NATURE 



[December lo, 1908 



on p. bb. The superficial deposits of the dry region include 

 uiucn calcareous tufa, and recent quartzites appear as we 

 go westward into the genuine desert. 



Prof. T. W. Edgevvorlh David has issued the first part 

 of his description of " The Hunter River Coal Measures, 

 New South Wales " (Mem. Geol. Survey, N.S.W., 1907, 

 price I2.t. 6d.). This memoir, forming a handsome quarto 

 volume, e.xplains the numerous coloured maps and sections 

 that have been published under a separate cover. The 

 plates will interest the practical miner as well as the geo- 

 logist. The sedimentary rocks and typical fossils are here 

 excellently illustrated. The limits of the Australian 

 I'ermo-Carboniferous system are discussed (p. 311); glacial 

 beds, 200 feet thick (p. 321), occur in the Lower Marine 

 series, and ice-borne erratics have been dropped into the 

 Upper Marine muds, which are indented by them (p. 197 

 and Plate xxiv.). 



The New Zealand Geological Survey, in Bulletin No. 4 

 (1907), by Messrs. C. Eraser and J. H. Adams, describes 

 the geology of the Coromandel subdivision, Auckland. 

 This area includes the oldest goldfield in New Zealand, 

 which is at present not particularly flourishing. The 

 Hauraki mine, however, must have amply rewarded its 

 original shareholders. The veins containing gold and 

 silver, whether in the Jurassic and older sediments or in 

 the Cainozoic andesites, are connected with the extrusion 

 of the latter (p. 98). The bulletin is as finely illustrated 

 as its predecessors, and many of the plates are of interest 

 to petrographers, full attention being given to sedimentary 

 as well as igneous rocks. The price of the volume, in- 

 cluding four coloured maps in a pocket at the end, is 

 2,5. 6(i., a sum that is in keeping with the liberality of 

 colonial Governments in these matters. 



Bulletin Xo. 5 (1908), by Mr. James Park, on the 

 geology of the Cromwell subdivision, forms an equally 

 handsome volume, and contains some interesting details 

 as to the distribution of gold-bearing material by glacial 

 .-iction. Xo natural sorting out of the gold occurs in 

 moraines, which thus are less satisfactory than ordinary 

 pockets in alluvium. 



The Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada 

 for 1904 was issued in 1906, but did not reach us until 

 the present year. Bound up with it are several separately 

 paged papers, including reports by Mr. Kcele and Mr. 

 Camsell on rivers in Yukon, and'bv Dr. G. A. Young 

 on Mount Yamaska, in Quebec. The Yamaska mass 

 affords a study in igneous differentiation, with basic 

 " yamaskite " in the centre, graduating outwards into 

 " essexite," and then into "akerite," with nearlv 60 per 

 cent, of silica. The Summary Report of the same survey 

 for 1906 appeared in 1907, and shows the wide range of 

 the work, attention being especially directed to mineral 

 resources and to the economic possibilities of new routes 

 opened across the country. Mr. W. W. Leach's separately 

 printed paper on the Tclkwa River and vicinitv, British 

 Columbia (Geol. Surv. Canada, Ottawa, 1907), shows the 

 pioneer work that falls to the geologist, side by side with 

 the miner, in this great Dominion. 



Since^our last article on " Geological Work in the United 

 States " (N.1TURE, vol. Ixxviii., p. 282), we have received 

 the annual report of the Geological Survev of New Jersey 

 for 1907 (Trenton, 1908), and vol. vi. of the Maryland 

 Geological Survey, dated !oo6. The former is distributed 

 for the cost of postage, and includes an interesting and 

 surprisingly direct warning to would-be investors (p. 15) 

 against speculators in the Portland cement industry. Mr. 

 J. V. Lewis has written on the petrographv of the Newark 

 Igneous rocks. His memoir (pp. 96-168' of the report), 

 which is very fully illustrated, contains a description of 

 certain inclusions of arkose in diabase (p. 134), which 

 have assumed the composition and partlv the structure of 

 augite-granite. The green augite present has been probably 

 derived from the igneous invader, but the defects of any 

 chemical classification of rocks are emphasised more than 

 everwhen we learn that one of these altered masses should 

 fall mto the " dosodic subrang of the rang alaskase." and 

 another into the " presodic subrang of the rang dacase." 

