress, in classification, a bibliography of 119 titles, and 

 a most copious index. r. s. l. 



7. A Pliocene Fauna from Western Nebraska; by W. D. 

 Matthew and Harold J. Cook. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 Vol. XXVI, Art. XXVII, pp. 361-414, with 27 text-figures.— A 

 summary of the results of an expedition sent out by the American 

 Museum during the summer of 1908. The fauna, which is large 

 and varied, is intermediate between the Blanco and the typical 

 Upper Miocene and is equivalent to the Pikermi of Europe. It 

 differs from the Upper Miocene, to which it is most nearly allied, 

 (1) in the presence of more advanced species or mutations of the 

 several phyla, and (2) of certain Pleistocene or modern genera 

 not hitherto recorded from the Tertiary, (3) in the greater 



