2o6 The America?! Geologist. March, i899 
Pkof. W. M. Davis, who has been spending the winter 
in France, has just returned to Paris from an extended trip 
among the volcanoes of the central plateau. 
On Feb. i/th, Prof. H. F. Osborne gave a note- 
worth\- lecture before the Boston Society of Natural History, 
on "The Development of the Mammalia," drawing his de- 
ductions chiefly from the fossils of the west. 
Dr. R. a. Daly, who for this year has taken Prof. 
Davis' work in Ph}'siography at Harvard University, is 
completing studies begun in Germany, on the optical proper- 
ties of amphiboles and pyroxenes, particularly the former; 
and his first paper on the subject has just appeared, ( Amer. 
Acad. Arts and Sci., proc, vol. 34. pp. 311-323; i fig., 3 pis.) 
The course of Saturday evening lectures at the 
American Museum of Natural History, New York cit}', this 
winter under the auspices of Columbia University, has in- 
cluded four on mineralog}- during Februar\'. They were, 
Februar}' 4, "The transmission of light in cr\'stals," by Prof. 
A.J. Moses; P"ebruary 11, "The characters of minerals in rock 
sections," '--)y Dr. Lea Mc I. Luquer; February 18, "The me- 
thods employed in the investigation of minerals, especially 
their application to the identification of species," by Prof. S. 
L. Penfield; February 25, "Testing minerals," b>' Prof. A. J. 
Moses. 
The West Virginia Geological and Economic Sur- 
vey has this )'ear issued a map of that state compiled b\- 
Mr. R. L. Morris under the direction of the state geolo- 
gist. Dr. I. C. White. The geological features represented 
on this map are oil pools, natural gas wells. New River coal 
areas, Alleghany or Kanawha River coal areas, and Pittsburg 
coal areas. Dr. White states that this map is a preliminary 
one and that the information presented is, in part, only ap- 
proximately correct, but that, if the survey should receive 
proper financial support, it is his intention to publish accur- 
ate and detailed maps of the coal, petroleum, and natural 
<ias areas. 