 \Vhen Mr. Lewis shows us the origin of these rocks in 

 the field, such nomenclature appe.Trs as a mere learned 

 tnfl.ng. The basaltic lavas of the Watrhung area are 

 admirably drsrrihrd, and their zeolltps are attributed to the 

 NO 20JI, \OI. . jnl 



action of " juvenile " waters during the cooling of the 

 flows. The Maryland volume is, as usual, very handsome, 

 but far too heavy for the hand. The whole physiography 

 of the State is dealt with, and a general account of its 

 geological structure follows. The first 251 pages, cover- 

 ing also the soils and meteorology, form, indeed, a popular 

 and exact guide for any educated citizen. Mr. E. B. 

 Mathews contributes a history of the origin of the counties 

 of Maryland, occupying more than 150 of these weighty 

 pages ; we must presume that this, like the reports of the 

 highway surveyors, finds its most fitting place within the 

 green covers of this well-known geological series. 



The Annual Report of the Iowa Geological Survey for 

 1906 (1907) deals extensively with Portland cement and 

 with the rocks quarried for economic purposes in the State. 

 The analyses and tests of sedimentary building-stones have 

 a petrographic as well as an engineering value, since these 

 types of rock are apt to be neglected. 



G. A. J. C. 



THREE VOLUMES ON NORTH SEA FISHERY 



INVESTIGATION.' 

 "TTHE first of the volumes referred to below reports a 

 meeting of the International Council named, held 

 in London last year, and also contains accounts of 

 numerous researches. Both parts possess features of, 

 in some respects, unusual interest, to only a few of which 

 reference can be made in the present brief notice. The 

 meeting was memorable as the occasion of some remarks 

 made by Earl Grey in the course of an address of welcome, 

 which made it clear that the British Government intended 

 to continue to support marine research in the interest of 

 the fisheries, and looked favourably on international co- 

 operation in the matter. Since the conference a committee 

 has been appointed by the Treasury to inquire into the 

 prosecution of such researches, has heard evidence, de- 

 liberated, and lately has made its recommendations, which 

 include plans for the organisation of the work. There 

 seems, therefore, every probability of British fishery 

 research being placed on a permanent basis, and an oppor- 

 tunity has obviously occurred which, if wisely dealt with, 

 may result in an important step in the application of 

 biology to industry. 



.'\nother interesting announcement was that of Com- 

 mander Drechsel, who stated that a convention had been 

 arranged between Sweden and Denmark which would pre- 

 vent the landing in these countries of undersized fish from 

 the Kattegat, including its extra-territorial waters. This 

 convention is said to be due to the results of research. 

 The results in question appear to be embodied in the 

 " Summary Report on the State of our Knowledge with 

 Regard to Plaice and Plaice Fisheries," by Petersen, 

 Garstang, and Kyle. 



This summary, which is as able as it is concise, was 

 prepared in response to a request of the Dutch and Danish 

 Governments. It deals with very varied studies, and is 

 backed by a formidable array of seventy-four tables. It 

 recommends legislation against the landing of small plaice 

 from the Kattegat, because these small fish are not fatally 

 injured by the methods of fishing there employed, rarely 

 leave the district, and increase in value with growth to an 

 extent which amply compensates the fishery for their loss 

 as small fish. The conditions in the North Sea are felt 

 to be more complex, and for this area no legislation is 

 recommended, though the report favours the transplanta- 

 tion of plaice to good feeding-grounds. An apparent dis- 

 crepancy between the estimates of intensity of fishing 

 and of its effects calls for mention. The intensity of 

 fishing in the Kattegat is held to be greater than in 

 the North Sea; yet while the evidence (described as "not 

 large ") points to a lowering of the average length of 

 North Sea plaice, the weight per score of Kattegat plaice 

 of above 256 cm. length is not declining (Table III.). If 

 North Sea fishing kills off the large plaice more quickly 

 than nature repl.aces them, a fortiori the largest Kattegat 



1 (1) " Rapports et Procesverbaux des Reunions. Conseil permanent inter- 

 national pour I'Exploration de la Mer." Vol. vii. Pp. xxxviii + 314. 



(2) «/«'.. vol. viM. Pp. 125 : pbtes T2. 



(?) "Bulletins trimestriel des Resultats acquis pendant les Croisieres 

 p^riodiques.'" Anne'e luc^-y. No. 3. Pp. 33-05 : plates g. 



