Recent Publications. 263 
The species of each subclass are further divided into four groups ac- 
cording to their hardness, being classed as very soft, soft, hard and very 
hard. The method of determination or the "key" is analogous to that 
used in analytical botany, and the author aims to show that the com- 
mon minerals can be determined with the same ease and accuracy as 
the common plants. Under each species is given a number of physical 
characters and finally one or more confirmatory chemical tests. Only 
about two hundred of the more common minerals are included in the 
tables, but there is a supplementary table that includes one hundred 
of the less common minerals which are occasionally encountered by the 
student. As these tables are comparatively simple and as they require 
but little chemical knowledge and but a small amount of apparatus, 
it would seem that they are especially well adapted to the general 
vises of schools, colleges and private students. u. s. g. 
A Contribution to the Miiierahgy of Wisconsin, By William Her- 
bert HoBBS. (Bull. Univ. of Wis., sei. ser., vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 109-156, 
pis. 4-8; June, 1895.) This paper is devoted largely to the crystallogra- 
phy of Wisconsin minerals and seems to be the first description of the 
crystallographic features of the minerals of that state. The specimens 
measured and figured come from three sources: (1) the pre-Silurian 
rocks; (2) the cavities of the Galena limestone in southern Wisconsin; 
(3) the Hamilton cement rock at Milwaukee. A large number of care- 
ful measurements were made; this work brought out some interesting 
results, among which was the determination of several hitherto unde- 
scribed forms, as follows: two on quartz, three on calcite, one on cerus- 
site, one on sphalerite and four on azurite. Anglesite has been reported 
several times from southern Wisconsin, but the specimens examined 
prove to be selenite. 
A few pages are devoted to "diamonds from the drift." The main 
facts concerning these have been already presented by Dr. Hobbs in the 
American Geologist (vol. xiv, pp. 31-35, July, 1891). u. s. g. 
RECENT PUBL ICATIONS. 
/. Government and State Reports. 
Geol. Surv. of Ala. Report upon the Coosa coal field, with Sections, 
A. M. Gibson. 143 pp., 1895. 
U. S. National Museum, pt. 1 of Bull. .39. Directions for collecting 
rocks and for the preparation of thin sections, G. P. Merrill. 
Geol. Surv. of Canada. Ann. Rept. for 1892- '93, vol. 6, 1895. Summary 
report on the operations of the Geological Survey for the years 1892 and 
1893, by the Director, A. R. C. Selwyn: Preliminary report on the geol 
ogy of a portion of central Ontario, situated in the counties of Victoria, 
Peterborough and Hastings, F. D. Adams; Preliminary report on geo- 
logical investigations in southwestei'n Nova Scotia, L. W. Bailey; Chem- 
ical contributions to the geology of Canada from the laboratory of the 
Survey, G. C. Hoffman: Division of mineral statistics and mines, E. D. 
Ingall and H. P. H. Brumell. 
