;48 



NATURE 



[November 26, 1914 



the Sarmatian of Europe, and the Middle Siwaliks 

 from the base of the Pontian to what is here taken 

 as Lower PHocene — that is, Placentian. The Siwalik 

 system ends as "Uppermost Pliocene." The Siwalik 

 system is 14,000 to 16,000 ft. in thickness. Another 

 philosophic paper is by G. De P. Cotter, on the value 

 of Nummulites as zone fossils (vol. xllv. , 1914, p. 52). 

 This includes a discussion of Hein's view that num- 

 mulites depend a good deal on lithological facies. The 

 author believes (p. 67) that the same uncertainty 

 occurs in dealing- with Orbitoides (including Ortho- 

 phragmlna and Lepidocyclina). 



Aerolites receive much attention in these recent 

 volumes. G. Cotter describes records in India since 

 1906 (vol. xlii., p. 265); J. C. Brown deals with the 

 fragments that came from a meteor seen to explode 

 at Banswal, near Dehra Dun, on January 18, 1913 

 (vol. xlill., p. 237); and W. A. K. Christie describes 

 "A Carbonaceous Aerolite from Rajputana," which fell 

 from a meteor at Chhabra, in Tonk, on January 22, 

 191 1, The carbon of this chondrltlc mass amounts to 

 27 per cent., and the stone Is surpassed in this respect 

 by that of Alais alone. The composition of the 

 carbonaceous matter is not graphitic, and is very un- 

 certain. 



Among the papers published separately as Memoirs 

 of the Geological Survey of India we may note Prof. C. 

 Diener's general description of "The Trias of the 

 Himalayas." The author (p. 55) draws the boundary 

 between Permian and Trias below the Otoceras beds 

 in the Himalayas, and between the Bellarophon Lime- 

 stone and the Lower Werfen beds in the Eastern Alps. 

 In correlating the strata, his survey extends through 

 the Malay Archipelago to the Pacific region. The 

 Mediterranean facies of the Trias is shown (p. 149) 

 not to extend into Afghanistan. "The northern 

 borderland of the Indian Triassic province corresponds 

 to the southern shore of the Angara continent (Suess) " 

 (p. 152). 



H. H. Hayden's "Geology of Northern Afghan- 

 istan " (vol. xxxix., part i), contains fine illustrations 

 of the crags and "bad lands" of a typically dry 

 country, dissected by seasonal rains. The highest 

 Carboniferous beds are of the Fusulina Limestone 

 type, and the Cenomanian transgression affects the 

 reerion. T. H. D. La Touche's memoir on the geology 

 of the northern Shan States of Burma (vol. xxxix., 

 part 2) should be studied in connection with J. Coggin 

 Brown's work on Yunnan, cited above. P. N. Datta 

 was associated with the author in the prolonged field 

 investigations. The ruby mines of Burma occur in 

 this region (pp. 34 and 371), and it is now suggested 

 that the gem-bearing limestone is a band of sedi- 

 mentary origin. The plsolltlc ferruginous clays 

 among the recent deposits (p. 322) are compared with 

 the laterite of India ; and the dams of calcareous tufa 

 in the streams, originating in calcium carbonate car- 

 ried down from limestone plateaus, are of interest for 

 comparison with those of Bosnia and Dalmatla 

 (p. 324). The glacial Talchir beds are traced into the 

 little-known state of Korea in the Central Provinces by 

 L. L. Fermor, in a memoir on the coal-resources of 

 the district (vol. xli., part 2); and J. Coggin Brown 

 reports on the Burma earthquakes of 1912 (vol. xlii., 

 part i). 



