232 Scientific Intelligence. 



propose nuts to crack, and it is not unexpected to find very little 

 new light thrown upon these problems by one entering upon their 

 study for the first time, nevertheless Mr. Spencer has given a 

 very vivid analysis of the facts in the case. The stratigraphy, 

 structure, topography and geological history are each wrought 

 out with distinctness and fullness. The chapter on structure is 

 particularly interesting, showing the secondary folding of the 

 beds in the course of the principal synclinorium, and calling atten- 

 tion to the still finer puckerings and the cleavage planes developed 

 in the finer sediments, illustrating the high degree of complexity 

 of movements suffered by the rocks of a much plicated region. 

 The author has attempted to give, in detail, the hypothetical 

 conditions of the region for each period of change in deposition. 

 This part of the paper, it seems to the writer, is less satisfactory 

 and chiefly because of the need of an immense body of facts 

 before any satisfactory solution of such problems is possible. 



h. s. w. 



3. Geological Survey of Canada. G. M. Dawson, Director. — 

 The following part of the Annual Report, vol. ix, for 1896 has 

 been received, viz : 



Part S. Mineral Statistics and Mines (No. 625). Eleric Duer 

 Ingall and Assistants, pp. 15-l72s, 1897. The following inter- 

 esting facts regarding the mineral production and its rate of 

 increase is given in the introduction. In 1886 the value of the 

 mineral production of Canada is estimated at a little over ten 

 million dollars. The production had increased in 1896 to over 

 twenty-two and a half million dollars, or 125 per cent. In com- 

 parison with the value of production in the United States, Cana- 

 da's production in 1896 amounts to 3^ per cent of that of the 

 United States for the same year. The relative per capita produc- 

 tion of minerals for the two countries is as follows, viz : for Can- 

 ada about $4.50 and for the United States about $8.00. h. s. w. 



4. Geological sections from, Moscoio to Siberia and return y 

 by Persifor Frazer, Ex. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., October, 

 1897, pp. 405-457. — The author has given in this paper a sum- 

 mary account of the Oural excursion of the last Congress of 

 Geologists, adding to the particulars given in the carefully pre- 

 pared (in French) libret guides of the excursions, account of his 

 own experiences and views. h. s. w. 



5. Note on the " Florencia Formation" ; by Henry A. 

 Pilsbry. (Communicated.) — Upon reading the valuable paper by 

 Mr. O. H. Hershey upon the " Florencia Formation," in the 

 August number of this Journal, my attention was particularly 

 directed to the position assigned to the formation, in the Pleisto- 

 cene series, below the Iowan loess. It seems to me possible that 

 this one point requires further investigation either to establish or 

 disprove the conclusion reached by Mr. Hershey, as the result evir 

 dently of much careful observation. 



The principal reason for doubting the assigned age of the 

 Florencia deposit is that its fauna is apparently much more 



