92 Scientific Intelligence. 



of Carboniferous age and gives a starting point in geological 

 chronology for the variable metamorphics east of the Connecti- 

 cut Valley Triassic. 



4. The Paleontology and Stratigraphy of the Marine Plio- 

 cene and Pleistocene of San Pedro, California ; by Ralph 

 Arnold. Mem. California Acad. Sci., vol. iii ? 420 pp., 37 pis., 

 June, 1903. — Mr. Arnold has produced an admirable monograph 

 on the later fossil faunas of the California coast. The investiga- 

 tion was carried on under the supervision of Professor J. P. 

 Smith of Leland Stanford University and is based upon the 

 study of six large collections of the fossils discussed, 408 species 

 of which are cited. The chief sections studied are at San Diego, 

 San Pedro, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Lake Merced, and repre- 

 sent strata from 150 to 5350 feet in thickness. 



The formations recognized are the Merced series, chiefly Plio- 

 cene, and the lower and upper San Pedro of Pleistocene age. 



The Pliocene species are 8V in all, of which 63*1 per cent are 

 now living at San Pedro ; 18*5 per cent of the whole fauna are 

 species living only north of San Pedro, and no species only south 

 of that point. Of the 247 species from the lower San Pedro 

 beds (Pleistocene), 64 per cent are living at San Pedro, 17*4 per 

 cent only north and 3*2 per cent only south of that point. 



Of the 252 species from the typical beds of the upper San 

 Pedro (Pleistocene) 68*2 per cent are living, 6*1 per cent live 

 only north and 14*2 per cent only south of San Pedro. From 

 these facts the author concludes "that during the latter part of 

 the Pliocene epoch the climate was much colder on the coast of 

 Southern California than at the present time," p. 65 ; "that cli- 

 matic conditions were changing from boreal toward tropical dur- 

 ing the time of the deposition of the lower San Pedro series, but 

 that boreal conditions still preponderated," p. 66. " The evidence 

 offered by the upper San Pedro faunas leads to the conclusion 

 that semitropical conditions prevailed during the deposition of 

 this formation. The similarity of the fauna of these beds with 

 that now living at San Pedro and the adjacent coast, makes it 

 probable that the conditions, although more tropical than those 

 of the present time, were not extremely tropical," p. 67. 



A comparison of the Japanese with the Californian coast 

 species, fossil and living, shows that great similarity exists 

 between the late Tertiary and Pleistocene marine invertebrate 

 fauna of Japan and that of the western coast of the United 

 States ; and the living faunas of the Japanese and West American 

 coasts, though having many species in common, are not so closely 

 related as are the upper Tertiary and Pleistocene faunas of the 

 same region. h. s. w. 



5. Postglacial and Inter glacial (?) Changes of Level at 

 Cape Ann, Massachusetts ; by R. S. Tarr. With a Note on 

 the Elevated Beaches • by J. B. Wood worth. Bull. Mus. Comp. 

 Zool. xlii, pp. 181-196, 13 pis. — Evidences of several kinds indi- 

 cate that Cape Ann has been depressed to a level at least 40 to 



