book, the author has availed himself of the criticisms of other naturalists, and thus made a considerable number of changes in the stereotype plates. Several of the figures, notably that illustrating the anatomy of the cat, have been changed, and one of the opossum and its marsupial bone added. Other changes have been made in order to bring the book up to the present state of the science.

DAUBREE'S CHEMICAL GEOLOGY.-This grand work may be regarded as a revised collected edition of the former smaller papers of M. Daubrée on experimental geology. It may be regarded as the great work of M. Daubrée's most laborious and successful scientific life, and on it he may safely rest his fame.

The first section of the work deals with chemical and physical phenomena-metalliferous deposits, nature of metamorphism, the effect of heated waters, formation of zeolites, amygdaloids, rocks both eruptive and metamorphic, and volcanic action.

The second section treats of mechanical phenomena, and applies the rigid experimental method of trituration and transportation of sediments, and chemical decompositions by mechanical forces; the distribution of gold in the bed of the Rhine is also discussed. The first chapter contains an account of the experiments on the striation of rocks. The marks or striæ are produced or imitated by rubbing pebbles together. The second chapter treats of the deformations which the earth's crust has been subjected to in former ways. Sir James Hall's experiments were of a similar character. The remarkable examples of reversed folds, as shown in the Alpine regions, are imitated and explained. The discussion of the nature and causes of faults, joints and all kinds of fractures in sedimentary rocks will be read by the geologist with peculiar interest. The account of the experiments on the heat developed by the crushing, grinding and mutual frictions of rocks are important; it is believed that sufficient heat may be generated in this way to produce metamorphism.

The second part treats altogether of cosmic bodies. Three hundred and fifty pages are devoted to the experimental study of the structure and genesis of meteorites and the accompanying minerals. The entire volume is well illustrated, and as a specimen of typography may be regarded as a model of clearness and beauty.-F. V. H.

HERTWIG'S CHETOGNATH WORMS-A careful elaboration of the morphology and development of the Sagitta, the type of the Chaetognathi, that singular type of worms, so aberrant that it has

1 Etudes Synthetiques de Geologie Experimentale. Par A. Daubrée. Premiere partie-Application de la méthode experimentale a l'etude de divers phenoménes geol. ogiques. Deuxieme partie—Application de la méthode experimentale a l'etude de divers phenoménes cosmologiques. Large 8vo, 828 pages.

2 Die Chatognathen. Ihre Anatomie, Systematik und Entwicklungeschichte. Eine Monographie. Von Dr. OSCAR HERTWIG. Mit 6 Tafeln. Jena, 1880. 8vo, pp. 112.

by different authors been regarded as a vertebrate, a mollusk, as well as a crustacean, has been greatly needed. Dr. Oscar Hertwig is so excellent a histologist and anatomist, that we may feel sure that this investigation has been made with the same exactitude which has characterized his previous labors on the lower animals. Our knowledge of Sagitta had already been greatly extended by the researches of Krohn and Kowalevsky, and owing to the results reached by them, no one now doubts but that Sagitta is a worm (Vermes), though its place among the classes of Vermes is uncertain. Hertwig concludes that it agrees best with the Nematodes and Annelides.

WADSWORTH'S GEOLOGICAL PAPERS.-These papers by Prof. Wadsworth are, like all the preceding writings of this author, of the most thorough character. He has made the microscop.c study of igneous and metamorphic rocks a special study for several years, and by his thoroughness has elevated this department of geology very nearly to an exact science. The first paper, on the geology of Lake Superior, is the most important one, and contains six effective octavo plates, showing the relations of the different kinds of rocks to each other; the dykes, bands of iron ores, jasper veins, felsites, diorites are clearly shown in their relations to each other in the rock masses. Mr. Wadsworth has not relied on the microscope alone, but has given many important chemical analyses of minerals. The historical account of the explorations of others in that region, with the bibliography at the end of the memoirs, is very valuable. We wish we could quote largely from these papers, but space will not permit.— F. V. H.

PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE FRENCH EXPEDITION TO OBSERVE THE TRANSIT OF VENUS.2-These beautiful volumes are a portion of the results of the French Expedition to observe the Transit of Venus. The first part deals with the physical results of the expedition, printed in fine clear type with eighteen excellent plates, a portion of them photographic. The 'Notes on the Geology of the Iron and Copper Districts of Lake Superior. By M. E. Wadsworth. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College, Whole Series, Vol. VII. (Geological Series, Vol. 1). pp. 157, with 6 plates. On the Elongation and Plasticity of Pebbles in Conglomerates. By M. E. WADSWORTH. (From the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. xx, Nov. 5, 1879.)

