234 



NATURE 



[April 21, 19 10 



lions show well the physical characters of this forest-clad 

 region, which, with its lakes, rivers, and low hills, is, 

 indeed, typical of the pre-Cambrlan lands of North 

 America. 



Mr. Collins also reports on the " Region Ivlng North 

 of Lake Superior between the Pic and Nipigon Rivers, 

 Ontario " (1909), where he was again on the great Archfean 

 peneplain. The soils, still so deficient on this recently 

 glaciated surface, fill the river-valleys and depressions, and 

 " form a thin, discontinuous blanket that ineffectually 

 covers the underlying Archa-an floor." Mr. W. J. 

 Wilson's report on parts of Algoma and Thunder Bav 

 districts, Ontario, is bound up with that by Mr. Collins', 

 and covers the river-courses of the country to the north 

 and east. The large map illustrating both papers, on the 

 scale of eight miles to one inch, together with the photo- 

 graphic illustrations, shows how exploration must for a 

 long time be confined to the natural channels through the 

 woodlands. Fossiliferous beds of Silurian age have been 

 found on the tributaries running from the south and west 

 into the .Albany River. Their fauna is described bv Mr. 

 Whiteaves in an appendi.x (p. 34), and the report,' with 

 characteristic Canadian foresight, also illustrates the 

 modern fauna in the form of speckled trout and store-clad 

 Indians. 



Mr. O. E. Leroy writes on the " ^Lain Coast of British 

 Columbia and ,'\djacent Islands in New Westminster and 

 Nanaimo Districts " (1908), where he has a fascinating 

 field among the fjords north-west of Vancouver. The 

 drainage-grooves now entered by the sea are believed to 

 have originated in early Cretaceous times, when great 

 erosion prevailed. The country has been modified by local 

 glaciation and by the passage' of the lobe of an ice-sheet 

 down the Strait of Georgia, inside Vancouver Island. A 

 great batholite, varying in composition from a granite to 

 a gabbro, invaded the Palajozoic sediments and igneous 

 scries, probably in the Upper Jurassic epoch, and has left 

 conspicuous traces of its gradual advance by " stoping " 

 (p. 17). This mass is responsible for a large part of the 

 steep and rocky scenery along the fjords. The country 

 appears rich in lead and copper ores, and magnetite awaits 

 further development on Texada Island. The coal on 

 Vancouver Island and the limestone on Texada Island are 

 suggested as local means of smelting. 



Mr. D. D. Cairnes's report on part of the Conrad and 

 W'hitehorse mining districts (1908) gives impressive illus- 

 trations of the grim scenery of Yukon. Aerial tramways 

 now bring up fuel and food to claims on Alpine ridges, 

 and the telephone prevents the feeling of isolation which 

 tends to grow on pioneers. Conrad City is so young that 

 it does not appear on the contoured map constructed in 

 1906, but we understand it to be at the foot of the 

 Montana tramway. A photograph of it, facing the huge 

 mountain-wall across the lake, assures us of its reality. 

 As usual, the best is made of everything, and we are told 

 that the long summer days may be delightful, although the 

 lake waters remain so cold as to threaten death to those 

 immersed in them. The gold-mining is in vein-quartz 

 traversing Palaeozoic schists, as in the Klondike fields. 

 The granite that is so conspicuous on the coast of British 

 Columbia cuts these schists, and is overlain by porphyrites 

 and the Lower Cretaceous Tutshi series, k post-glacial 

 eruption (p. 37) of considerable magnitude has formed a 

 layer of volcanic ash 3 to 6 inches thick over a wide area 

 in the valley-floors. 



The Canadian Survey is not entirely absorbed by the 

 excitements of mining 'enterprise. Dr. 'D. P. Penhallow. 

 in a handsome quarto, reports on the Tertiary plants of 

 British Columbia. This includes a review of all the known 

 species, conveniently arranged alphabetically under genera, 

 which are also in alphabetical order. The basis of the 

 present work is an extensive series of plant-remains 

 collected by Mr. L. M. Lambe for the Survev in 1906. 

 East of the Rocky Mountains, the Canadian lignites are 

 of " Laramie " (Eocene) age, though they have been re- 

 ferred by Heer, as was his general practice, to the Miocene. 

