1-28, Trenton, N. J. 1894.-The following papers are included: Administrative Report by T. C. Smock, State Geologist, pp. 1-32; Part I, Surface Geology, report progress by R. D. Salisbury, pp. 33-328 (including Section VI, a chapter on Lake Passaic, an extinct glacial lake, by R. D. Salisbury and Henry B. Kümmel, pp. 225-328); Part II, Cretaceous and Tertiary Geology, Report of Progress by Wm. B. Clark, pp. 329-356; Part III, Report on Archaean Geology by J. E. Wolff, pp. 357370; Part IV, Water Supply and Water Power by C. C. Vermeule, pp. 371-386; Part V, Artesian Wells in Southern New Jersey by Lewis Woolman, pp. 387-422; Part VI, Minerals of New Jersey with notes on mineral localities, pp. 423–444. H. S. W. 5. Geological Survey of Iowa. Vol. III. 2d Ann. Report, 1893, with accompanying papers. Des Moines, 1895.-In addition to the ordinary administrative reports this volume contains a bundle of separate papers by members of the survey staff, viz: Work and Scope of the Geological Survey, by C. R. Keyes; Cretaceous Deposits of the Sioux Valley, by H. F. Bain; Certain Devonian and Carboniferous outliers in Eastern Iowa, by Wm. H. Norton; Geological Section along Middle River in Central Iowa, by J. L. Tilton; Glacial Scorings in Iowa, by Chas. R. Keyes; Thickness of the Paleozoic Strata of Northeastern Iowa, by Wm. T. Norton; Composition and Origin of Iowa Chalk, by Samuel Calvin; Buried River Channels in Southeastern Iowa, by C. H. Gordon; Gypsum Deposits of Iowa, Geology of Lee County, and Geology of Des Moines County, by Chas. R. Keyes. The volume is illustrated by 37 plates and 34 smaller figures, many of them fine reproductions of photographic views, illustrating the character of outcrops of particular geological formations, and presenting a vivid representation of the geology of the country described. H. S. W. 6. Ueber devonische Pflanzen aus dem Donetz-Becken; J. Schmalhausen. Mém. Comitégéologique, St. Petersburg, vol. viii, No. 3, 1894, pp. 1-36, pl. i, ii, (Russian and German.)-The interesting collection which forms the basis of this brief memoir by the late Dr. SCHMALHAUSEN was obtained from Karakuba in the Donetz basin, at the horizon of the Productus fallax, Rhynchonella aff. Stephani, R. multicostata, and R. Domgeri, published by Tschernyschew in 1885. The Devonian age indicated by the above named invertebrates is fully demonstrated by the plants, although, as frequently happens in Devonian rocks, the flora is rich in individuals but relatively poor in species. Six species are described, all of which are new. Archæopteris archetypus, compared by the author with A. Gaspiensis Dn. and A. hibernica (Forbes) Lx., exhibits a great range in the forms of the pinnules and is especially characterized by the arrangement of the sporangia in a row on either side of the reduced lower portion of the lamina of the pinnule, the terminal portion of the pinnule being fringed out. Each spore case has its distinct pedicel. Archaeopteris fissilis, compared by the author to Sphenopteris petiolata Goepp., is allied to the A. sphenophylloides and A. macilenta published without illustration by Lesquereux. The fructification of this species described by Schmalhausen with considerable detail, resembles that of A. minor Lx. and others, but the sporangia are few. Being unable to find satisfactory family connections between the genus Archeopteris and any other living or fossil type of ferns, the author proposes the group Archæopterida. It is not unlikely that the spiral arrangement of the leaves in the Russian species noted by Schmalhausen is also indicated in our American species of Archeopteris by the alternation of pinnules with pinne in the ramification. The Karakuba flora is remarkable in having more fertile than sterile species. On certain clavate or bivalvate "capsules strongly resembling the fruit of Sphenopteris Harveyi Lx. or Zeilleria, the author founds the new genus Dimeripteris. D. grac ilis and D. fasciculata are compared by Schmalhausen with Sphenopteris Hitchcockiana Dn. and S. condrusorum Gilk. The first is very suggestive of the fertile S. Harveyi of the Pottsville series in this country, while the other reminds one at first glance of the fruit of Calymmatotheca bifida (L. and H.) Kidst. from the Calciferous sandstone series of Scotland. The author compares his Lepidodendron Karakubense with L. Gaspianum Dn. and L. nothum Ung. The flora as a whole is considered as indicating an Upper Devonian age. D. W. 7. Contributions a l'Etude des Feldspaths des Roches Volcaniques par F. FOUQUE. 