Bloomdale, 3 miles east of Bairdstown, has a well yielding about 3,000,000; and one at North Baltimore, as far west of it, yields about the same amount; both less advantageously situated in the anticline for productiveness. Professor Orton remarks on the fact that among the various wells in the gas region, the production is generally greatest where the depth below the sea level is least, that is, where the Trenton is bulged upward. This depth at the Karg well is 347 feet; at others of the more productive wells of the vicinity of Findlay, 342, 350, 328 8; at Bairdstown, 315 feet. Another important fact established is that the Trenton limestone is productive only where it is dolomyte, not where calcyte. In the Findlay field the gas rock afforded Professor N. W. Lord, in one analysis, calcium carbonate 53.50, magnesium carbonate 43.05, insoluble residue (silica, etc.) 1.70, iron and alumina 1·72 = 99.50, in which the proportion of the two carbonates is almost precisely that of true dolomyte. The amount of marsh gas in the gas scarcely varies from 92.5 per cent, and with this there are about 2 per cent of hydrogen, 0.30 of olefiant gas and 3.50 of nitrogen, with not over 0.5 per cent of each, oxygen, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide and 0.2 of sulphuretted hydrogen. In the region of Lima, the Trenton limestone yields oil; but the oil is inferior to the shale oil of the Macksburg region of eastern Ohio, in containing 0.553 per cent of sulphur, which is more than 20 times the amount in the Macksburg oil. The report treats at length also of the Berea grit (Subcarboniferous) and of the Ohio shale (Upper Devonian) as sources of oil, and discusses at length the theories for the formation of the oil and its condition in the rocks. The chapters on cements, lime, plasters and other economical products from the rocks of the State also contain much of general interest. 2. Fauna and Flora of the Trias of New Jersey and the Connecticut Valley.-Dr. NEWBERRY, in vol. vi of the Transactions of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, states that the plants of these regions thus far obtained, excepting two, are identical with those of Virginia and North Carolina described by Fontaine. They include the species Bajera Munsteriana Sap., Brachyphyllum gracile Newb., B. foliosum Newb., Cheirolepis Munsteri Schenk, Clathropteris platyphylla Brongn., Dendrophycus Triassicus Newb., Dioonites longifolius Em., Equisetum Rogersi Schimp., Loperia simplex Newb., Otozamites latior Sap., and O. brevifolius Fr. Br. (both common in the Rhætic of Germany and France), Palyssya diffusa Em., Schinoneura planicostata Rogers. The fishes are ganoids of the genera Diplurus Newb., Ischypterus Egt. (18 species), Catopterus Redf. (5 species), Ptycholepis Ag. (1 sp.), Dictyopyge Egt. (1 sp.), and Acentrophorus Trag. (1 sp.) The Diplurus was a colacanth 3 feet long, closely allied to Holophagus Egt. from the English Lias. A species of Dictyopyge has been described from the Keuper of Germany and an allied Ptycholepis from the Lias of Boll in Wurtemburg. 3. Archæan areas of Northern New Jersey and Southeastern New York; by N. L. BRITTON.-Prof. Britton, in his paper read before the A. A. A. S. in August, 1887, divides the Archæan of the New Jersey Highlands and Putnam County, New York, into (1) the massive group, including quartz-syenyte, granulite, and granite with little or no bedding; (2) the iron-bearing group ; (3) the gneissic and schistose group. Another series of schists and limestone, including the crystalline schists of Westchester County, described, as Mr. Britton observes, by Professor J. D. Dana [so far as they are conformable to the limestone or dolomite of the region] as [probably] of Lower Silurian age, are stated to be for the greater part "unquestionably Upper Archæan." We look with great interest for the evidence for this very positive conclusion; others have held the opinion, but the evidence has never been published. The allusion to Prof. Dana's opposing evidence on the next page, shows that he has been misread. J. D. D. 4. Annual Report of the State Geologist of New Jersey for the year 1887.—This report announces the near completion of the topographical survey of the State-a most important work, in which New Jersey is ahead of the other States, Massachusetts alone excepted. 5. On an Archæan Plant.-Graphite occurring in an Archæan limestone in many very thin parallel stripes one or more inches long and one to two lines wide has been described by Mr. N. L. BRITTON as the remains of an Archæan plant, which he has named Archaeophyton Newberryanum. It is a natural query whether a carbonaceous limestone under pressure and in course of metamorphism might not become striped like the specimen. 6. On the Organization of the Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures.-Part XIV. The true fructification of the Calamites; by W. C. WILLIAMSON.