1 882] Geology and Paleontology. 925 



of the Rhone, and showed how they are repeating the action by 

 which the older beds of gypsum and salt were formed. The 

 Karabogaz or Black Gulf on the east of the Caspian sea has 

 already deposited the remains of all its forms of life, and is nearly 

 ready to deposit gypsum. A narrow channel communicates with 

 the Caspian, through which it can be calculated that 350,000 tons 

 of solid matter pass in twCnty-four hours, ever to remain in the 

 gulf, since the channel is too shallow to admit of any counter- 

 current. Complete separation, which must ultimately be caused 

 by the proved lowering of the level of the Caspian itself, will in 

 time cause the Karabogaz to become concentrated sufficiently to 

 deposit its chloride of sodium. 



The water of the dead sea is a mother liquor, from which the 

 saline masses found around it have been derived. M. Lorbet, in 

 his explorations of Palestine, discovered, especially around Lake 

 Tiberias, now 212 metres below the Mediterranean, a plateau 

 covered with rolled pebbles exactly at the level of that sea, and 

 indicating that at a former epoch Lake Tiberias, the Jordan 

 valley, and the still lower Dead sea, with the regions around 

 them, formed a gulf like that of Karabogaz or like the pools of 

 the estuary of the Rhone. 



The so-called Leadville Porphyry. — Professor Alexis 

 Julien read a paper at the Montreal meeting of the American 

 Association, on this subject, in which he described the result of 

 his examination of the rock in question, in thin sections under 

 the microscope. He finds that it is not an eruptive rock, but is 

 sedimentary. Its material consists of the debris of the erosion 

 of plutonic rocks, redeposited in the Silurian ocean. He con- 

 cludes that the rock is not a porphyry but must be called a 

 felsite tufa. The importance of this conclusion in estimating the 

 form of any metallic ores contained in this deposit, is obvious, 

 and will be invaluable to mining experts. 



Permian Vertebrata. — Professor Cope read a paper before 

 the American Philosophical Society in which he described the 

 pelvic arch of the Diadectidce, and the following new species from 

 the Texas Permian : Pelycosauria, Edaphosanrus (g. n.) pogomas, 

 which is allied to Pantylus, and proves that that genus must be 

 placed in the Theromorphous order. Ectocynodon agati. Micro- 

 sauria, Diplocaulm m ignk rnis, .1 remarkable species with a large 

 flat horn on each side o^ the cranium. Rachitomi, Achcloma 

 (gen. allied to Eryops) cumminsi, and Anisodcxis (g. n. allied to 

 leptophractus) imbricanus. 



Geological News.— In the American Journal of Science, S. H. 

 Scudder shows that Palaeocampa, from the carboniferous strata 

 of Illinois, is a myriapod of a new and strange type. Palaeocampa 

 has ten equal body segments, each with a pair of stout, blunt legs, 

 and four stiff-spreading bunches of spines of complex structure. 



