10 The hish Naturalist. January, 



of which bear very remotely upon Ireland. The question of 

 the necessity of reprinting lengthy extracts from works easily 

 accessible must be left to the publishing board of the Royal 

 Irish Academ3^ Nor can we regard the extracts as critically 

 chosen, when we consider the extreme difficulty of securing 

 accurate evidence as to submerged towns or forests. Two 

 pages are, for instance, occupied by quotations from Prof. 

 Rhys, whose *' Celtic Folklore " is scarcely a first-hand geo- 

 logical authorit}^ Some references (as on p. 139) are given in 

 order to show that they do not bear upon the subject, which 

 is carrying conscientiousness somewhat far. Again, after 

 sixty-one pages of extracts from the Memoirs of the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland, we read that ** in one of them alone is the 

 waste of the coast of Ireland specifically alluded to and dealt 

 with." This will fill the most patient reader with irritation. 

 We should have welcomed a full bibliography, and a sifting 

 of the evidence by one so experienced as the author. In 

 place of this, we are treated like the man who met a philo- 

 sopher in the forest. " Bear for me this burden of sticks," 

 said the philosopher, " and we will seek the light at the 

 ending of the da5^" The man lifted the burden, and carried 

 it to a spot whence he could at length discern the sk)^ Then 

 said the philosopher, who was withal a genial and kindly 

 man, " Lo ! thou seest this great burden, and the many 

 sticks that are therein ; of a truth, hadst thou taken but one 

 of them, it would have brought thee sooner to the goal." 



PROGRKSS OF THK GKOr.OGlCAI, SURVKY OF IRKI.AND. 



The "Summary of Progress of the Geological Survey of 

 the United Kingdom for 1901 " was issued about October, 

 1902, and contains, as usual, a large number of new contribu- 

 tions to geological knowledge. When we read the chemical 

 researches on " South Wales coals," the observations on 

 recent railway-cuttings in England, and the very modern 

 petrographic descriptions of rocks from the Scottish High- 

 lands, we must sincerely regret the policy which has led to 

 the abandonment of all such work by the Survey staff in 

 Ireland. That staff, however, under the direction of Mr. G. 



