Geology and Natural History. 331 



sapphire crystals, etc. or aggregates of numbers of minerals 

 associated together. These have been studied in great detail by- 

 Professor Zirkel, who presents in addition suggestive views 

 regarding their origin and relation to igneous rocks. Since the 

 appearance of the well-known work of Lacroix, this is without 

 doubt the most important contribution to the literature of this 

 subject. l. v. p. 



6. Princeton University Expedition to Patagonia. — The first 

 volume of the reports of this important expedition, issued in 

 handsome quarto form with many plates under the J. Pierpont 

 Morgan Publication fund, contains a narrative of the expeditions 

 and an essay on the Geography of Southern Patagonia by J. B. 

 Hatcher. The volume is dedicated to O. C. Marsh. The narra- 

 tive gives an interesting account, though occasionally in over- 

 elaborate phrasing, of three arduous journeys made by Hatcher 

 and an assistant. Although much was discovered in the way of 

 geological structure and although large collections of fossils were 

 made, it is evident that a great amount of further study is needed 

 in this little known region : the narrative must indeed prove 

 inspiring to young men of good training and active habit. 

 The physical features of the region are well described : the great 

 shingle formation with which the plains are covered is explained 

 as the littoral deposit of a retreating sea supplied with abundant 

 boulders and cobbles from the glaciers and rivers of the Andes; 

 the terraces of the plains are sea-cliffs carved during halts in the 

 emergence of the land; the great transverse valleys were eroded 

 by normal river action before the time of the depression in which 

 the shingle formation was spread out, for they are blanketed with 

 the shingle, and the terraces turn inland along the valley sides. 

 The Straits of Magellan are explained as the southernmost of 

 these transverse valleys, not yet fulty emerged. The great pied- 

 mont lakes are accounted for by earth movements, little value 

 being given to glacial erosion ; and although extensive moraines 

 are found east of the lakes, these deposits do not seem to be of 

 great thickness. Two of the lakes, Viedma and Argentino, are 

 drained by Santa Cruz river, the only large perennial river of the 

 region. The other large lakes are discharged to the Pacific, 

 through deep gorges in the Andes, for the most part unexplored. 

 A chapter on the Tehuelche Indian tells of their abandoning the 

 bow and arrow for the bolas since the introduction of horses by 

 the Spaniards. w. m. d. 



7. Argentino- Chilian Boundary : Argentine Evidence. Five 

 4tovols. (London, Clowes, 1900.) — The "brief" presented in five 

 large volumes by the Argentine boundary commission under a 

 title too long to be quoted, to the British Arbitration tribunal, 

 whose decision has lately been rendered, deserves mention as an 

 important contribution to Andean geography. It contains a 

 large number of maps and many excellent photographs, besides 

 an elaborate descriptive text, and must for many years serve as 

 the standard general description of the region. Special attention 



