and Callitris, some peculiar species of Santalaceæ, Sapotaceæ, and Leguminoseæ. This relation to Australian vegetation is also evident in the fossil flora of Sotzka. Only 11 species have their representatives in the warm temperate climates, namely, Juniperites ecenica, Pinites Palaostrobus, Quercus deformis, Q. Goepperti, Alnites Reussii, Planera Ungeri, Salicites stenophyllos, Laurus Lalages, Ilex Oreadum, Rhamnus colubrinoides, Juglans hydrophila. 7. Fossil Flora of Köflach, near Gratz, in Styria.-Dr. C. R. von Ettingshausen has described the plants of Köflach in the Jahrbuch der k. k. geol. Reichsanstalt of Vienna, 1857, p. 738. They are of the Miocene era. There are 34 species, 12 of which are new, and 15 common with the flora of Fohnsdorf in Styria. More of the species occur in the Miocene of Switzerland than in the fossil flora of Schauerleithen near Pitten in Lower Austria, and but very few of them are found in the Parschlug deposit. The most common species are the Sequoia Langsdorfi Heer, and Alnus Kefersteinii Goepp.; and next to these Glyptostrobus Europaus Heer, Betula Brongniartii Ettings., and Carpinus Heerii. Among the peculiar species there is a Myrica Joannis Ettings, near the Myrica Caroliniana of North America, Verbenophyllum aculeatum Ettings., Dombeyopsis helicteroides Ettings., a tropical American type, Euonymus Haidingeri Ett., Zizyphus Daphnogenes, Ceanothus macrophyllus Ett., also related to a North American type, Euphorbiophyllum crassinerve and E. Stiriacum Ett., analogues of tropical Euphorbiaceæ. The paper is illustrated by many excellent wood-cuts and three plates. 8. On some deposits in Tuscany containing Fossil Leaves; by C. T. GAUDIN of Lausanne, and Marquis C. STROZZI of Florence.-According to a notice in the Jahresb. k. k. Geol. Reichs. 1858, p. 135, these Tuscan deposits are situated in the upper part of the valley of the Arno, at Moutajone, Bozzone and Malmerenda. These and the Piedmont beds of Chieri, Guarena, Sarzanello and others, and those of Sinigaglia, are on nearly the same horizon with those of Parschlug, Tallya, Swoszowice, Gleichenberg, Schossnitz, and also the Swiss localities at Õeningen, Ischel, Schrotzburg, Albis, Locle and the upper freshwater mollasse, while of older tertiary (Eocene above the nummulitic beds), are the deposits of Cadibona, Bagnasco, Stella in Italy; Lausanne, Aarwangen, MoulinMonod, Hobe-Rhonen, Eriz, Rochette, Rivaz, Ralligen, Wäggis, in Switzerland; and Häring, Sotzka, Monte Promina of Austria. 9. Post-tertiary of the St. Lawrence Valley; by J. W. DAWSON, (Canadian Nat. and Geol., iv, 23).—This paper describes and figures a number of new species of Foraminifers and Bryozoans from the Canada Post-tertiary, besides giving details respecting two or three localities, mentioned in the former paper, (see this Journal, [2], xxv, 275, and Can. Nat. and Geol. ii, 401). The following paragraphs are cited from the memoir. Soil and Sand, Section at Logan's Farm: Tough reddish clay, Gray sand, a few specimens of Saxicava rugosa, Mytilus edulis, ally united, 1 9 0 01 - 08 Tough reddish clay, a few shells of Astarte Laurentiana, and - 1 1 Gray sand, containing detached valves of Saxicava rugosa, Mya truncata, and Tellina Grænlandica; also Trichotropis borealis, and Balanus crenatus: the shells in three thin layers, Sand and clay, with a few shells, principally Saricava in de- Sand and clay, a few shells of Astarte and Saricava, and re- Stony clay, boulder clay. 0 8 13 0 2 0 It thus appears that at Logan's farm we have littoral species at top, and that all the rare and deep-water fossils, as well as the Lepralia and Foraminifera occur in a comparatively thin band near the base of the deposit. This corresponds precisely with the order observed elsewhere in the vicinity of Montreal; though at Logan's farm the arrangement is somewhat more complex than in other localities. Beauport. I visited this celebrated deposit for the first time last autumn. At first sight it consists of a mass of stratified sand and gravel, equivalent to the Saxicava sand of Montreal, and resting on boulder clay. The overlying mass is filled with Saricava, Tellinæ, &c.; and the underlying boulder clay as usual contains no fossils. My experience in the Montreal deposits, however, led me to expect a bed, however thin, representing the Leda clay, between these; and on searching at the junction of the two great beds above mentioned, I was gratified by find-ing a layer of sand about three inches in thickness, filled with the rarer shells of the deposit, characteristic of its deeper waters, such as Fusus tornatus, Pecten Islandicus, Buccinum ciliatum, Modiolaria discors, &c.