426 The American Nattiralist. [May, 
utes as an appendix an interesting sketch of the life history 
of the oyster. Of the forty-eight plates which accompany 
the paper ten, are excellent drawings of living species, so that 
the reader can compare for himself the fossil and the recent 
forms. A second appendix, North American Tertiary Os- 
treidae, by Prof. Angelo Heilprin, completes the review. 
Russell's Geological Reconnaissance of Southern 
Oregon.'— This paper is the result of the author's own ob- 
as follows : '' ' 
" The rocks are almost entirely igneous. The basins are 
orographic valleys of the Great Basin type. During the 
ent. A nu 
greater than at present. A number of the 
did not overflow. Many of the lakes which now occupy ba- 
sins of extensive Plistocene lakes that did not find an outlet 
are either fresh, or hold but a small amount of mineral matter 
in solution. Many of the basins now occupied by arid des- 
erts were then filled with lakes. No glaciers existed during 
the Plistocene period in that part of Oregon east of the Cas- 
cade Mountains, and south of the forty-fourth parallel." 
The paper is illustrated by two excellent maps and several 
cuts of sections in different localities. 
The Pelagic Stage of Young Fishes, by Agassiz and 
Whitman.'— This memoir is a continuation of the papers on 
the young stages of osseous fishes commenced by Mr. Agas- 
siz in 1877, and is devoted to descriptive sketches of the 
different fish eggs and young fishes that have come under the 
author's notice. As far as possible figures of the characteris- 
tic stages of each species have been given, and many of the 
sketches supplement those formerly published by Mr. Agas- 
siz. There is added a synoptic table of the characters of 
various eggs and young fishes with reference to the plates 
where they are figured, which will enable the student to iden- 
tify them with little difificulty. 
Wright on the Skull and Auditory Organ of the 
SiLUROlD Hvi'OPHTHALMUS.-' — The object of this paper is to 
' A Geological Reconnaissance in Southern Oregon. By Israel C Russell. 
Extract from the Fourth Annual Report U. S. Geol. Survey, 1884. 
'' The Pelagic Stages of Young Fishes. By Alexander Agass 
Whitman. With nineteen ' - - - r- ., .. .c. 
Comparative Zoology, Vol. 
»0n the Skull and At 
Ramsay Wright, Universi 