8vo, pp. 336. Paris (Imprimerie Chaix) 1894. This excellent work is another token of the manner in which the demands of petrography have in recent years stimulated research in mineralogy along certain lines. Along with the work of MICHEL LEVY, FEDEROV, and BECKE, the petrographer has now placed at his disposal a variety of means by which the problem of the determination of the feldspars by optical methods can be successfully attacked. The volume under consideration is divided into four parts. In the first the author points out the methods by which the determination of the feldspars, especially the plagioclase group in thin sections, may be resolved. His method is chiefly by the measurement of the angle of extinction with the edge of c(001) on b(010) in sections perpendicular to bisectrices; in the second part are given the facts obtained from a chemical, optical and crystallographic study of a large number of species, on which the process is based. In the third portion is presented the petrographic study of a large number of volcanic rocks chiefly from the Haute Auvergne which furnish examples of the author's methods and contain moreover many facts of petrographic interest. The last portion contains a general discussion of the nature of the soda-lime feldspars with respect to their chemical constitution. The author does not view this group as a case of isomorphism with all possible mixtures of the albite and anorthite molecules, but from the frequency of certain extinction-angles and other facts believes that a certain number of definite mineral species of intermediate nature exist between the extremes. They thus constitute in fact a "morphotropic" series, whose gradation of properties would lead to the same practical results as the views now generally held but which would be more in accord with chemical principles. L. V. P. 8. Analcite Diabase from San Luis, Obispo Co., Cal.; by H. W. FAIRBANKS. Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. of Cal., vol. i, No. 9, pp. 273-300, Pls. 15-16. Berkeley, Cal., 1895.-This is a careful study both in the field and laboratory of a number of peculiar basic dike rocks, which are allied to teschenites. They contain augite with a peculiar parting, a soda-lime feldspar and a considerable proportion of analcite which occurs crystallized and lining cavities in the rock, filling angular spaces between other components, replacing feldspar and in hexagons. The occurrence of the analcite is studied and discussed and the conclusion is drawn that it is secondary, replacing nephelite which was pri marily present. L. V. P. 9. Gold in Serpentine; by H. W. TURNER (Communicated). -In an article by the writer in the May number of this Journal, it is stated that quartz veins are rare in the serpentine areas of the Sierra Nevada. Mr. W. Lindgren in a valuable paper on "Characteristic Features of the California Gold-Quartz Veins"* speaks of the occurrence of quartz veins in serpentine as an ordinary phenomenon, and as Mr. Lindgren and the writer are both working in the same mountain range, it would appear as if there were an error in one of the above papers. The writer therefore desires to state that the occurrence of quartz veins along narrow serpentine dikes, or cutting small bodies of serpentine, is not uncommon. Mr. Lindgren has made a careful study of the gold mines in the neighborhood of Nevada City, Cala., and he has there found several quartz veins entirely in serpentine, but these are in comparatively small masses of that rock which moreover contain lenses of sedimentary material and are therefore of a more or less complex character. It was the intention of the writer rather to indicate that quartz-filled fissures formed with difficulty where the country rock is purely serpentine, and in this statement Mr. Lindgren concurs. The writer's observations in the paper in the May number of the Journal moreover refer only to that portion of the range which he has particularly studied. 10. Brief Notices of some recently described Minerals.-LORANDITE. This is a mineral of rare interest since it is the second known native compound of thallium. A preliminary description has been giving by Krenner. It occurs in tabular or short prismatic crystals belonging to the monoclinic system. The color is cochineal-red to kermes-red color; it is transparent and is flexible like gypsum, and has three cleavages parallel to planes in the orthodome zone. An analysis by Loczka is given below (1) and * Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. vi, pp. 221-240. also the percentage composition (2) calculated from the formula TIASS. The locality is Allchar in Macedonia where it occurs implanted upon realgar.