-In this short memoir Prof. Williamson gives his reasons for still believing that the strobile described by him in 1869 from the Upper-foot coal in Strinesdale, near Saddleworth, Lancashire, not only was, as he then stated, the fruit of a true Calamites, but that it was the only one that had thus far been discovered. After waiting seventeen years additional specimens having the same structure at last came to light. These led him to reinvestigate the whole subject and to figure anew all the specimens in his cabinet. The chief reason for believing in the true Calamitean character of these specimens is that the peduncle of the strobilus presents in every case substantially the same essential characters as the stems of Calamites, the structure of which is very different from that of any of the other Carboniferous plants that have been made known. Although somewhat modified to adapt itself for the growth of the large sporangia of the higher portions of the spike, these peduncles still clearly exhibit the internodal canals and characteristic medullary cavity of Calamites, characters so distinctive as to make it extremely doubtful that they could have belonged to any other plant. The great wonder is, considering the abundance of Calamites everywhere in the coal measures, that its fruits should be of such rare occurrence. It is needless to say that these fruits are strictly cryptogamic, and contain spores only. L. F. W. 7. Einleitung in die Paläophytologie vom botanischen Standpunkt aus. Bearbeitet von H. GRAFEN ZU SOLMS-LAUBACH. Leipzig, 1887.-This work, although it bears evidence of wide research and much original investigation, is nevertheless, to the working paleophytologist, something of a disappointment. What is needed is a logical and systematic presentation of the best results of all the numerous and widely scattered investigations into the meaning of the multiform structures and objects that have been studied and separately made known. Count SolmsLaubach has proved by this work that he possesses the qualifications for conducting such an enterprise, but has preferred, German fashion, to give it the form of an original investigation and a decidedly subjective stamp, for which he was not qualified by a life-long devotion to the subject, such as gives so great weight and value to the researches of Williamson, Renault, and Schenk. The book, moreover, lacks entirely the symmetry and evenness of treatment so much to be desired at this time in paleobotany, and plainly shows that its author was impelled rather by the impulse to probe to the bottom a few such questions as chanced specially to interest him, leaving other equally essential ones nearly or quite untouched. But it should not be inferred that this work is devoid of value. To him who desires to attack the problems of paleobotany it will be found to contain a thorough and exhaustive treatment of many of the most knotty and puzzling questions, and it has the great merit of furnishing a clear guide to the entire literature of every subject treated. The interest manifested by so excellent a botanist in paleontology is a hopeful sign as tending to reconcile the two departments, and while there is danger that the recent appointment of Count Solms-Laubach to the botanical chair made so celebrated by De Bary may not leave him time to continue the work to which this book is confessedly only an "Introduction," the science of botany proper is to be congratulated on having in such a prominent place one who is fully capable of weighing the facts furnished by the geological history of plants. L. F. W. 8. Das Anlitz der Erde von EDUARD SUESS. Vol. ii, 704 pp., 8vo. Vienna, 1888. (F. Dempsky).-The first volume of the great work by Professor Suess, noticed in this Journal in 1884, 1885 (xxvii, 151, xxix, 418), covered, first, the discussion of the movements in the exterior crust of the earth and, secondly, of the mountain systems. The second volume, now published, is devoted to the great oceans, treating of them first geographically as at present developed, and later with regard to the extent of the seas during the successive geological periods, from the paleozoic down to the changes of level noted in historic times and more broadly with respect to the cause of the oceanic depressions. The different fea tures of the Atlantic and Pacific are treated of at length, with the consideration of the causes for these differences. The extended reading of Professor Suess has given him a large fund of facts to add to his own extended observations, for use in these discussions, and his method is so comprehensive and his style so attractive, that such a book as the present is at once to a high degree interesting and instructive. 9. Chert. Dr. G. J. HINDE has examined microscopically chert from the Permo-Carboniferous strata of Spitzbergen, and has proved that the material consists in many parts of closelypacked sponge spicules, passing often into a nearly pure translucent chert. The bed at Tempelberg was about three feet thick and contains also "casts of Productus and possibly also of Spirifer." He figures the spicules from specimens of different localities, and pronounces the chert of organic origin. A siliceous schist associated with the chert, was largely made of siliceous sand but contained many sponge spicules. On Axel's Island the cherty beds are 870 feet thick; and in view of all the facts he has observed since he commenced his investigations of chert, he thinks it not extravagant to conclude that although so thick the whole is "due to the accumulation of the skeletal debris of siliceous sponges. Geol. Mag., June, 1888, p. 241. 