Danalite from the Iron Mine, Bartlett. New Hampshire. By M. E. WADSWORTH. Picrolite from a Serpentine Quarry in Florida, Mass. By M. E. WADSWORTH. 2 Mission de l'Isle Saint-Paul Observations Astronomiques, operations photographiques, observations magnetiques et hydrographie. Institut de France. Academie des Sciences. Recueil de memoires a l'observation du passage de Vénus sur le Soleil. (Extrait du tome II, Ist partie.) 425 pp., 4to, 18 plates and maps.

Recherches Geologiques faites, a Aden, a la Reunion, aux Isles Saint Paul et Amsterdam, aux Seychelles. Par M. CH. VELAIN, Maitre de conferences a la Sorbonne. 460 pp., 4to, 25 plates and maps. (Extrait du tome II, 2d partie.) Paris, 1879.

engravings are good, showing with great detail the surface features of the island, pictorially and topographically. But to the naturalist and geologist, the second part, by M. Velain, is of greater interest. This volume is illustrated with twenty-seven quarto plates, eight of which are by the photoglyptic process, and are microscopic studies of the volcanic rocks. The island itself is of volcanic origin, and entirely composed of igneous rocks. This volume is a most elaborate monograph of the mineralogical and structural history of the island, by means of sections and colored maps, and it certainly is a model of careful study and bookmaking. Many actual volcanoes are shown to exist on the island, in operation at the present time. The publication of these important volumes is very creditable to the Government of France as well as to the authors.

M. Velain has recently published a small brochure of great interest in Bulletin No. 7 of the Mineralogical Society of France, on the microscopic study of the glass or slag resulting from the fusion of the ashes of grasses. It is illustrated with an excellent octavo plate showing the production, artificially, of the crystals of tridymite, anortheite, wollastonite and augite.-F. V. H.

SIGSBEE'S DEEP SEA SOUNDING AND DREDGING.-It is greatly to the credit of American science and to our government, that it has taken so prominent a part in deep sea explorations. This is due largely to the labors and energy of the lamented Count Pourtales, who was a distinguished physical geographer and for a long time an assistant in the U. S. Coast Survey. He was the first to show that the warmer waters of the tropics, notably the Floridan seas, with their profusion of tropical life, were underlaid by a colder bottom stratum of water with a nearly equal profusion of what was hitherto supposed to be purely Arctic life. The Norwegian marine zoölogists had previously demonstrated the existence of a deep-sea fauna off the coast of Norway, and the Swedish naturalist, Lovén, had suggested that this deep sea fauna was widespread over the ocean bottom, but Pourtales demonstrated it, and the subsequent deep sea explorations of the English Navy, especially the Challenger Expedition, carried out and extended Pourtales' discoveries.

Pourtales was aided and advised by his friend Agassiz, and the work of exploration of the ocean bottom under the Gulf Stream off the Floridan peninsula, and in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as off the southern coast of the United States, has of late years been extended by the officers of the U. S. Coast Survey, Mr. Alexander Agassiz being the naturalist of the recent expeditions. The Coast Survey has now a beautiful steamer, the Blake, of 350 tons,

1 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. CARLISLE P. PATTERSON, Superintendent. Deep sea Sounding and Dredging. A description and discussion of the methods and appliances used on board the Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer Blake. By CHARLES D. Šigsbee, U.S.N. Washington, D. C., 1880. 4to, pp. 192.

built and equipped for the work of deep sea sounding and dredging. The successive officers, Commanders Howell, Sigsbee and Bartlett, especially Commander Sigsbee, have devised the most elaborate and effective machinery for this difficult work, and the present elegant volume gives in great detail the methods. and instruments for studying the physics of the sea and for investigating the life of the ocean from the surface to the bottom, even to the abyssal depths; subjects bearing intimately on the physics, geology and biology of the globe. The Superintendent of the Coast Survey, after giving in a prefatory note the history of these undertakings, refers with pride to the fact that in the small steamer Blake, of only 350 tons burthen, n. m., under the energetic and skillful commands of Lieut. Com. Sigsbee and Com. Bartlett, with a full complement of forty-five, including officers and crew, more rapid work was done than had been accomplished with the old methods and appliances by the Challenger, a vessel of over 2000 tons burthen, with a complement of twenty-nine naval and civil officers and a correspondingly large crew."

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.-History of North American Pinnipeds. By Joel A. Allen. (Dep. Int., U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., Misc. Pub. No. 12). pp. 785. Washington, 1880. From the author.

Annual Report of the National Academy of Sciences. pp. 22. Washington, 1880. From the academy.

Description of Four New Species and a new variety of Silurian Fossils and Remarks on others. By S. A. Miller. (From Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. Oct. 1880.) pp. 5, I plate. From the author.

The Devonian Insects of New Brunswick. By Samuel H. Scudder. (From Anniv. Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.) 4to, pp. 41, I plate. Boston, 1880. From the author.