-Math. Nat. Ber. Ungarn, xii, 1895. KYLINDRITE. A new lead mineral from the Mina Santa Cruz at Poopó, Bolivia. It occurs in cylindrical forms and in capillary crystals. The luster is metallic; color blackish lead-gray; hardness 2.5 to 3; specific gravity 5:42. An analysis gave the results below (1) which are compared (2) with the percentage composition for the formula Pb Sb,Sn S2. 1. 24.50 26.37 8.73 35.41 0.62 3.00 98.63 = 100. The description is given by Frenzel in Jahrb. Min., ii, 125, 1893. ANDORITE. A new silver ore described by Krenner from Felsöbánya. It occurs in short prismatic crystals belonging to the orthorhombic system; luster metallic; color dark lead-gray or steel-gray to black. An analysis by Loczka is given below (1) and also the percentage composite in (2) required by the formulá AgPbSb,S.. Sb Pb Ag Cu Fe(Zn, Mn) insol. S 1. 23.32 41.91 22.07 11:31 2. 22.14 41.52 23.88 12.46 0.69 0.70 0.04 100.04 = 100° It is named for Andor von Semsey.-Zeitschr. Kryst., xxiii, 497. MAGNETOSTIBIAN. A supposed new mineral from the Sjögrufva, Wermland, Sweden. It resembles magnetite in external appearance, and occurs in feebly magnetic grains imbedded in crystalline limestone. An analysis was made of material consisting largely of impurities (68.6 p. c.); after deducting these the results given below were obtained: Described by Igelström in Zeitschr. Kryst., xxiii, 212. HYDROCALCITE. Fine crystalline needles with strong double refraction, observed in a mountain milk from a cave near Wolmsdorf, Silesia, have received this name; the author, K. Kosmann, assigns to them the composition CaCO,+2H,O.-Zeitschr. Kryst., xxiv, 196. STIBIOTANTALITE. A name given by G. A. Goyder to a partially examined substance occurring in the tin-bearing sands of Greenbush, West Australia, and containing Ta,O, 51-13, Nb,O, 7.56, Sb,O, 40.23.-Ibid., p. 205. AM. JOUR. SCI.-THIRD SERIES, VOL. XLIX, No 294-JUNE, 1895. XIPHONITE. A name given by Dr. Gaetano Platania to a variety of amphibole occurring with hematite in cavities in a scoriaceous mass (from Mt. Etna) at Acicatena, Sicily. It is found in minute prismatic crystals of a honey-yellow color. The occurring planes are those of ordinary amphibole and the angles given do not vary very widely considering the striated character of some of the faces; the angle ac (= B) was found to be 73° 10′. No analysis is given, so that the grounds for regarding this as a distinct variety worthy of a name are not clear. The name is from Xiphonia, an ancient Greek city in Sicily.-Accad. Sci. Acireale, vol. v, 1893. KAUAIITE. A basic sulphate of aluminum, potassium and sodium described by GOLDSMITH from a specimen collected in 1893 in the island of Kauai by Professors Sharp and Libbey. It appears as a soft, amorphous chalk-like mass, for which the specific gravity 2.566 was obtained. An analysis yielded : The paper is accompanied by a plate giving an admirable view, reproduced from a photograph, of a lava cavern with multitudes of pendant stalactites. The statements of the author require revision in several particulars, especially as regards the locality. This is stated to be the crater of Kilauea ("Kilauii"); we learn from Professor Libbey, however, that the cavern is, on the contrary, situated in the lava stream near Hilo, the same spot which afforded the specimens more fully described in 1889 in this Journal (vol. xxxvii, 441) where drawings of the stalactites are given. The method of formation of the stalactites suggested on the assumption of their occurrence in the Kilauea crater has evidently no basis in fact.-Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, p. 105, 1894. 11. Elements of Mineralogy, Crystallography and Blowpipe Analysis from a practical standpoint by ALBERT J. MOSES and CHARLES LATHROP PARSONS, 342 pp. 8vo, New York, 1895. (D. Van Nostrand Company.)-This volume, as stated on the title page, is written from a practical standpoint and includes "a description of all common or useful minerals, the tests necessary for their identification, the recognition and measurement of their crystals and a concise statement of their uses in the arts." The work is on the whole well carried out on these lines; it closes with a series of determination tables. |