February i8, 1909] 



NATURE 



471 



kind arc, of coui'se, noticeable both in the Carboniferous 

 Limestone and in the Chalk of our own islands. The 

 main interest of Anipferer's paper from a tectonic point 

 of view lies in its acceptance of Reyer's doctrine of what 

 may be called " contemporary gliding." 



In the \'crhand\imgcn of the same institute (igoS, p. 

 \2h) Prof. Tornquist. of Konigsberg', replies to Dr. 

 .\nipferer concernini^ the Fh'sch-zone in .Mlgau and the 



On 



Krafft.) 



\"orarlbcrg, and he very interestingly pictures the forma- 

 tion of a submarine overthrust during the growth of the 

 Flysch deposits. The .\lps had even then begun to rise, 

 and the limestone " Ulippc " of .AUgau was thrust over 

 the earliest beds of Flysch and became entombed in those 

 that were still forming. Tornquist opposes Anipferer's 

 comparison of the phenomena with those brought about 

 by landslides, and asks us (p. 331) to consider the effects 

 of earth-movements on unconsolidated 

 sediments still beneath the sea. He 

 would like to explain, on the same prin- 

 ciples, the " klippen " studied by Uhlig 

 in the Carpathians. Even in the .sub- 

 marine processes described there seems 

 to be a good deal that is akin to land- 

 gliding, but Tornquist makes the fold- 

 ing and the accompanying gliding con- 

 temporaneous with the Flysch itself. 



From these closely criticised regions 

 it is refreshing to come out with Dr. 

 \V. F. Hume into the unknown south- 

 western desert of Egypt (Cairo Scien- 

 tific Journal, vol. ii., 1908, pp. 279 and 

 314). His paper is meant for the 

 general reader, and its style and con- 

 tents would make an admirable lecture. 

 .■\ great southward extension of Eocene 

 strata has been discovered by the 

 author. His remarks on wind-erosion 

 (p. 318) show, as one might not at first 

 sight expect, that sand is absent where 

 the signs of erosion are intense. The 

 cutting agent finds no resting place, but 

 is hurried over the edge of the desert 

 plateau to fall in great sand-slopes 

 towards the plain and to fill up valleys 

 that are there sheltered from the wind. 



In the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. 

 xxxiv.. part iv. {1908), we have another of those broad 

 surveys that are still possible in .■\frica and Asia, and that 

 ncall the days of von Buch, Murchison, or Darwin. Mr. 

 I'f. E. Pilgrim has had the fortune to report on the geology 

 of the Persian Gulf and the adjoining portions of Persia 



and Arabia. He too has felt that in science it is good to 

 be a king, 



And ride in triumph through Persepolis. 

 Mr. Pilgrim provides photographic views of barren land- 

 scapes, and a geological map, in which are correlated his 

 own observations and those of his predecessors. Marine 

 beds occur up to the Messinian and Pontian stage, i.e. 

 into what are generally regarded as Pliocene times tp. 25), 

 and the Persian Gulf is attributed to 

 denudation acting still later on a mass 

 that became upraised in some places 

 < gooo feet above ttie sea. Then came a 

 Pleistocene submergence, followed by 

 still more recent elevation, of which we 

 have evidence in the modern shore- 

 lines. 



Mr. H. G. Ferguson describes the 

 small Batanes Islands, the northern 

 outliers of the Philippine group towards 

 Formosa (Philippine Journal of Science, 

 - ■ vol. iii., 1908, p. i). The basal rock is 



tfH^-' ^ i pre-Miocene volcanic agglomerate, 



j|.. <;■'■' ■•, and the islands are thus really volcanic 



-•'■'•Uui' f* ■'■ |>iles. Miocene limestones were formed 

 ■ ■* ■ - ' . ~ across them, and became uplifted to 



_'75 metres above the present sea. The 

 Irequent earthquakes are correlated 

 (pp. 14 and 24) with a fault that is 

 possibly traceable into Luzon. Volcanic 

 '^ ■_- . • activitv continued in the group during 



^- ■ ^\_- .. the time of uplift, and Mount Iraya, in 

 the north of Batan, has quite a modern 

 ■ -' - *■. ^_, V aspect. 



That excellent observer, Mr. A. J. C. 

 le, Kalhat, Co.-ist of Molvneux, of Bulawayo, describes part 

 of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in the 

 Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific 

 .Association, vol. vi. (190(1), p. 73. This district links itself 

 interestingly with that reported on by the Survey of Cape 

 Colony near Kimberley, and the author traces its Water- 

 berg and Karroo strata also north into Rhodesia (p.^ 86). 

 But should he write both " Karroo " and " Karoo " on 

 successive pages? The basalts of the Victoria Falls area 

 are correlated with the Tuli lavas of Bechuanaland and 

 with the volcanic rocks of Stormberg age farther south. 



Fig. 2 



(Photo, by Worcester.) 



Passing to America, Mr. E. Otis Hovey has desci^ibed 

 for the first time the general geology of the western Sierra 

 Madre in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico (Bull. Amer. 

 Museum Nat. Hist., vol. xxiii., 1907, p. 401). The 

 region is likely to be developed from a mining point 

 of view, but is' mainly given over to stock-raising. It 



NO. 2051, VOL. 79] 