* The Rhynconella psittacea occurs only in this layer, and in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it is buried here in situ, in the very spot where it lay anchored to the stones of the surface of the drift. On these stones, however, I found a new and interesting field for observation. In the thin layer above referred to, all the stones, as well as those that lay on the surface of the boulder clay or partly imbedded in it, were covered with the remains of marine creatures, especially Balanus crenatus, Spirorbis sinistrorsa, Spirorbis spirillum, Lepralia and Hippothoa. This layer, in short, evidently represented a time when the surface of the boulder clay, covered only by a thin layer of sand and stones, constituted the bottom of clear and deep water, before it became covered by the Saxicava sand. This bottom, although no clay has been deposited on it, represents the Leda clay at Montreal, and is exceedingly rich in the fossils usually found *Sir C. Lyell notices the fact that these shells are more abundant in the lower part of the mass than above. at the surface of that bed. Foraminifera occur in it, but they are comparatively rare, and, so far as I could find, only of species common at Montreal. The paper concludes as follows: "In so far as general conclusions in geology are concerned, the observations of the past year do not in any way conflict with the conclusions stated in my former paper. The arrangement of the deposits at Logan's farm and Beauport, confirms the subdivision which I have attempted to establish, of an underlying non-fossiliferous boulder clay, a deep-water bed of clay or sand (the Leda clay of Montreal), and overlying shallow-water sands and gravels, the Saxicava sand of my former paper. This arrangement shows a gradual upheaval of the land from its state of depression in the boulderclay period, corresponding with what has been deduced from similar appearances in the Old World. The upheaval of the bed of the glacial sea,' says Forbes, was not sudden but gradual. The phenomena so well described by Prof. Forchhammer in his essays on the Danish drift, indicating a conversion of a muddy sea of some depth into one choked up with sand banks, are, though not universal, equally evident in the British Isles, especially in Ireland and the Isle of Man.'* We now have in all, exclusive of doubtful forms, sixty-three species of Marine Invertebrates from the Post-Pliocene or Pleistocene clays of the St. Lawrence valley. All, except four or five species belonging to the older or deep-water part of the deposit, are known as living shells of the Arctic or Boreal regions of the Atlantic. About half of the species are fossil in the Pleistocene of Great Britain. A majority of the whole are now living in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the neighboring coasts; and I have reason to believe that the dredging operations carried on by the officers of the Geological Survey in the past summer, will enable us to recognize all but a few as living Canadian species. In so far, then, as marine life is concerned, the modern period in this country is connected with that of the boulder clay by an unbroken chain of animal existence. These deposits in Lower Canada afford no indications of the terrestrial fauna; but the remains of Elephas Primigenius in beds of similar age in Upper Canada,f show that during the period in question great changes occurred among the animals of the land; and we may hope to find similar evidences in Lower Canada, especially in localities where, as on the Ottawa, the debris of land-plants and land-shells occur in the marine deposits." 10. Second Biennial Report on the Geology of Alabama; by M. TUOMET, A.M., Geologist to the State, and Prof. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Univ. of Alabama; edited from the Author's MSS. and other papers by J. W. MALLET, Ph.D., Prof. Chem. Univ. of Alabama.-The death of Prof. Tuomey left the Geological Survey of Alabama, that had been in progress under his charge, unfinished, and the preparation of his Second Report incomplete. A large part of the MS. was given to the printers in 1856; but only one or two signatures had been printed before his decease in March, 1857. The manuscript, partly in confusion and partly lost through some carelessness on the part of the printer, was afterwards put into the hands of * Memoirs of Geological Survey. + Reports of Geol. Survey; Lyell's Travels. Prof. Mallet, the Chemist of the Survey, and under his direction the results have been brought out. The volume treats briefly of the geology of the northern part of the State, giving some facts relating to the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, and also the metamorphic, with particular descriptions of iron ores and other economical products. It also mentions local details on the newer deposits of the State. The important statement is here made that the "Gnathodon beds" of Mobile bay, regarded as fossil beds by Lyell, are beyond doubt accumulations made by the aborigines of the country. They are often in heaps and contain ashes, burnt shells and charcoal, and bear no evidence of accumulation by wave action. The Report of Prof. Mallet, as Chemist of the Survey, contains analyses of a large number of rocks and ores. 11. The Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association, with the Discussions, Curves and Maps, etc.; by ROBERT MALLET, C.E., F.R.S., and JOHN WILLIAM MALLET, Ph.D., Prof. Chem. University of Alabama. From the Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1852 to 1858: being Third and Fourth Reports. Lond. 1858. -This thick 8vo volume contains the papers of the authors on earthquakes contributed to the British Association at the meetings from 1852 to 1858; of their thoroughness and great value it is not necessary here to speak. The work is indispensable to all who would understand the subject in its details and full breadth. The paper of 1858 is now for the first time issued, as the Report of the Association for last year has not yet been distributed and it has special interest as it reviews the " Facts and Theories of Earthquake phenomena," and is illustrated by several fine maps. 12. Catalogue of Mineralogical, Geological and Paleontological Specimens, Collections, Models, etc., offered for sale at the Rheinische Mineralien-Comptoir of Dr. A. Krantz, at Bonn in Prussia. American edition, 1859, pp. 48.