Review of Recent Geological Literature. 25 1 
These are the main objections to the lacustrine hypothesis, but the 
more closely the fauna is examined the more numerous become the ob- 
jections to a view that the skeletons were entombed in the bed of a 
great lake. For instance the bones of the mammals are scattered, 
gnawed and bitten, and those usually found are of parts of the body 
that are rejected by predatory animals. The author's conclusions are 
that "if the White River [Tertiary] clays are lacustrine they must have 
been deposited in an absolutely lifeless sea, surrounded by a well- 
watered region devoid of vegetation, yet sustaining an animal popula- 
tion or incredible density. And even this combination of improba- 
bilities cannot account for some facts, and does not satisfactorily ac- 
count for others." 
The contrary hypothesis is sustained by the following conditions: 
1. The fauna is such as we should expect to find in an open grassy 
region. The animals are all land forms, and the most abundant genera 
have distinctly cropping teeth. Laud tortoises are abundant. 
2. The condition of the bones, gnawed and bitten, is similar to that 
of bones in the present prairie-deposit. 
3. The character of the clays, without obvious stratification, or fine 
lamination is that which loess would assume on consolidation. 
4. The great extent and uniformity of the deposit agrees with that of 
loess. 
This theory of eolian origin of the White River Tertiaries does not 
apply to the Eocene bed west of the Rocky mountains, for the origin of 
which a lacustrine theory is reasonable. 
Nineteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey 
to the Secretary of the Interior, iSgy-gS. Charles D. Walcott, Direc- 
tor. Parti: Director's Report, including Triangulation and Spirit Lev- 
eling. Part IV: Hydrography; F. H. Newkll, Chief of Division. 
Part \T: Mineral Resources of the United States, 1897; David T. 
Day, Chief of Division. Washington, 1898-1899. 
Three parts of this annual report, as here noted, making four vol- 
umes, have been recently distributed. Thev are published earlier than 
its second, third and fifth parts, which are to contain, respectively, 
papers chiefly of a theoretic nature, papers on economic geology, and 
reports of forest reserves. 
The appropriations for the fiscal year here reported were in total 
$i.03.3.983-6o. In the allotment of this sum, topographic work received 
$184,200; geologic work. $118,700; paleontologic work, $14,000; chem- 
ical work, $10,000; gaging streams and determining water supply. 
$50,000; the report on mineral resources, $20,000; engraving and print- 
ing maps, $60,000; preparation of illustrations of reports, $13,000: 
engraving illustrations. $17,000; printing and binding, $20,000; special 
appropriation for survey of forest reserves. $150,000; special appropria- 
tions for completion of surveys of the Indian Territory, $279,500; and 
for geologic and topographic surveys in Alaska, $20,000. 
During this year the field work of the director consisted mainly 
in examinations of forest reserves in the Northwest, inspection of 
