586 



NATURE. 



[JUNiP 29, 191 1 



THE SCOTTISH SUKl'EY MEMOIRS.' 



THESE three memoirs mark an important change 

 in the publications of the Scottish Geological 

 Survey. The maps are now colour printed instead of 

 bein^' hand-coloured. This is an improvement for 

 which all Scotch geologists will be profoundly grate- 

 ful. The cost of the hand-coloured maps at their 

 present outrageous prices is prohibitive to most pri- 

 vate students. The solid and drift editions of the 

 Blair AthoU sheet, for example, cost 2/. ys. 6d., and 

 these precious maps may be ruined by a single day's 

 use in the field in wet weather. Moreover, however 

 carefully these hand-coloured maps may be revised 

 thev are always liable to suspicion, and occasional 

 errors and omissions are inevitable. The colour- 

 printed maps are in every respect a great improvement. 



A useful innovation on two of the new maps is a 

 series of vertical and transverse geological sections, 

 which add greatly to their usefulness. One disadvan- 

 tage of the Scottish maps compared with the new 

 English series is their unwieldy size; they measun 

 about two feet by two feet five inches, which is incon- 

 veniently large. This, however, is a detail which 

 any purchaser of a map can remedy for himself, and 

 will not detract from the congratulations of Scotch 

 geolof^ists to the ofTicials of the Survey on havinjf 

 secured the boon of colour printing. 



The three memoirs deal with two very different 

 branches of Scottish geology. Sheet No. 71 com- 

 prises the districts around the Sleat of Skye. To 

 the west it includes the eastern part of the Cainozoic 

 volcanic series of Skye, with the gabbros of Blaven 



Fig. I. — Intrusive Sheet of Teschenite, with Upper Old Red Sandstone in the Foreground, Sahsliury Craigs, .Arthur a Scat, Edinburgh. 



From "The Geology of the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh." 



They are cheap, the colours are clear and fixed, and 

 the geologist is no longer perplexed bv patches which 

 are uncoloured or of which the colour is doubtful. 



1 The Geology of Glenelg, Lochalsh .^nd South East part of Skye. (Ex- 

 planation of one-inch map 71.) By Dr. B. N. Peach, F.R.S., and others. 

 With contributions by G. Barrow and others. Pp. x + 206 and map. Price 

 3J. 6a. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland. 



The Geology of the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh. (Sheet 32, with 

 part of 3t.) By Dr. B. N. Peach, F.R.S., and others. Contributions by 

 Dr. J. Home, t.R.S. and others, and Petrological Chapters by Dr. J. S. 



n^l' Second edition. Pp. xii + 445-i-xii plates and map. Price 7^. 6a'. 

 T,-i- u ^^°'°Sy of East Lothian, including parts of the Counties of 

 t-dinburgh and Berwick. (Explanation of sheet n^, with parts of 34 and 

 XI;), i^econd edition. Revised and re-written by C. T. Clough and others. 

 \V ith contributions on the Silurian Tableland by Dr. B. N. Peach. F R.S , 

 fS^.^J- J; Home, F.R.S. Pp. x-|-266 + xii plates and map. Price as. 6d. 

 (Edinburgh: W. and A. K. Johnston, Ltd.; London: H.M. Stationery 

 Office, Edward Stanford, and T. Fisher Unwin ; Dublin : Hodees, Figgis 

 and Co., 1910.) 



NO. 2174, VOL. 86] 



and the granophyre of Lord Macdonald's Forest; the 

 eastern part of the sheet is occupied by the Archaean 

 rocks, while a strip of Torridon sandstone with the 

 southern end of the great thrust-planes of north- 

 western Scotland traverse the middle of the map. 

 The memoir on this district has been awaited with 

 much interest, for many of the problems with which 

 it deals are of wide importance. The area includes 

 the well-known Archiean limestones to the east of 

 Glenelg ; it shows exceptionally well the relations 

 between the Moine and Lewisian gneisses, and north 

 of Glenelg Bay there is an interesting contact between 

 the Torridon sandstone and the Moine gneiss. 



The memoir marks one very important advance in 

 the history of the Scottish .Xrchaean geology. It has 