The folio memoirs issued under the title of 

 " Palaeontologia Indica " are continued by G. E. Pil- 

 grim's report (vol iv., Mem. 2) on the vertebrate 

 fauna of the Gaj series, the stratigraphlcal results of 

 which are utilised in the author's paper on the Siwalik 

 beds, mentioned above. Prof. A. C. Seward, of Cam- 

 bridge, describes " Lower Gondwana Plants from 

 Kashmir" (vol. iv., Mem. 3) Glossopteris indica pre- 

 vails, and the author throws doubt on the existence of 

 G. decipiens as an independent species. He also deals 



NO. 2352, VOL. 94] 



with " Mesozoic Plants from Afghanistan and Afghan- 

 Turklstan " (vol. iv., Mem. 4), which are beautifullv 

 illustrated by T. A. Brock. An interesting map on 

 p. 46 shows, with the aid of a table (p. 45), the wide 

 range of many Mesozoic species or of closely allied 

 forms. Coniopteris hymenophylloides, for example, 

 is found in Australia, Arctic Europe, Great Britain, 

 and generally throughout Asia. The highly specialised 

 molluscan fauna of the Spiti Shales is studied by Karl 

 Holdhaus (series xv., vol. iv., part ii., fasc. 4J, who 

 concludes (p. 398) that these Jurassic strata probably 

 belong to the upper part of the system. 



In the Records of the Mysore Geological Depart- 

 ment, vol. xi., issued in 1912, W. F. Smeeth (p. 49) 

 refers the laterites of the State to two series, one 

 modern, produced by the superficial decay of various 

 types of rock, and one older, the " great Mysore sheet," 

 originating in materials precipitated from the waters 

 of lakes, and afterwards laid dry and subjected to 

 laterislng conditions. On p. 56 Smeeth urges that 

 the so-called fundamental gneiss of Mysore is intrusive 

 in the Kolar schists, and that " Mysore may be re- 

 garded as a house in which the superstructure has 

 been underpinned and a new foundation substituted 

 for the original one." The intrusive nature of the 

 gneisses is further emphasised by P. S. Tyengar and 

 B. Jayaram in vol. xli. of the Records, issued in 19 14 

 (pp. 64 and 77). 



J. B. Scrivenor has Issued through the Government 

 Printing Office at Kuala Lumpur a paper on the 

 geology and mining industries of Ulu Pahang, in the 

 Malay States, a region traditionally supposed to 

 possess Immense mineral wealth. After three years' 

 investigation, the author found but little tin-ore, and 

 he concludes that the old workings for gold were 

 made by persons as economical in their habits as those 

 who carry on the work in the very poor alluvial 

 ground to-day (p. 12). He directs attention (p. 2,2) to 

 the soils of the andesitic Pahang series as likelv to 

 furnish a compensation in agricultural prosperity. 

 The petrographic sections, including radlolarian chert, 

 and the landscape Illustrations, reproduced in collo- 

 type by Bemrose of Derby, are of remarkable beauty. 

 Another work by J. B. Scrivenor, on the geology and 

 mining industry of the Kinta district, Perak (Kuala 

 Lumpur, 1913 ; price 3 dollars), is equally well illus- 

 trated. The author points out (p. 20) how road- 

 cutting and hydraulic mining have been facilitated by 

 the tropical processes of weathering, whereby the 

 ground- water carries away silica in solution, and 

 " hard, unyielding masses are reduced to the con- 

 sistency of putty." The most Important conclusion in 

 this memoir is that the clays and boulder-clays of 

 Perak, which are mined for the detrltal tin-ore which 

 they contain, are not of recent origin. They have 

 been penetrated by the local Mesozoic granite, and rest 

 on the Carboniferous Kinta Limestone. Excellent 

 reasons are given (pp. 38-43) for correlating them 

 with the Permian glacial beds of India. It is remark- 

 able that the tin-bearing and tourmalinised Mesozoic 

 granite must have been preceded in this area (p. 35) 

 by a similarly tin-bearing granite, which formed a 

 contact-aureole, and from which the granite boulders 

 and the cassiterlte in the glacial clays have been 

 derived. G. A. J. C. 



RAINFALL LY THE PHILIPPINES. 

 npHE Manila Weather Bureau has published a very 

 -^ useful paper on the annual amount and distri- 

 bution of rainfall over that archipelago, prepared 

 under the direction of the Rev. J. Algu^, S.J., by the M 

 assistant-director, the Rev. M. S. Mas6, S.J. It in- ^ 

 eludes tables showing, inter alia, the monthly and 

 annual values for separate years and means for the 

 whole period embraced, which, In most cases, refers 



