v '_' Soientifio Intelligence. 



United States, and appears to be of the order that distinguishes 

 pei'iods. 



The author leans to the hypothesis that the dicotyledon Moras 

 originated "in high latitudes, from which region they spread 

 southward over the continents of the northern hemisphere in suc- 

 cessive waves of migration." The Cretaceous climate was more 

 uniform than at present and the floras are of a " warm temperate 

 rain-forest type, less tropical than succeeding Eocene and Oligo- 

 cene floras." Hardly any of the Cretaceous species "survive into 

 the Eocene " and " many of the genera, particularly among the 

 conifers, die out before the close of the period." c. s. 



5. Geology and underground water of Luna County, New 

 Mexico ; by N. H. Darton. Bull. 618, U. S. Geol. Surv., 1916, 

 188 pp., 13 pis., 15 text figs. — This welcome report on an area 

 almost unknown geologically presents a discussion of the geology 

 and mineral and water resources of southern New Mexico to the 

 west of El Paso, Texas. The marine geologic record is of Upper 

 Cambrian, Beekmantown, Richmond, Silurian, 'PDevonian, Lower 

 Mississippian, Pennsylvania!!, Comanchian, and Benton times. 

 There is also non-marine Tertiary present. c. s. 



6. Contributions from Walker Museum, Vol. I, No. 9, (1) 

 The Osteology of some American Permian vertebrates / (2) 

 Synopsis of the American Pernio- Carboniferous Tetrapoda. Vol. 

 I, No. 10, (1) Atactocrinus, a new crinoid genus from the Rich- 

 mond of Illinois ; (2) Description of a Ste. Genevieve limestone 

 fauna from Monroe County, Illinois. 1916. — A new scientific 

 publication has been started by the University of Chicago under 

 the title of " Contributions from Walker Museum." So far ten 

 numbers have appeared. In No. 9 of Volume I, Professor Willis- 

 ton describes the Permian cotylosaurian Pantylus, the oldest 

 armored reptile ; Isodectes • Theroplenra, as represented by a won- 

 derfully good specimen which proves that the sternum of verte- 

 brates evolved out of the anterior ventral ribs, the parasternum 

 of Gegenbaur ; and Puercosaurus, a new reptilian genus from 

 New Mexico. The second paper in No. 9 presents a new synop- 

 tic review of the genera, families, and orders of the earliest 

 Amphibia and Reptilia, furnishing very valuable material for 

 further attempts toward unravelling the true genetic relations of 

 these old animals. No. 10, b}' Professor Wellkr, describes a 

 new Ordovician genus of crinoids, and an interesting Upper 

 Mississippi fauna of fifty-six species which lived in an oolite 

 environment. c. s. 



7. Virginia Geological Survey, University of Virginia ; 

 Thomas Leonard Watson, Director. 



Administrative Report of the State Geologist for the Biennial 

 Period 1914-1915. Pp. 45, 2 pis., 1916. — A summary is given 

 here of the work done by the Virginia Survey in 1914 and 1915. 

 The cooperation of the United States Geological Survey, both as 

 to topography and geology, has enabled the state organization to 

 accomplish much more than would otherwise have been possible. 



