372 Scientific Intelligence. 



describe the later Ordovician faunas and then modernize the cor- 

 relation in accordance with the sequences elsewhere. In Part I 

 are described 59 species of bivalves, of which 53 are specifically 

 determined, and 11 are new. c. s. 



4. Notes on the Geology and Oil PossiUlities of the northern 

 Diablo Plateau in Texas; by J. W. Beede. Univ. of Texas Bull. 

 No. 1852, 40 pp., 7 pis. (1 geol. map), 2 text figs., 1918 (1920).— 

 This report is valuable not only for what it describes, as indicated 

 in the title, but for the discovery it records of a Chester fauna 

 (the Helms group of strata, 400-600 feet thick) beneath the Penn- 

 sylvanian-Permian. There is also a very valuable correlation 

 table sjnichronizing the various areas of the late Paleozoic forma- 

 tions of Texas with those of Oklahoma and Kansas. The strati- 

 graphy of Texas is advancing with leaps and bounds, and the 

 State Survey is to be congratulated on the rapid progress made. 



c. s. 



5. The Weno and Pawpaw Formations of the Texas Comanch- 

 ean; by "W. S. Adkins, and On a new Ammonite Fauna of the 

 Lower Turonian of Mexico; by Emil Bose. Univ. of Texas Bull. 

 No. 1856,' 257 pp. (quarto), 20 pis., 20 text figs., 1918 (1920).— 

 In the first part of this memoir are described the two formations 

 named in the title, and their distribution is traced throughout 

 the state. Their faunas consist of 69 forms, of which 51 are 

 named specifically. ' Of new species there are 29. Of ammonites 

 there are more forms than is usual in the Lower Cretaceous of 

 America. The second part of the memoir describes an interesting 

 but small assemblage of invertebrates, chiefly ammonites, that 

 occurs near the base of the American Upper Cretaceous in north- 

 ern Mexico. Of species studied there are 21, but only 8 are speci- 

 fically determined, 7 of these being new. The affinities of these 

 forms are clearly with those of the Mediterranean Turonian. 



c. s. 



6. Fossil Corals from Centred America, Cuba, and Porto Rico, 

 tvith an account of the American Tertiary, Pleistocene, and 

 Recent Coral Reefs; by Thomas Wayland Vaughan. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., Bull. 103, pp. 189-524, pis. 68-152, 1919.— In this 

 memoir is painstakingly brought together all that is known of 

 the Cenozoic corals within the area of the Caribbean Sea and the 

 Gulf of Mexico. There are about 142 forms, 78 of which are new, 

 and they are divided among 40 genera. It is quite evident that 

 it is now very difficult to identify either recent or fossil corals, 

 since their classification is dependent upon constantly changing 

 calcareous structures. The coral animals are very sensitive to 

 their environment, and this must be known in order to classify 

 them expertly. 



In stratigraphy, the author does not rely on single forms 

 for age determinations, but whenever possible, on a combina- 

 tion of associated forms. In this connection he directs atten- 

 tion to the 54 forms of corals living within one half mile of 

 each other on Cocos-Keeling islands in the lagoon (23), in the 



