1878. ] Geology and Paleontology. Re 7 
GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY. 
A PROBLEMATICAL FOSSIL from the Cretaceous of Bohemia is 
described by Dr. Anton Fric in his volume on this formation in 
the Archiv der Naturw. Landesdurchforschung von Bohmen, 
alimentary canal of a fish. It is covered with scales and bones 
belonging to different species of fishes, and Dr. Fric suggests that 
it is the cast of a tube of some worm, which covered its abode 
with those objects, as the larvae of Phyganeid@ use mineral and 
vegetable fragments at the present time. 
Tue Prasric Cirays or New Jersey receive a full exposition 
from Prof. Cook in the last report of the Geological Survey o 
that State (1878), so far at least as regards those of cretaceous age. 
He states the view of Lesquereux that they represent the Dakota 
epoch of the west, and offers some pertinent remarks as to their 
probable origin. He believes that they were derived from the 
decomposition of feldspars contained in the granite and gneiss of 
a former extension of the azoic beds now visible to the north-east 
and south-west in the high grounds of the cities of New York 
and Philadelphia. This exposure Prof. Cook believes to have 
formed a barrier to the eastward of the present beds of cretaceous 
age, and to have at times excluded the salt-water from the 
enclosed lagoon. This hypothesis was, we believe, first proposed 
by Prof. Cope in explanation of some characteristics of the cre- 
taceous formations of New Jersey. Additional evidence in favor 
of the derivation of the material from the south-east is seen by 
Prof. Cook in the absence from the clays of all traces of the 
material of the Triassic formation which bounds it on the north- 
west at the present time. 
PLIOCENE VERTEBRATA OF THE VAL D’Arno.—Dr. C. I. Forsyth 
Major, in the Atti. Soc. Toscana d. Sc. Nat., describes two species 
of Canis from the upper val d’Arno and va d’Era, which he 
regards as new, and names Canis etruscus and C. falconeri. The 
former is as large as the wolf; the latter rather larger. Mr. 
ajor gives the following list of species of the pliocene of the 
upper val d'Arno; Macacus 2 sp., Felis 3 sp., Canis 2 Sp., Ursus 
1 sp., Mustela sp., Hyena 2 sp., Macherodus 3 sp., Equus i sp., 
Hippopotamus 1 sp., Mastodon arvernensis, Elephas 1 sp., Rhino- 
ceros L Sp., Sus 1 sp., Bos I sp., Cervus 4 sp., Castor 1 sp., Hystrix 
Sp., Lepus sp. 
SurFAcE GeroLocy oF British CoLumBIA.—We have received 
from Mr. G. M. Dawson of the Canadian Geological Survey, a 
letter upon this subject, calling our attention to what had been 
printed by himself on the Geology of Vancouver Island, of 
which we had not known when our article was published in the 
Naruratist for November, 1877. eee X 
“I have just read your interesting notes on the glaciation of 
