86 Scientific Intelligence. 



6. Invertebrate Paleontology of the Upper Permian Med Beds 

 of Oklahoma and the Panhandle of Texas ; by J. W. Bkede. 

 Kansas Univ. Science Bull., vol. iv, 1907, pp. 115—171, pis. v-viii. 

 — Here is presented a long and detailed historical review of the 

 Permian in the area named in the title. The author concludes 

 that "the Wichita (including the Albany) and Clear Fork beds 

 of Texas are unmistakably Permian. * * * The light-colored 

 Permian rocks of Kansas and Texas have their equivalents in the 

 red strata of Oklahoma." 



The fauna described is from the Red-Bed series at Whitehorse 

 spring, west of Alva, Oklahoma, and near Dozier, Texas. " Some 

 of the species seem directly derived from the Kansas Permian or 

 Pennsylvanian, while others * * * are derived from the 

 European Permian, especially that of Russia. There seems to be 

 comparatively little resemblance to the Indian or Chinese forms." 

 These latter faunas are of the normal type, while those of Russia 

 and this American region are of a very salty sea yielding Red 

 Beds, gypsum, and salt. It is therefore probable that the phys- 

 ical condition rather than faunal migration has in the main caused 

 the resemblance pointed out. Further, as " the preservation of 

 the specimens is such as to obliterate many of the critical char- 

 acters," it seems, at least for the present, safer to assume that the 

 invertebrates of the Red Beds are a direct outgrowth of the pre- 

 vious Pennsylvanian species of the same region. 



The named species number 28, of which 23 are new. It is 

 almost entirely a molluscan assemblage, there being 13 Pelecy- 

 poda, 14 Gastropoda and 1 brachiopod. The difference be- 

 tween this assemblage and that described many years ago by 

 White, from the Wichita, is very striking, as the latter is a biota 

 of decidedly Pennsylvanian character plus 4 ammonites with 

 Mediterranean affinities. These differences are hardly satisfacto- 

 rily explained by differences in facies alone, as " the Wichita 

 material is a limestone fauna, while the fauna [here described] 

 ,* * * is a sandstone fauna." All in all, paleontologists are 

 thankful for this contribution, but it is evident that much yet 

 remains to be done in the field before a complete unraveling of 

 the physical and faunal conditions during the Pennsylvanian and 

 Permian of the Southwest, now bound up in the Red-Beds for- 

 mations, is at hand. c. s. 



7. The Stromatoporoids of the Guelph Formation in Ontario; 

 by W. A. Pakks. Univ. Toronto Studies, Geol. Sen, No. 4, 1907, 

 pp. 137-172, pis. 1-6. — This is the first of a much-desired pro- 

 posed "work on the American Stromatoporoids, and treats of all 

 the recognizable species in the higher Silurian, the Guelph of 

 Ontario. The illustrations are heliotype reproductions of good 

 drawings by the author, showing the microscopic structure. 

 There are, of Actino stroma, 1 new species; of Clathrodictyum, 3 

 species ; Labechia, 2 new ; Posenella, 1 new ; Stromatopora, 1 ; 

 iStromatoporella, 2 new ; Hermatostroma, 1 new species, c. s. 



