II. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.

1. Glacial lakes in the Genesee valley.--The following is an abstract of a paper on 66 The Glacial Genesee Lakes," read by H. L. FAIRCHILD at the summer meeting of the Geological Society, prepared by the author. This paper covered the lacustrine history of the Genesee hydrographic area, and incidentally the whole of its Pleistocene geology. The present hydrography of the Genesee basin was shown by a handsome map. Upon this map the low points in the boundary of the basin, or the passes into other drainage systems were indicated, with their altitudes. From the head waters of the Genesee in northwestern Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario the river has a fall of two thousand feet in about one hundred and fifty miles, of which fall six hundred feet are covered by the cataracts at Portage and at Rochester. It was claimed that during the northward retreat of the ice across western New York the ice acted as a moving dam, and the ponded waters in the basin escaped by different outlets at successively lower levels. The three principal earlier outlets were into the Alleghany-Ohio drainage; the important later outlet into the Canisteo-Chemung. Counting the primary episode of local lakes in the head-water valleys, and the present Ontario phase, the author enumerated ten distinct stages in the lacustrine history of the Genesee, or nine stages of local glacial waters. The eighth stage was that of Lake Warren; the ninth that of Lake Iroquois.

The numerous evidences of water-levels throughout the basin had been studied and measured without at the first attempting to correlate them with the several outlets, but a final comparison of the height of the terraces with the height of the water-scoured cols showed a remarkable and convincing relation. It was proved that with the uncovering of each successively lower outlet the terraces, deltas and other evidences of water-levels dropped to a corresponding height, a relation entirely inconsistent with the theory of marine submergence.

Several local morainic lakes were named of which the draining streams had fallen upon rock and been compelled to make rock gorges. Two of these rock-cuts occur in the main stream, at Portageville and at Mt. Morris.

During the ice-retreat there were several local contemporary lakes in the deep side valleys before those valleys were opened into the main valley, and these local lakes had their own outlets over the divide. There were also tributary lakes, where in a few cases north-sloping valleys, outside the divide, poured their glacial waters over the divide into the Genesee basin. These and other interesting features cannot be properly located and described without the map.

It was stated that all the valleys were of preglacial origin, and that there had apparently been little reversal of drainage. The only conspicuous post-glacial work is seen in the few rock-cuttings, and in the excavation of drift from the old valleys.

2. Supplementary Notes on the Metamorphic Series of the Shasta Region of California. Abstract of paper read before Section E of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; by JAMES PERRIN SMITH, Stanford University, California. The Triassic limestones of the Shasta region show the remnants of an old system of anticlines and synclines, in places very perfect. Anticlinal noses and synclinal spoons are rare phenomena in massive limestones, but here they are unusually perfect. Many fossils were collected in the, probably, Lower Permian argillites at the top of the Carboniferous limestone, among them Fusulina aff. longissima, and many brachiopoda that resemble Permian forms.

Particular attention was paid to the Upper Trias, and many species were added to the known fauna of this horizon, most of them being identical with or closely related to Alpine species. But the association of faunas was found to be new, and different from that known in other parts of the world. In the Alps and the Himalayas the Trachyceras fauna occurs below the zone of Tropites subbullatus; in the Shasta region the two faunas occur in the same beds, and even in the same hand-specimen. This is thought to indicate that either the Trachyceras fauna survived here longer than elsewhere, or else the Tropites subbullatus fauna appeared earlier in the Shasta region. The latter is thought to be the more probable, although both may be true, since the Trachycerata are indigenous to the Mediterranean region, while the Tropitida probably originated in the Pacific region.

The probable occurrence of the Juvavic horizon of the Trias was discussed, probably the only known occurrence of this horizon and fauna outside of the Tyrolean Alps.

3. Ornithichnites and jaw bone from the Newark sandstone of New Jersey; by ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D. (Communicated.) For several years I have carefully watched the quarries where the Newark (Jura-Triassic) sandstone was taken out at Newark, Arlington and at Belleville. Until now, however, I have not found large fossils except patches of the stems of ferns and Bacillariaceae (Diatomaceae) at Arlington. To-day at the Belleville quarry, just north of the city of Belleville, I was gratified to see some traces of larger fossils revealed in the lower levels of the quarry. These were Ornithichnites; a track of what is evidently Brontozoum with two of the joints well marked. A third is not so well marked. There are two nails of the foot evident. It is in a red shale which formed from fine-grained mud. Near by is a piece of fern, and scattered through the whitened sandstone are chrysocolla, cuprite and malachite. Last month I secured a jaw bone in excellent preservation with the teeth gone. It looks like Dromatherium sylvestre of Emmons. There are also slabs with markings on them which I cannot identify.

