is 
JUNE 27, 1884.] 
nunciation, more complete, Brinton has added 
extracts from two manuscript grammars of his 
own library, —that of the Dominican Benito de 
Villacanas, who died in 1610; and that of Fray 
Estevan Torresano, composed shortly after 
1753. Cakchiquel possesses a rich literature, 
SCIENCE. 795 
consisting of theological and some semi-his- 
torical works of native writers, of which but 
little has ever been printed. A map facing the 
titlepage points out the location of the princi- 
pal tribes. 
INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS. 
U. S. geological survey. 
Publications. — Although advance copies of the 
third annual report of the survey were issued some 
time ago, it was incomplete as regards the illustra- 
tions. The complete report, bound, has now been 
received at the office, and will soon be distributed. 
—— The fourth annual report has been issued, al- 
though it is not yet ready for distribution. It con- 
tains five hundred and five pages (i.-xxxii., 1-473), and 
is illustrated with eighty-five plates and fifteen figures. 
The report of the director presents a résumé of the 
operations of the survey for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1883; and the administrative reports follow- 
ing give amore detailed account of the work. The 
latter are by Messrs. Henry Gannett, Arnold Hague, 
G. K. Gilbert, C. E. Dutton, T. C. Chamberlin, RB. 
D. Irving, S. F. Emmons, G. F. Becker, O. C. Marsh, 
C. A. White, C. D. Walcott, L. C. Johnson, L. F. 
Ward, Carl Barus, and Albert Williams, jun. 
The accompanying papers are by Capt. C. E. Dut- 
ton, Mr. Joseph S. Curtis, Mr. Albert Williams, jun., 
Dr. C. A. White, and Mr. Israel C. Russell. 
Capt. Dutton’s paper ison Hawaiian volcanoes, and 
consists of thirteen chapters, covering a hundred and 
forty pages, in which the geography of the islands, 
and their volcanic phenomena, are described. The 
paper is illustrated with twenty-nine plates and three 
figures. The paper by Mr. Joseph 8. Curtis is en- 
titled *“‘ Abstract of a report on the mining geology of 
the Eureka district, Nevada.”’ It occupies twenty- 
eight pages. A general outline of the district is 
given. The structure of ‘Prospect Mountain’ and of 
Ruby Hill are detailed; and the occurrence and source 
of the ore, and the future prospect of Ruby Hill, 
are considered. Three plates present a horizontal 
section and two vertical cross-sections. Mr. Albert 
Williams, in fifteen pages, treats of popular fallacies 
regarding precious-metal ore-deposits. ‘A review 
of the fossil Ostreidae of North America, and a com- 
parison of the fossil with the living forms,’ by Dr. 
Charles A. White, follows Mr. Williams’s paper. 
There are two appendices to Dr. White’s paper: viz., 
‘North-American tertiary Ostreidae,’ by Professor 
Angelo Heilprin; and ‘A sketch of the life-history 
of the oyster,’ by John A. Ryder. The whole paper, 
including the plate explanations, occupies a hundred 
and fifty-two pages, in which there are forty-nine full- 
page plates. ‘A geological reconnoissance in southern 
Oregon,’ by Israel C. Russell, a paper of thirty pages, 
with three plates and ten figures, and the index of 
nine pages, complete the volume. 
Bulletin No. 3, ‘On the fossil faunas of the upper 
Devonian along the meridian of 76°30’ from Tomp- 
kins county, N.Y., to Bradford county, Penn.,’ by 
Henry S. Williams, was issued in May. It contains 
thirty-six pages, four of which are devoted to the 
index, and is the first of a series of articles on the 
comparative paleontology of the Devonian and car- 
boniferous faunas. The price of this bulletin is five 
cents. 
Bulletin No. 4, ‘On mesozoic fossils,’ by C. A. White, 
is all in type, and will soon be issued. The total 
number of pages, including the explanations of 
plates, is a hundred and twenty-four. There are 
three papers, as follows: ‘‘ Description of certain 
aberrant forms of the Chamidae from the cretaceous 
rocks of Texas;’’ ‘‘On a small collection of meso- 
zoic fossils collected in Alaska by Mr. W. H. Dall;”’ 
and ‘‘On the nautiloid genus Enclimatoceras Hyatt, 
and a description of the type species.’’ ‘There are 
nine woodcut plates. 
Bulletin No. 5 is by Mr. Henry Gannett, chief geog- 
rapher of the survey, and is almost ready to be issued. 
It contains three hundred and twenty-six pages, and is 
called ‘ A dictionary of altitudes in the United States.’ 
Mr. Gannett began the compilation of measurements 
of altitudes when connected with the Geological and 
geographical survey of the territories; and three dif- 
ferent editions of the results were published by that 
organization, the last bearing the date of 1877. They 
related principally to the country west of the Missis- 
sippi, while the present work embraces the whole 
country. The elevations are arranged alphabetically 
‘under the states and territories. 
Bulletin No. 6, ‘Elevations in Canada,’ by J. W. 
Spencer, is in press, and supplements bulletin No. 5. 
Bulletin No. 7 is also being rapidly put into type. 
It is entitled ‘‘Mapoteca geologica Americana: a 
catalogue of geological maps of America (north and 
south), 1752-1881, in geographic and chronologic 
order,’ by Jules Marcou and John Belknap Marcou. 
This catalogue is modelled on ‘ Mapoteca Colombiana,’ 
by Uricoechea of Bogota, which was published in 
London in 1860, and is now out of print, and rare. 
Besides a list of some thirty numbers relating to maps 
on the geology of America, in Cotta’s ‘ Geognostische 
karten unseres jahrhunderts,’ published at Freiberg 
in 1850, the only list of geological maps of Aierica 
is the ‘List of general geological maps relating to 
North America,’ in the ‘ Geology of North America,’ 