-Collectors of mineral and geological specimens will be glad to know that Dr. Krantz has published an American edition of his Catalogue, and that it may be obtained gratis on application to Messrs. J. F. Luhme & Co., who have been appointed his sole agents for the United States. This Catalogue will serve an excellent purpose in guiding mineralogists and others as to the comparative value of mineral and geological specimens, and at the same time it gives an idea of the extended scale upon which Dr. Krantz conducts business in his justly celebrated establishment. III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 1. American Weeds and Useful Plants: being a second and illustrated edition of Agricultural Botany, &c.; by WM. DARLINGTON, M.D. Revised, with additions, by GEORGE THURBER, Prof. of Mat. Med. and Bot. in N. Y. College of Pharmacy. New York: Moore & Co. 1859, pp. 460, 18mo.-Dr. Darlington's Agricultural Botany was always a favorite, and in its new dress it deserves to be still more so. While regretting that the author, at his advanced age, "felt indisposed to assume the labor of a revision," we are satisfied that, if the task must fall into younger hands, it could hardly fall into better ones than those of the present editor. He has extended the limits of the work so as to include the commoner medicinal plants, and such of our native shrubs as are worthy of cultivation, and has added a brief, remarkably well written, and pertinent introductory chapter upon the Structure of Plants, followed by a key to the natural orders of the plants described in the volume. In a book so full of information about useful plants, it seems hardly fair to promote the term 'weeds' to the head of the title-by these meaning "those intrusive and unwelcome individuals that will persist in growing where they are not wanted." But, after all, so far as botany can help him, the farmer needs rather to be instructed how to dispose of his enemies than how to make the most of his friends. This edition is illustrated by good wood engrav ings of many of the plants described, in great part from original drawings from the skillful pencil of Mr. Anthony Hochstein. A. G. 2. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany), No. 10, (1858); contains: Synopsis of Legnotidea, by George Bentham. He still regards these plants as forming a mere "tribe of Rhizophoraceae," and as having "a general affinity with Cunoniaceae and with Lythraceae," as Brown long ago suggested. Mr. Bentham distinguishes nine genera, one of which is new, and about twenty-one species. One of the most interesting of these is a new Crossostylis, detected (in fruit only) by Prof. Harvey in the Feejee Islands, having fewer carpels in its gynæcium than Forster's C. biflora, for the elucidation of which we are indebted to the South Pacific Exploring Expedition under Capt. Wilkes. Mr. Bentham also contrib utes a Notice of the Rediscovery of the genus Asteranthos, Desf., by Mr. Spruce. Although ticketed as from Brazil, this curious plant was suspected to be African, because Napoleona, its only relative is African; but Spruce has now confirmed its American origin by finding it, in great abundance, upon the banks of one of the tributaries of the Casiquiare. Mr. Bentham inclines to Lindley's view of the close affinity of these two plants with the Myrtacea. Monograph of the Eucalypti of Tropical Australia, with an arrangement, for the use of Colonists, according to the Structure of the Bark; by Dr. Ferdinand Müller, Government Botanist, Victoria.-The zealous and indefatigable Dr. Müller here describes 38 species in great part from the region which he had assisted to explore in Gregory's expedition. The succeeding popular arrangement by the bark divides them into six primary sections, the Latin characters of which will need translation before they can well be used by the colonists. On some Tuberiform Vegetable Productions from China; by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. One of these Fungi (if such these apparently structureless rounded bodies are), the Pu-foo-ling of the Chinese, known immemorially in the northern part of China, where it is largely used as a drug and an esculent-and which was also described by Lourciro-proves to be identical with the Tuckahoe or Indian-bread of the Atlantic United States (Lycoperdon solidum, of Gronovius in Clayton's Flora Virginica, Sclerotium Cocos of Schweinitz, S. giganteum of Torrey, the Pachyma Cocos of Fries); thus adding another to the long list of species peculiar or nearly so to China or Japan and to the eastern side of North America. |