Newark, N. J., Sept. 11, 1895.

4. Missouri Geological Survey-Lead and Zinc Deposits, by ARTHUR WINSLOW, assisted by James D. Robertson, vols. vi and vii, pp. i-xxi, 1-763, plates i-xli, figures 1-268. Jefferson City, Mo., 1894.-The importance of the lead and zinc industry in Missouri is full justification for the preparation of this exhaustive treatise on lead and zinc deposits, by the geological survey of that state. The construction of the report follows the general lines of the admirable manganese report of Dr. Penrose, published by the Arkansas survey. The first part (pp. 1-507) is a summary account of the history, compounds, modes of occurrence and distribution of lead and zinc throughout the world, the final chapter of which, on the industries and statistics of lead and zine, was written by Mr. Robertson. Although this part is chiefly a compilation, with its accompanying bibliography and frequent reference to sources, it will be of much value to the student as well as to the investor. The remainder of the report is devoted to an account of the history of mining in Missouri, the physiography and geology of the mines, and a detailed description of the several ore deposits and mines distributed throughout the state.

The investigations, which led to the writing of the report, were begun in 1889 in coöperation with the United States geological survey, whose representative, Dr. W. P. Jenney, collected a large body of facts illustrating the subject. Mr. Robertson of the state survey coöperated with Dr. Jenney in these investigations and was a co-worker with Mr. Winslow in the preparation of this final report.

Although communicated to the board of managers by Mr. Keyes, the report was planned and executed entirely by the late State Geologist, Mr. Winslow, who is to be congratulated upon the production of a work which brings together, in such orderly and satisfactory form, the knowledge up to date regarding the distribution and mode of occurrence of these mineral products.

The author's theory of the origin of the metalliferous minerals in the ore bodies is, briefly, that they were introduced into the cavities where they have been mined, "in solution," and that the source of these solutions was "original diffusion through the country rocks, and subsequent concentration through surface decomposition of the latter, supplemented by percolating waters."

H. S. W.

5. Geological Survey of Canada.-The Annual Report for 1892-93 has appeared. It contains, besides the usual summary reports of work done in the years 1892 and in 1893, two strictly geological reports, viz: "Preliminary Report on the Geology of a portion of Central Ontario," by FRANK D. ADAMS, and "Prelim. Report on Geological investigation in Southwestern Nova Scotia," by L. W. BAILEY. There are also "Chemical contributions" by G. CH. HOFFMANN and his assistants, and "Mineral Statistics and Mines" for 1892 by E. D. INGALL and his assistants. (Geol. Surv. Canada, A. R. Selwyn Direct., Ann. Rept. (new series), vol. vi, Repts. A (1892), A (1893), J, Q, R, S, 660 pages, Ottawa, 1895.)

6. The Geological Society of America.-The Geological Society held its seventh summer meeting in Springfield, Mass., August 27th and 28th, N. S. Shaler presiding. The following is a list of the papers presented:

GEO. M. DAWSON and R. G. MCCONNELL: Glacial deposits of Southwestern Alberta, in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains.

C. H. HITCHCOCK: The Champlain glacial epoch.

WARREN UPHAM: Drumlins and marginal moraines of ice-sheets.

H. L. FAIRCHILD: The glacial Genesee Lakes.

B. K. EMERSON: The geology of old Hampshire county in Massachusetts.

N. H. DARTON: Notes on relations of lower members of coastal plain series in South Carolina. Resume of general stratigraphic relations in the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to South Carolina.

Results

ARTHUR HOLLICK: Creteceous plants from Martha's Vineyard. obtained from an examination of the material collected by David White in 1889. R. T. JACKSON and T. A. JAGGAR: Arrangement and development of plates in the Melonitidæ.

GEORGE P. MERRILL: On asbestos and asbestiform minerals.