10. Dumortierite from a new locality.—MM. MICHEL LÉVY and LACROIX announce the discovery of the rare aluminum silicate, dumortiérite, in the iolite of the gneiss of Tvedestrand, Norway, where it is associated with sillimanite. It is distinguished, as in other cases, by its pleochroism.-C. R., evi, 1546, May, 1888. 11. Zircon from North Carolina.-The recent demand for zirconium, for use in the arts, has led to a systematic effort to mine it in large quantities. Once regarded as a rare mineral, it has been found possible to obtain within six months twenty-five tons from the Green River mines, Henderson Co., North Carolina; the mining has been carried on under the charge of Mr. W. E. Hidden, who gives this information. It is also anticipated that the attempt soon to be made to obtain monazite in similar large quantities will be successful. 12. Seventh Annual Report of the State Mineralogist of California for the year ending Oct. 1, 1887; by WILLIAM IRELAN, Jr. 315 pp., 8vo. Sacramento, 1888.-This report is devoted to the subjects of petroleum, asphalts, natural gas, coals and building stones, and gives much valuable information as to their occurrence, method of working, use and so on. Much of the matter is contributed by W. A. Goodyear and A. H. Weber, field assistants to the State Mineralogist. The report closes with a catalogue of the Californian fossils, compiled by Dr. J. G. Cooper. 13. Contributions to the Mineralogy of the Pacific Coast; by W. LINDGREN.-A description is given of a chromiferous chlorite related to kotschubeite, obtained from Green Valley, on the American River. It occurs in rosettes of thin hexagonal tables having a peach-blossom red color, and also in fibrous massive forms. The crystals are twins, formed of six is associated with ouvarovite and chromite. cific gravity = 2·69. An analysis by W. H. FeO Nio MgO CaO 6.74 1.23 0.49 35.18 0.18 & Above 105° biaxial sectors. It Hardness = 2, speMelville gave: H2O 12.69 0.36b = b At 105° a 0·36b100·00 The result is interesting as showing a much larger percentage of chromium than has before been noted.-Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., II, i, Dec., 1887. SCHAROW. 14. Materialien zur Mineralogie Russlands von N. VON KOKVol. x, pp. 1-96. St. Petersburg, 1888.-The veteran Russian mineralogist, whose labors for science received so cordial a recognition a year ago, on the occasion of the 50-year anniversary of the commencement of his active service, has recently published the opening portion of the 10th volume of his Russian Mineralogy. The species treated of are clinochlore and kotschubeite, which receive an exhaustive revision, and in addition an extended abstract is given of the article on the remarkable meteorite of Nowo-Urei, by M. v. Jerofeieff and P. v. Latschinoff. 15. Der Meteorit von Nowo - Urei, von M. JEROFEIEFF und P. LATSCHINOFF in St. Petersburgh. This meteorite, which fell September 22, 1886, near the village Nowo-Urei, Government of Pensa, Russia, is unique in containing carbon in the form of diamond. Three stones were known to fall, of which two were found. The external appearance did not differ from ordinary meteoric stones, and on the fracture they appeared of a dark gray color, and showed the presence of the chief constituents, olivine, augite and nickeliferous iron. In the course of the analysis, from 2 to 2.5 per cent of the material taken remained unattacked by acids, and of this, 60 per cent, was amorphous carbon and 40 per cent resisted fusion in bisulphate of potash. The residue was in the form of light gray grains; it proved to consist of 89.6 carbon and 104 per cent ash, and had a specific gravity of 31; the hardness was sufficient to scratch corundum readily. It was consequently concluded that the substance must be ordinary diamond or the massive form carbonado. An analysis of the whole stone gave: Fe,S8 0.43 Fe(Ni) Cr2 03 5.47 0.95 C 2.26 Silicates The diamond-like carbon made up about 1 per cent of the whole. The silicates consisted essentially of olivine and augite in the ratio of 67.5 to 23.8. In amount of carbon this stone is exceeded only by that of Orgueil, which gave 4.1 per cent in form of a humus substance. As regards the occurrence of the carbon in the diamond form, the only related cases are those of the Arva iron, in which Haidinger found cubic crystals of a graphitic substance with apparently pyritohedral planes, and which Rose suggested might be pseudomorphs of graphite after diamond; and the related graphitic mineral cliftonite, from the meteoric iron of Youngdegin, W. Australia, recently described by Fletcher (this Journal, xxxiv, 232, 1887). |