1897] NOTES AND COMMENTS 77 



be no more birds to destroy. Nor can we overlook the terrible 

 suffering involved by this enormous slaughter : the young osprey 

 bereft of its parents left to die in hundreds, the heron with the 

 plumes torn from its back^ writhing into death. But Frou-frou 

 cares for these things no more than she does for the squalor of East- 

 end sweating-dens. Dear delightful doll that she is, she actually 

 attends a meeting of the Selborne Society with aigrettes in her 

 bonnet. 



What can we do ? Frou-frou does not read Natural Science. 

 But at all events each of our many thousand readers must enjoy the 

 acquaintance of many ladies. He can at least use his influence in a 

 quiet way in the home-circle, if not beyond it. If each of us will 

 make sure of a few facts, and keep pegging away, perhaps we may 

 even make converts, and so widen the small circle of our influence. 



National Geology 



The annual report of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom 

 for 1896 reaches us in its handy separate form, and each year's issue 

 contains a wealth of information about our islands. Sir A. Geikie's 

 far-seeing policy of attaching to the Survey men already qualified 

 by original research must tend to increase still further the scientific 

 character of its publications. Though the results may never appear 

 in so handsome and truly national a form as do those of the United 

 States, yet this annual summary shows strikingly the character of 

 the work in hand. Teachers can now, for the sum of sixpence, keep 

 abreast of the advances made by the Survey in England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland ; and, as all practical workers know, these advances 

 often concern even the broader boundaries on the map. The 

 classification of results in this year's report under the several 

 geological systems makes reference easy through its hundred 

 closely-printed pages. We would especially direct attention to 

 the progress of knowledge with regard to the pre-Cambrian and 

 older Palaeozoic groups. The occurrence of widely-spread diabasic 

 lavas with 'pillow-structure' (p. 37), and of two abnormal short- 

 lived volcanoes in Eaasay (p. 74), may be cited as among the 

 interesting igneous problems dealt with. One of the most im- 

 portant stratigraphical questions is the relation of the ' Upper 

 Greensand ' to the Upper Gault, referred to on p. 72. 



It is obviously impossible to continually re-edit the engraved 

 maps of the Survey so as to embody current progress. If our 

 Parliamentary legislators, however", were more frequently trained 

 in scientific schools, they would find much to be proud of in 

 these annual reports, and would congratulate the State and them- 



