426 The American Geologist. june. 1393 
The "Calaveras formation " as thus limited comprises, so far as yet 
known, chiefly lower Carboniferous strata, but may extend down into 
the Devonian. The following fossils have been found within its limits: 
Aviculopecten, Clisiophyllum, Spirifera, 
Murchisonia, Fusulina, Phillipsastrea, 
Macrocheilus, Pleurotoraaria, Lithostrotion, 
Zaphrontis, Metoptoma, Monticulipora. 
The time range of the formation is thus not fully determined. 
Washington, D. C. H. W. Tukner. 
PEESOi^AL a:nd soiee^tifio news. 
Mr. J. T. ScovELL, WRITING IN Science, claims for Citlal- 
tepetl or Star mountain, more common]}- called Mt. Orizaba, the 
distinction of being probably the highest point of North America. 
Spirit-levelling to the hight of 14,000 feet, and triangulation for 
the remaining hight, give the altitude of the summit as 18,314 
feet, being 200 feet above that of Mt. St. Elias as determined b}' 
Russell, and 700 feet above Popocatepetl, which, until recentl3',was 
believed to be the highest of the Mexican volcanic cones. The crater 
•of Citlaltepetl is about 800 feet long and 600 wide, with a depth be- 
tween 400 and 500 feet. The upper 10,000 feet of the mountain 
consist of volcanic rocks, below which the lower slope, according 
to Mr. Hugo Finck, shows Cretaceous limestone, nearl_y horizontal, 
200 or 300 feet thick, resting on crumpled and folded strata of 
Jurassic limestone, which in turn lie on alternating basaltic rocks 
and Carboniferous limestones. Cretaceous beds are crossed below 
the altitude of 2,500 feet in the descent to the Gulf of Mexico. 
The Lakes of Zurich and Wallen, respectively 460 and 560 
feet deep, are shown by Du Riche Preller, in the Geological Mag- 
azine, to be due, not to glacial erosion, but to organic deforma- 
tion of the Limmat valley. 
The faunas and floras of the Chatham islands, New Zea- 
land, and the southern portions of Australia, Africa, and South 
America, include so many identical or closely related species, in 
some instances, however, extinct and known only by fossil remains, 
that Mr. Henry 0. Forbes argues therefrom, in a paper before the 
Royal Greographical Societ}', that in late geological times the}' re- 
ceived land migrations from an Antarctic continent which was 
more extensive and less frigid than now. 
The State of South Dakota has established a geological sur- 
ve}', making it a function of the State University at Vermillion, 
on the plan of the Minnesota surve}^ and Prof. J. E. Todd has 
been appointed state geologist. 
The Family of the late Prof. John Strong Newberry, form- 
erly professor of Geology in the School of Mines, have offered as a 
gift to Columbia College his large scientific library. The collec- 
tion will be known as the Newberry Libraiy of Geolog}', being a 
memorial to professor Newberr}'. 
