was the rise of its upper slope northward. The terminal moraine represents both materials carried forward under the foot of the glacier, and also the earth and stone carried on its surface and dropped in a confused mass as it melted and retreated northward. These accumulated heaps may in places have equaled in height the greatest thickness of the glacier front, although in general the moraine would fall short of the height of the glacier. As we see it, this terminal moraine raises greatly in height from point to point. It is possible to get at a minimum estimate of the thickness by considering the heights of some of the hills in the moraine. It is safe to conclude that the ice front of the great glacier was from 200 to 400 feet in thickness. A careful exploration of that part of New Jersey, which is north of the terminal moraine, has thus far failed to discover any peaks or crests which show no marks of a glacier. WERE THE ICHTHYOSAURS VIVIPAROUS?-This is a question which Prof. Seeley sought to answer in a paper submitted to the Geological Society at a late meeting. From time to time specimens of Ichthyosaurs have been found, with the remains of small saurians preserved inside the body-cavity. Against the supposition that these small ichthyosaurs had been devored by the larger ones, it may be urged that their state of preservation is markedly different from that of the remains of food, such as the indigested residuum of fish, which are not unfrequently found in the stomach of the Ichthyosaurs. Moreover, the position of the small skeletons in relation to the larger ones, with which they are associated, is tolerably constant, and is such as to strengthen the supposition that the relationship is that of offspring to parent. From these and other considerations, Prof. Seeley concludes that the Ichthyosaurus must have been viviparous.-Academy. MIOCENE FAUNA OF OREGON -Prof. Cope recently read a paper before the American Philosophical Society, describing additional species from the Truckee Miocene of Oregon. Several of these were Rodentia, one of which was referred to a new genus, under the name of Paciculus. Four were Carnivora, two Canide and two Felida. A new genus Hyænocyon was proposed for the Enhydrocyon basilatus, with the following dental formula: I. §; C. }; Pre-m. ; M.-. The genus Merycopater was shown to be an Oreodont with deficient superior incisors. A new genus of Oreodontida was described under the name Colorcodon, with the following characters: A wide diastema in both jaws. I.; C. }; Pre-m. ; M.. Two species were described, a smaller C. ferox, and a larger C: macrocephalus, both of which have remarkably developed cranial crests. Three new species were added to the suilline di vision. PLIOCENE MAN.-Special interest is attached to Prof. J. D. Whitney's recent volume upon the "Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada," one of the official reports of the geological survey of California, though issued by the Museum of Comparative Zoology, because of the full description of the reported discoveries of man in the Pliocene Tertiary. These gravels are mostly consolidated into rock and are capped by lava, constituting the Table mountains. The original river valley is now completely filled by gravel and lava, so that the stream, driven out of its course, has been compelled to wear its way to depths varying from 1000 to 2000 feet on either side. Hence, the following events must have happened subsequently to the deposition of the human bones and implements in the bottom of the ancient river: (1) deposition of 130 feet of gravel over the human remains; (2) overflow of lava, completely filling up the valley, so that the river must change its course; (3) wearing down of gorges nearly 2,000 feet deep in hard slates on both sides of the lava flow, so as to carve out a flat-topped mountain. Much time must be required for the accomplishment of these resultshundreds of thousands of years, if the wearing of the Niagara gorge be taken for the unit of measurement. As glacial deposits are not known on the flanks of the Sierras, Whitney relies upon the character of the fossils exhumed to determine the age, and decides that the formation was the Pliocene Tertiary, anterior to the glacial drift of the East. The principal fossils are these: Rhinoc erus, Elotherium, Mastodon americanus and M. obscurus, three species of horse, a wolf, a deer, Hipparion, Auchenia, etc. These were determined by Dr. Leidy. Lesquereux describes seventeen species of deciduous trees referred to the Pliocene, with suggestions of the Miocene. Various stone implements, including tools, pestles, mortars, platters, spear and arrowheads, are described from thirty different localities in eleven counties. Human bones were found under Table and in Bald mountain. All these facts are detailed with the utmost care, and it would seem to be clearly proved that human bones and implements are found in these gravels, associated with what are universally regarded as the fauna and flora of the Pliocene Tertiary. This is more satisfactory than any of the reported discoveries of human flints in the later Tertiary of Europe. No one would doubt the correctness of Whitney's conclusion if the question did not involve the age of man. Now, is it clear that the California Pliocene was the equivalent of the Eastern American and European Pliocene? There was no true glacial period in the Sierras corresponding to the Great Northern Drift; hence, may not the organisms of the Western Pliocene period have continued to live on till post-glacial times? Two suggestions agree with Whitney's conclusions: (1) the immense time required to excavate the deep cañons would correspond well with careful estimates of the length of the glacial period, and it is clear that man antedated the erosion of these valleys. (2) The cañon-making period in California and over the area of the Fortietieth Parallel Survey is probably the equivalent of the glacial period of the East. It is so regarded by Clarence King, in his "Report," and was certainly subsequent to the time when the early men flourished.-N. Y. Independent. The preceding abstract suggests the following observations. Some of the vertebrata reported as found with the human remains in the auriferous gravels are obviously out of place, or erroneously determined. Thus, Elotherium does not belong to the Pliocene fauna, nor even to the Upper Miocene (Loup Fork) but to the lowest Miocene or Oligocene (White river). Mastodon obscurus is Upper Miocene. How they come to be included in the list remains to be explained. The occurrence of human implements mingled with the Pliocene fauna in Oregon, was asserted in this journal for 1878, p. 125, and some dozen species of vertebrata cited as cotemporaries. A more extended list of the mammalia was given in the Bulletin U. S. Geol. Surv. Terrs., 1879, p. 48; and of the birds in the same for 1878, p. 389. The entire number of vertebrata now determined from this locality in Oregon amounts to twenty-seven. During the past summer the writer obtained bones of Mylodon from the auriferous gravels of the Klamath river, near Yreka, Cal., from excavations which he personally examined. He also obtained vessels of vesicular basalt which were undoubtedly procured from the same excavations. The relation of this formation to the European Pliocene is discussed in an essay on the parallelism of the American and European horizons, in Hayden's Bulletin U. S. Geol. Surv. Terrs., 1879, February.