Etude sur la Faune Ichthyologique de l'Ogooue par M. H. E. Sauvage. (From Nouv. Archiv. du Museum, deuxieme série. Paris, 1880.) 4to, pp. 55, 3 plates. From the author.

Notice sur les Travaux Scientifiques de Belgrand par M. A. Delaire. 8vo, pp. 20. Paris, 1880. From the author.

Zoologie in Beziehung zur Anthropologie mit Einschluss der tertiären Säugethiere. Von Dr. W. Branco. (From Archiv, für Anthrop., for 1879 and 1880.) 4to, 1880. From the author.

Centralblatt für das gesammte Forstwesen. Heft. 5. May, 1880. 8vo, pp. 6. From the editor.

Vorläufige Mittheilung über die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Petromyzonten. Von Dr. W. B. Scott. (Ext. from Zool. Anzeiger, 1880, No. 63 u 64.) 8vo, pp. 7. From the author.

Untersuchungen über die Organization von Cycloclypeus ucarp. und Orbitoides D'Orb. Von. Dr. K. Martin. pp. 24, 2 plates. 1880. From the author.

Untersuchungen über die Organization von Astylospongia Ferd. Roem., und Bemerkungen über die Natur der Wallsteine, Meyer. Von. Dr. K. Martin, Wismar. (Aus dem Archiv. des Ver. der Freunde der Naturg. in Mecklenburg Jahrg. 31.) 8vo, pp. 32, 1 plate. Neubrandenburg, 1877. From the author.

Ichthyologische Beiträge (tx.) Von. Dr. Franz Steindachner. 1. Uber eine Sammlung von Flussfischen von Tohizona auf Madagascar. II. Uber zwei neue Agonus-arten aus Californien. III. Uber einige Fischarten aus dem nördlichen Japan, gesammelt vom Prof. Dybowski. (Aus dem LXXXII Bande der Sitzb, der k.

Akad. der Wissensch. 1. Abth. Juli-Heft. Jahrg. 1880.) pp. 29, the author.

plates. From

Topographical and Geological Atlas of the district of the High Plateau of Utah, to accompany Report of Capt. C. E. Dutton. (Dep. Int. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Rocky Mountain Region.) Atlas, 8 sheets. New York, 1879. From the survey. Contributions to the anatomy of the genus Pentremites, with description of new species. By Dr. G. Hambach. (From Trans. St. Louis Acad. of Sciences). 8vo, pp. 16, 2 plates. From the author.

Etude Stratigraphique et Paléontologique des Terrains Jurassiques du Portugal par Paul Choffat. 4to, pp. 12, 72. Première Livraison. Lisbon, 1880. From the author.

Mémoire sur les Poissons Fossiles des lignites de Sieblos. T. C. Winkler, pp. 24, 2 plates.

Description de Quelque Restes de Poissons Fossiles des terrains triassiques des environs de Wirzbourg. T. C. Winkler, pp. 41, plate, 5.

Tome 2.

4t2, pp. 57, 3 plates. From

Note sur Quelques Dents de Poissons Fossiles de l'oligocene inférieur et moyen du Limbourg. Par T. C.Winkler. pp. 12. (Three Extracts of the Archives de Musée Teyler, Vol. v, Livr. 2). Harlem, 1880. From the author. Anales del Museo Nacional de México. the museum. Spolia Atlantica. Bidrag til Kundskab om Formforandringer hos Fiske under deres Væxt og Udvikling særligt hos nogle af Atlanterhavets Hisfiske af Dr. Chr. Lütken. (Ext. Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. 5. Række, natur. og math. Asd. x11, 6). 4to, pp. 198, 5 plates. Copenhagen, 1880. From the author.

THE BOTANY OF A CITY SQUARE.-Manhattan Square, in New York city, comprises a desolate and broken area of eighteen acres on the west side of Central Park, at Seventy-seventh street and Eighth avenue. It presented, a year ago, the appearance of a basin with an irregular marginal shelf of higher ground and with a ridge of gneissoid rocks running in from its south-eastern corner, upon whose summit stood the American Museum of Natural History. It was otherwise varied by artificial mounds formed of huge gneiss blocks split and blasted off from the original hill which rose up where the museum now stands, and its sides, in many places presented steep banks formed from similar fragments confusedly heaped up in precipitous and jagged piles. The lowest part of this ground was covered by a stagnant pond whose periodical putrescence became both offensive and dangerous. With the bare shoulders of rock protruding in naked bosses here and there, the general aspect of the square was particularly forlorn and unfortunate. The complaint of the health officers in conjunction with a revival of the original intentions to make this spot an appropriate outlier of Central Park, both healthy and attractive, resulted in some municipal efforts to secure these ends. Earth was carted in, the sightless slopes of stone were covered over, the pond filled up, the bare tables of rock hidden, and an attempt made to change the abrupt and angular outlines into 1 Edited by PROF. C. E. BESSEY, Ames, Iowa.