116 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Dec. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



A List of Canadian Mineral Occurences. By R. A. A. 

 Johnston, Ottawa, 1915, Geological Survey of Canada. 



In view of the great advance of. the mineral industry of 

 Canada in recent years, a complete list of its minerals and their 

 localities has been much desired. Such a list now appears 

 among the publications of the Geological Survey, and the com- 

 piler, Mr. R. A. A. Johnston, mineralogist of the Geological 

 Survey, is to be congratulated upon the thoroughness of the 

 work. 



As is usual in such lists, the work is divided into two parts, 

 the first of which discusses the minerals and indicates the local- 

 ities where each mineral is found, while the second part con- 

 tains a list of localities and indicates the minerals to be found 

 in each placs. 



In view of the rapid development of the country involving 

 changes in the boundaries of districts, it was hardly to be ex- 

 pected that the mineral occurrences should always be listed 

 under the districts as they exist to-day. This difficulty is illus- 

 trated by the District of Nipissing, which in recent years has 

 been sub-divided so that portions of the original district are 

 now contained in four districts. In a few instances Mr. John- 

 ston has failed to make the necessary readjustments, particu- 

 larly in regard to Algom.a and Kenora districts. There are 

 som& errors as to the chemical composition of minerals, as illus- 

 trated by breithauptite, which is an antimonide of nickel rather 

 than of iron. 



Unfortunately the localities recorded by Dr. J. J. Bigsby 

 and by Dr. Samuel Robinson have been largely ignored, though 

 some of Bigsby's localities are mentioned. In some cases proper 

 references are given, while in others this has not been done. 

 In the case of beryl from Rainy Lake, the reference is to a Geo- 

 logical Survey Report, but in that publication Dr. Bigsby is 

 given credit for the locality. Interesting omissions are the 

 staurolite on La Croix or Namaycan River, the jasper on Gun- 

 flint Lake, celestite from Lake Simcoe, and selenite from Mani- 

 toulin Island, which were mentioned by Dr. Bigsby (American 

 Journal of Science, vol. 8, p. 60 et seq.) 



In spite of these minor defects, this book is of a character 

 in press work, plan and contents to take its place besides such 

 noted works as Robinson's American Mineral Localities and 



-■~--mt'£— 



T. L. Walker. 