--E. D. Cope. GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.1 HAYDEN'S NEW MAPS OF WYOMING, ETC.-The forthcoming reports of Dr. Hayden's Geological Survey, on the field-work of 1877 and 1878, will contain three topographical atlas sheets, of the same size, and on the same scale (4 miles to an inch) as those in the Colorado atlas. These sheets illustrate portions of Wyoming, Idaho and Utah, each of them covers 21⁄2 degrees of longitude, and 14 degrees of latitude, and includes an area of about 11,000 square miles. The south-eastern of the sheets covers the country from longitude 107° to 109° 30', and from latitude 41° 45' to 43°. It includes the barren plateaus of the continental divide, north of the Union Pacific R. R. The valleys of the Sweetwater and Wind rivers, and a part of the Wind River range. The south-western sheet lies directly west of the latter, extending to longitude 112°. It embraces the Green River basin, and, farther westward, a succession of parallel ranges of no great 1 Edited by ELLIS H. YAKNALL, Philadelphia. height, alternating with broad valleys drained by Bear river and branches of the Snake. The third sheet lies north of the last, extending to latitude 44° 15'. Besides a small portion of the Snake River plains on its western edge, nearly all this area is occupied by rugged mountains. Among them may be noted the Tetons, the Gros Ventre and the northern part of the Wind River ranges. The plan of the geographical work has been sketched in some detail in previous reports of this survey, and, therefore, nothing more than a brief epitome will here be attempted. The whole work is based upon a system of triangulation, carried on with an eight inch theodolite, reading to 10". In the scheme there were two base lines measured, one near Fort Steele, Wyoming, the other on Bear River, in South-eastern Idaho. Each of these was between five and six miles in length. The mean error of closure of the triangles in the expansion was 5.3". The sides ranged from twenty to seventy miles in length. Altogether, forty-nine points were located by the primary triangulation. Secondary triangulation was carried on by a theodolite reading to minutes. The mean error of closure of secondary triangles is 3'. The topography was secured from elevated points by mapsketches made on an assumed scale, with distances and angles estimated, and by perspective sketches, on which the topographical features were represented as they appeared to the observer at his station. All salient points in the landscape, peaks, angles of plateau, minor summits and hills, and junctions of streams, were located by intersections of sight lines from two or more stations, and in plotting the maps, in the office, the map-sketches are corrected by these locations. On these three sheets, about 3300 points, including stations, were located, being one in every ten square miles. Altogether, between 600 and 700 stations were occupied, or about one in each fifty square miles. A few words as to the measurements of heights, and the method of construction of contour lines. Elevations were measured by means of the barometer, and the vertical circle of the theodolite. Camps, stations, and all salient points on the routes traversed, were measured by the former instrument. Aneroids were used but little and the results accepted with great caution. The vertical circle was used in determining the relative heights of all points within range of the stations-all peaks, passes, gaps, heads of spurs, etc., in short, everything that could be located, even approximately. Thus the heights of a great number of points were easily determined, and these, placed upon a perspective sketch, which may be supposed to be reasonably accurate, indicate approximately the heights of all portions of the sketch. Difference of heights are expressed on these maps by contours. The space between two of these grade curves represents a differ ence of elevation of 200 feet. Where the slopes are gentle the curves are far apart, while among the cliffs of the mountains and plateaus, they are crowded together, in many places being almost run into a single line. These curves are not "run," nor are they accurately located, as would be done in a minute survey. They do, however, express the orography, and, approximately, the elevation, over the whole map. They are constructed mainly from the perspective sketches, aided and directed by the measured heights. As an example of the method of their construction, take a mountain spur, starting from the peak and extending to the valley below. Its summit and base, and each point of change of slope, are located, and their heights are known; we have also a profile sketch of the spur. Given these data, and what is easier than to distribute the curves with a considerable approach to accuracy, between those points actually determined. This method of representing orography is a strictly natural one. Supposing the light to be vertical, grade curves must necessarily produce the same lights and shades as in nature. All the details of the topography, down to forms not above 200 feet in height may be expressed. For masses for the representation of geological outcrops and formations, these grade curves are invaluable. They enable the geologist to draw accurately the outcrops not only of horizontal, but of inclined strata, over vast areas, from a few isolated observations. In many cases, by thus expressing the orography of a range, the key to its geological structure is supplied. The maps of this Survey have been justly regarded as among the finest specimens of cartography ever published in this or any other country. AFRICAN EXPLORATION.-Dr. Rohlf's expedition to Wadai left Bengasi on the Fourth of July, last, for the Kufara oasis. The oasis of Djalo and Aujila were found to be ninety-eight and sixty feet respectively above the sea level. Heretofore they have been thought to be below it. At Kufara the party were attacked and plundered and obliged to return to Bengasi.- -Dr. Oscar Lenz, well known for his explorations on the Ogoowé, has been sent by the German African Society to Morocco where he intends to cross the Atlas and investigate the geology and natural history of the southern districts. The Society also intends sending young travelers to this country, where they can get accustomed to Mohammedan life and become better fitted for longer journeys in Central Africa. The Academy states that Mr. Donald Mackenzie has returned to England from Cape Juby, in North-western Africa, where, during his stay, many people came to enqui “e about trading and stated that there were numerous animals of all kinds in the interior, and the country was very fertile. Mean |