Geology and Natural History. 395 



The list comprises 2 land snails, 2 Crustacea (Saw Bags ?), 4 

 Aracbnoida, 6 Myriapoda, 2 Insecta-Thysanura, and 8 Insecta- 

 Palaeodictyoptera. The specimens come from Plant Beds No. 2 

 of the Lower Cordaite shales of St. John and neighborhood, in 

 New Brunswick ; which are referred to Middle Devonian by 

 Dawson, but by the author are called Silurian, although some of 

 the insects are recognized as like forms found in the Coal Measures. 

 —Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc, N. B., vol. xv, pp. 49-60, figs. 1-4, pi. 

 i-ii, 1897. h. s. w. 



6. Cape of Good Hope, 1st Annual Report of the Geological 

 Commission, 1896, J. X. Merriman, Chairman, pp. 1-52, Cape- 

 town, 1897. — This volume consists of a few brief reports of the 

 first year's work in preparation of a geological map ot the colony. 

 The chief economic interest in the survey centers in seeking lor 

 coal beds and in determining the hydrographic conditions of the 

 region. One of the reports by E. H. L. Schwartz, assistant 

 geologist, gives details of the peculiar coal seam at Leeuw River's 

 Poort, occurring in a fissure, the chief part of which cuts the Kooro 

 beds nearly vertically. The mode ot occurrence reminds one of 

 the Albertite beds of Nova Scotia, and we would suggest that it 

 may be of similar origin. h. s. w. 



7. Glacial observations in the Umanah district, Greenland; 

 by George H. Barton (Techn. Quart., vol. x, No. 2, pp. 213- 

 244, 1897). — In this Report, B, of the scientific work of the Bos- 

 ton party on the sixth Peary Expedition to Greenland the author 

 has given a vivid narrative, illustrated with numerous photo- 

 graphic reproductions, of the geological and physical features of 

 the region about Umanak Fiord. h. s. w. 



8. Les Variations de longueur des Glaciers dans les Regions 

 arctiques et boreales par M. Charles Rabot. Premiere partie, 

 Geneva, 1897 (Commission Internationale des Glaciers). — Follow- 

 ing in the line of the classical work of Forel upon the glaciers of 

 Switzerland, the author has investigated the glaciers of the 

 extreme north, with respect to the variations in length which 

 they have undergone during the past two hundred years. The 

 countries most particularly considered are Iceland and Greenland. 



In the case of Iceland, observations more or less accurate are 

 available for comparison since the close of the 17th century. 

 The author gives many interesting statements about each glacier, 

 and in conclusion sums up the subject as follows: Since the 

 colonization of Iceland by the Normans, the glaciers of the island 

 have considerably increased, this being particularly marked on 

 the southern slope of Vatnajokull, where a large extent of terri- 

 tory has been again covered by the ice. More in detail, he 

 remarks that at the end of the 1 7th century and the commence- 

 ment of the 18th, the glaciers were less extended than to-day ; 

 but about this epoch, a period of growth was entered upon, inter- 

 rupted towards the middle of the 18th century in the case of a 

 certain number of the streams by a rather ill-defined period of 

 retreat ; but after this, the majority of the glaciers had a remark- 