WILLIAM H. HOBBS: Pre-Cambrian volcanoes in Southern Wisconsin.

A. CAPEN GILL: A geological sketch of the Sierra Tlayacac, in the State of Morelos, Mex.

C. H. GORDON: Syenite-gneiss (Leopard Rock) from the Apatite region of Ottawa county, Canada.

J. F. KEMP: The titaniferous iron ores of the Adirondacks.

J. C. BRANNER: The decomposition of rocks in Brazil.

W. M. DAVIS: The bearing of physiography on Uniformitarianism.

C. R. VAN HISE: Analysis of folds.

N. S. SHALER: On the effects of the expulsion of gases from the interior of the earth.

7. La Géologie Comparée, par Stanislas Meunier, pp. 1-296, figures 1-35, Paris, 1895 (Bibl. Scientifique Internationale).-M. STANISLAS MEUNIER of the Natural History Museum of Paris, author of numerous papers on meteorites, has brought together in an attractive form, with typical French vivacity, a large body of facts illustrating the geological relations of the other planets of the solar system to the earth. The work is illustrated by 35 figures in the text, showing the forms of surface configuration of the planets and of structure of meteorites like those known on the earth. The author describes a number of remarkable similitudes between celestial and terrestrial objects, which are certainly interesting, though the reader may hesitate to adopt the author's conclusions.

8. Die Eruptivgesteine des Kristianiagebietes: 1 Die Gesteine der Grorudit-Tinguait Serie; by W. C. BRÖGGER (Videnskab. Skrift 1 math. natur. Klasse, 1894, No. 4. Kristiania, 8°, pp. 206, 4 plates, etc.)—In his great work on the syenite-pegmatite dikes of southern Norway, Professor Brögger promised that this should soon be followed by a monograph on the eruptive rocks of the same district. The appearance of this volume has been eagerly awaited by all workers in this field of science. In his preface to the present work, the author states that he has been unable to carry out this plan and he now proposes to cover the same ground by a series of monographs on special subjects of which this, treating of a closely-related series of rock types, is the first.

It is to be followed by one dealing with the well known "rhombic porphyries."

The rocks now under discussion occur in dikes and are finegrained and porphyritic. They consist essentially of alkali-feldspars and ægirite; where the silica percentage is high, quartz is also developed (grorudite); with falling silica it disappears (sölvsbergite) and below 60 per cent nephelite comes in as an important constituent (tinguaite). A fourth member of the series would be a rock with silica below 50 per cent and with nephelite preponderating over feldspar. This type the author recognizes in a rock described by Kemp* from Beemersville, N. J. and proposes for it the name of sussexite. This name, however, is clearly objectionable, if indeed it be not entirely ruled out by the fact that it has been applied since 1868 to a well-defined mineral species occurring at Franklin Furnace, N. J.

These rock types are described as to their occurrence in the field and mapped. Their petrology is discussed in detail and is accompanied by many analyses, plates, drawings and tables of mineral contents. Incidentally the author takes occasion to discuss and classify the alkali-iron hornblendes, introducing a new member to which the name of kataforite is given. His classification is as follows:

A large portion of the book is devoted to theoretical petrology, and it is this that will be read with the greatest interest. Many new and important questions are brought up and discussed and much light is thrown upon old ones. In the brief limits of this notice it is impossible to do more than merely mention this fact, but it may be safely said that the importance of the present work in its bearing on general petrology can hardly be overestimated.

L. V. P.

9. Directions for collecting rock specimens.—A useful series of papers, giving specific directions for collecting specimens in the field and preparing them for safe shipment, has been prepared by the Smithsonian Institution. Sufficient illustrations are given to guide the untrained in the preparation of tools and in methods of manipulation. The articles are entitled as follows: "Directions for collecting rocks and for the preparation of thin sections," by GEORGE P. MERRILL, 15 pp.; "Directions for collecting and preparing fossils," by CHARLES SCHUCHERT, 31 pp.; "Directions for collecting specimens and information illustrating the aboriginal uses of plants," by FREDERICK V. COVILLE, 8 pp., and "Directions for collecting minerals," by WIRT TASSIN, 6 pp. (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 39, Washington, 1895.)

*Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. ii, p. 60, 1892.