Recent Publications. 
119 
Soils of Illinois. By - Frank Leverett. (Final Rept. Ill. Board of 
World’s Fair Com., pp. 77-92, 1 map, 1895.) In this paper the author 
reports his observations on the soils, especially those dependent on 
glacial action, in the state of Illinois. He classifies them as (1) resi¬ 
duary, from the decay of the underlying rocks and therefore extra- 
morainic, (2) glacial clays, (3) gravelly washes, (4) glacial drainage 
sands, (5) loess or pervious silts, (6 and 7) silts slightly pervious to 
water, (8) peat and marl. A short glacial history of the state follows 
showing how, in the author’s opinion, each of these soils was formed. 
e. w. c. 
Paleontologische Notizen 1 und 2. By Carl Wiman. (Bull. Geol. 
Inst. Upsala, no. 3, vol. n, 1895.) 
1. Ein prdkambrisches Fossil. The minute egg-shaped bodies in 
question have been known to Swedish geologists for some years, from 
the Visingso group of pre-Cambrian slates on lake Vettern. The author 
has analyzed them closely and finds them to be spherical chitinous sacks 
with a very thin and simple wall. No clew to the real nature of the 
bodies reveals itself, but the possibility of their being eggs of trilobites 
is suggested. 
2. Conularia loculata. An interesting new structural feature for 
this genus is here brought out. The segmental lines which symmetri¬ 
cally and vertically divide each face of the shell are shown to represent 
internal erect lamellae which bifurcate on their inner edges and, though 
not coming into contact with one another, divide the inner shell cavity 
into elongated compartments. This structure emphasizes the already 
recognized differences between Conularia and the pteropods. 
j. m. c. 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
I. Government and State Reports. 
U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 128. The Bear River formation and its 
characteristic fauna, C. A. White. 108 pp., 11 pis., 1895. 
Illinois State Mus. of Nat. Hist., Bull. 7. New and interesting spe¬ 
cies of Palaeozoic fossils. S. A. Miller and W. F. E. Gurley. 89 pp., 5 
pis., Dec. 5, 1895. 
N. Y. State Museum, Bull., vol. 3, no. 14. The geology of Moriah 
and Westport townships, Essex county, N. Y., J. F. Kemp. Pp. 323- 
355, 2 maps, Sept., 1895. 
Geol. Survey of Canada. List of publications. 52 pp., 1895. 
U. S. Nat. Museum, Bull. 39, pt. H. Directions for collecting min¬ 
erals, Wirt Tassin. Pp. 1-6, 1895. 
Same, pt. I. Directions for collecting rocks and for the preparation 
of thin sections, G. P. Merrill. Pp. 1-15, 1895. 
Same, pt. K. Directions for collecting and preparing fossils, Charles 
Schuchert. Pp. 1-31, 1895. 
Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, vol. 17, 1895. Note on a blue mineral,sup¬ 
posed to be ultramarine, from Silver City, New Mexico, R. L. Packard; 