 Similarly, the " Miocene " lignites of British Columbia are 

 shown, by Dr. Penhallow 's analysis of species, to be partly 

 of Laramie and largely of Oligocene age. Sir Williarn 

 Dawson's views have thus been verified in detail. The 

 table on p. 1^2 will be useful to stratigraphers. 



Part iv. of the third volume of " Contributions to Canadian 

 NO. 2 112, VOL. 83] 



Pala;ontology " is by Mr. Lambe, on the Vertebrata of tl 

 Oligocene of the Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan. This 

 a continuation and revision of a previous work by Cop 

 and describes several new species, including Amxa exil 

 and Lcpidosteus longiis among fishes, represented by fraj 

 mental remains, a probable anthracotherian tooth, ar 

 the well-preserved lower jaw of a Titanothere, Megaccroi 

 primitivus. Eight excellent plates, from the author's dra\ 

 ings, accompany the memoir. G. A. J. C. 



PAPERS ON AMERICAN INVERTEBRATEl 



"M^OS. 1706, 1710, 1712, and 1713 of the Proceedings ( 

 ■'' the U.S. National Museum are devoted to the descri; 

 tions of various groups of invertebrates from America 

 territory. In No. 1713 Mr. S. S. Berry deals with a seri< 

 of new cephalopods from the Hawaiian Islands, amor 

 which special interest attaches to the new genus and speci( 

 Stephanoteiithis hawaiiensis, an apparent member of tf 

 Sepiolidse, characterised by the peculiar shape of the boc 

 and the ventral anterior extension of the mantle to covi 

 the funnel. In other respects the genus is, however, r 

 lated to Heteroteuthis. A remarkable globular form, d 

 scribed as Cranchia globula, is related to C. reinhardti, J 

 which globularity appears to be a feature of immaturit; 

 but whether the same holds good for the new form — i 

 indeed, it be really distinct — remains for future determin; 

 tion. 



Coelenterates from Labrador and Newfoundland form tl 

 subject of No. 1706. These have been investigated b}' M 

 H. B. Bigelow, who finds that all of them belong 1 

 previously described species, so that their interest is large 

 geographical. Several of them have been hitherto know 

 only from Greenland and northern Europe. The speci* 

 Catablema vesicaria and JEginopsis lauretitii have, hov 

 ever, proved of interest from an anatomical point of viev 

 and are important in regard to the classification of t\ 

 Narcomedusae. 



In No. 1710 Mr. E. B. Williamson revises the arrangi 

 ment of the North .-American dragon-flies of the gem 

 Macromia, from which he finds those described < 

 Epopthalmia to be inseparable. . Didymops, as regarc 

 venation, appe.nrs to come very close to Macromia, but mz 

 seemingly be distinguished by other characters. Two ne 

 species of the genus under review are named and described 



No. 1712 is devoted to the second part of Dr. N. Annai 

 dale's account of the fresh-water sponges in the collectic 

 of the U.S. National Museum, none of the few fornr 

 referred to being new to science. 



EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND ABROAD/ 

 "pROM the eighth century to the time of the Reformatic 

 the history of education in England, France, ar 

 Germany was in many respects similar. The one champic 

 of learning was the Church ; and in the religious hous 

 we find an organised and established system of educatio 

 of which not only the lower rank of people, who cou 

 not pay for their learning, but noblemen and gentlemen 

 sons might take advantage. In England the system w;j 

 particularly successful; as early as the year 1201 there ai 

 said to have been more than 3000 scholars at the Ur| 

 versity of Oxford, and Roger Bacon tells us that the I 

 never had been so great an appearance of learning ail 

 so great an application to study as at that time, wh- 

 schools were erected in every city, town, and boroug 

 The learning of Englishmen compared favourably at th 

 early date with that of scholars on the Continent. W'e a 

 told that in 1169 there was a " colony " of English studen 

 at the University of Paris, belonging to the faculty of art 

 of which it is said that they " in particular were 

 numerous that they occupied several schools or colleges, ai 

 made so distinguished a figure by their genius and lear 

 ing, as well as by their generous manner of living, th 

 they attracted the notice of all strangers." 



.Against the Church, in this matter of education, -we 

 arrayed both the general opinion of the aristocratic class 

 and also the power of the law. Not all the sons of gentl 



1 From a piper read at tbe North of England Education Conferen 

 Leet's, on Januarj' 8, by Otto Siepmann. 



