Hecieic of Jiecent Gcolonical Litcrdture. 261 
tiiiit conli-ibLiUoii to the pri'sent active iiivestifiat ions hy many worki-rs 
in tliis field ot' our Quaternary lacustrine •ieology. 
Tlie whole volume is a rich thesaurus of tlie princiiiU.'s and metliods 
of observation and reasoning, and includes also a vast multitude of the 
details, of this seiiMice in its varied branches treating of ilu- formation 
and metamorphism of rocks, physiography, orogrny and e))eirogeny. 
biologic evolution, and pah'ontology. It is not onl.v a text-book for the 
college student, but a handbook for the i)rofessional geologist. It comes 
us the worthy consummatio!) of a long life of exceptional earnestness 
and success in the work of teacher, investigator, editor, and author. 
About a fifth part more pages, and a fourth more illustrations, are 
contained in this work than in its last previous edition. It is very well 
printed, and has a copious topical index, to which also one giving ref- 
erences to citation of authors might be usefully added. w. u. 
Dixitribniion of the Land (ind Frex/i-icater Midlusk.!* of the Wext Indian re- 
fjion, (ind tlteir fvldeni-e icith. reyard (o puxt r/ianf/ex of land and xea. Hy 
Chaules Tokkey Simpson. (Proc, U. S. National Museum, vol. xvii. 
pp. 428 4.i0, with Plate xvi: 18!)4.) This essay treats of the Tertiary 
history of the West Indies, to which Profs. .1. W. Simmicim- and K. T. 
Hill have recently given attention from the geologic side. The biologic 
conclusions of Mr. Simpson are as follow: "A considerable portion of 
the land snail fauna of the Greater Antilles seems to be ancient and to 
have developed on the islands where it is now found. There appears to 
l)e g(jod evidence of a giMieral elevation of the Greater Antillean region, 
probably some time during the Eocene, after most of the more impor- 
tant groups of snails hiid come into existence, at which time the larger 
islands were united, and there was land connection with Central .\mer- 
ica h\ way of Jamaica and probably across the Yucatan Channel, and 
there was then a considerable exchange of species bi'tweeii the two re- 
gions. At some lime during this elevation there was jirobably a land- 
way from Cuba across the Hahama i)lateati to the Floridian area, over 
which certain groups of Antillean land m. Whisks crossed. At this time 
it is likely that till' in(u-e northern isles of the Ticsser .\nlilles. which 
seem to be volcanoes of later Tertiary and Post-Pliocene date, were not 
yet elevated al)o\e the sea, or if so they base probably been submerged 
since. After the period of ele\ati(in there followed one of general sub- 
sidence The connection between the Antilles and the mainland 
was broken, and the P.ahama region, if it had been previously elevated 
above the .sea. was submergi'd: the subsidence continuing until only the 
summits of the mountains of the four (ireater .\nliileaii islands re- 
mained above the water. Then followetl another period of elevation, 
which has lasted no doubt until the present time, and the large areasof 
limestone uncoveri'd (of Miocene, Pliocene, and Post-Pliocene agi') in 
the (ireater .\iitilles have furnished an admirable tield for the develop- 
ment of the groups of land snails that sur\ i\ed on the summits of the 
islands." w. v. 
