Geology and Pal&ontology. 257 



Vicksburg limestone, it follows that until the end of the Eocene 

 ' " 1 the 

 as still submerged. 



(2.) During the period of disturbance which followed the de- 

 position of the Vicksburg limestone, Florida was elevated nearly 

 to its present height above the sea-level, which elevation was 

 maintained without material interruption until the Champlain 

 period. 



(3.) In this upward movement the axis of elevation did not 

 coincide with the present main dividing ridge of the peninsula, 

 but lay considerably to the westward, probably occupying the 

 position very nearly of the western coast of to-day. 



(4.) After the Miocene (or possibly the Pliocene) period, there 

 was again an elevation of Florida, as is shown by the presence 

 of a Miocene limestone of the eastern slope of the peninsula, 

 some distance (not less than thirty feet) above the present sea- 

 level. 



(5.) We have evidence in the distribution of the beds of the 

 Champlain period (stratified drift of orange sand) that Florida 

 and parts of the adjacent States were during this- time submerged 

 sufficiently to allow the deposition over them of a mass of pebbles, 

 sand and clay, varying in thickness from a few feet to two hun- 

 dred. From the peculiar mode of stratification of most of these 

 beds, it is concluded, with reason, that they were sediments from 

 rapidly-flowing, ever-varying currents- In the State, the beds of 

 yellow and red loam lie directly upon the stratified drift. These 

 beds of loam are devoid of stratified structure, as well as of fossils, 

 and were probably deposited from slowly running or nearly 



(6.) Following the submergence during the Champlain period, 

 was a re-elevation, which brought the peninsula to approxi- 

 mately its present configuration.— -Scientific News. 



Geological News.— The Trans. N. Y. Acad, of Sciences contain 

 a paper by Mr. J. H. Purman upon the " Geology of the Copper 

 Region of Northern Texas and the Indian Territory," giving the 

 first accurate description of the geological structure of the dis- 

 trict. S. A. Miller (Jour. Cincin. Soc. Nat. Hist.) concludes his 



article on Mesozoic and Caenozoic Geology by considering the 

 " Drift of the Central Part of the Continent." He describes the 

 character of these deposits, their situation, altitude, magnetic 

 bearings, fossils, etc., and concludes by the assertion that the facts 

 collected tend to prove that " there is no marine or other deposit 

 which represents a glacial period." In a second paper he describes 



two new crinoids from the Niagara group, and two new shells. 



In the Geneva Archives des Sci. Phys. et Nat.. July, 1881, Mr. F. 

 A. Forel has an important article on the periodical variations of 

 •glaciers, based upon observations in the Alps. The Rhone glacier 

 has retreated from 1857 to 1880 at a rate varying from twenty- 



