483 Recent Literature, [January, 
girders, ties, buttresses, dovetailing, and varnish, all existed in na- 
ture before man conceived them. So with spades, scissors, Chisels, 
the plane, saw, boring, striking and grasping tools. Philos ophic 
toys, fans, water-rams and paper-making—in short, many of the 
arts of every-day life are the reflections of nature. The book is 
full of curious facts, and set forth in a plain, simple, attractive style. 
REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST OF NEW JERSEY FOR 1884. 
eo. H. Cook, Director.—From this report we learn that the 
geodetic survey of New Jersey is completed except in the interior 
of the southern part, and that the topographical survey has com- 
pleted over three-fifths of the total area. The volume includes 
notices of the one forest near South Aibar. consisting of 
chestnut, oak, cedar, etc., in complete preservation, and probably 
buried since the ok aa of the country; of the glacial drift 
and yellow sand and gravel; of the continuation of the plastic 
clays, marls, etc., of the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata under the 
ocean for one hundred miles; of the now celebrated columnar 
trap rocks of Orange mountain ; of the Devonian, Silurian and 
Archæan areas of Northern New Jersey; of the mines and min- 
ing industry; artesian wells, etc., of the State. 
Perhaps the most interesting result given is that the slope of 
the sea bottom beyond the continental plateau is almost exactly 
the same as the dip of the Cretaceous strata. The presence of 
the Cretaceous beds in the marginal deposits of the ocean, as 
proved by borings, seems to prove the Pre-cretaceous age of the 
ocean bottom 
Pk ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GEOLOGY AND NATURAL 
_ Aistory Survey or Inpiana. John Collett, Director —This vol- 
-ume is accompanied by a geological map giving a fair exhibit of 
the surface geology of the State. The topographical and geo- 
lp see of pesg Hamilton, Fayette and Union coun- | 
ties, are given more in detail, and Dr. J. S. Newberry describes 
the ‘drift Sepai fe the State. The volume closes with an account 
= the mammalian fauna of the Post-pliocene deposits, by Profes- 
r E. D. Cope and J. L. Wortman. The Artiodactyla are 
Plapeonus ee ee and Cariacus dolichopsis ; the Proboscidea, 
Elephas primigenius and Mastodon americanus ; while the Roden- 
tia are represented by the singular Castoroides ohioensis, an animal 
exceeding the capybara in size, and, spite of its name, differing 
widely in character from the beaver. Megalonyx Jeffersoni repré? 
sents the sloth-like edentates, and the genus Equus has left the 
remains of two species, Æ. — and Æ. major, in the Pliocene 
and Post-pliocene of Indiana 
RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETs. 
Rij P. H.—Report of the expedition to Point Barrow, aaia Washington, 
1885. From the author 
Marray, F—Report on the specimens of oe — Bull. Mus, Comp. Zoöl.. ~ 
Vol. xu, No. 2., 1885. From 
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