230 
NATURE 
[May 2, 1912 
mines and quarries are of high importance. Among j 
the many places where modern research has been 
aptly utilised, we may mention E. B. Bailey’s prefer- 
ence (p. 9) for ascribing a continental origin to the 
Old Red Sandstone, and his comparison of the 
““cornstones ? with the kankar of tropical Africa— 
the original Indian examples might well have re- 
ceived mention. The alleged unconformity between 
the Barren Measures and the productive Coal 
Measures is regarded (p. 61) as improbable, owing to 
C. T. Clough’s observations, published in 1910. 
G. W. Lee contributes a chapter of sixteen pages on 
the palzontology of the Carboniferous rocks of the 
district, from which it is pleasant to see how much 
we owe to members of the Geological Society of 
Glasgow. The interesting paragraphs (p. 94, &c.) on 
the life-zones of the system show how difficult it is 
to define, to the satisfaction of palaobotanists and 
palzozoologists alike, the lower limit of the Upper 
Carboniferous series. The base of the upper, or 
Visean, division of the Avonian, or Lower Carbon- 
iferous, lies somewhere below the Hollybush Lime- 
stone in the Calciferous Sandstone stage. All the 
“Carboniferous Limestone”? stage near Glasgow is 
thus correlated with beds high up in the “ Carbon- 
iferous Limestone ”’ of southern England. 
E. B. Bailey (pp. 124-50) treats of the petrology 
of the igneous rocks with enthusiastic thoroughness. 
We are glad to note the use of ‘alkali?’ as an 
adjective, rather than ‘‘alkaline,”’ for types of rocks 
rich in sodium or potassium. Nepheline has now 
been found in several of these in the Glasgow dis- 
trict, notably in the ‘ alkali gabbro ’’ of Lennoxtown. 
The influence of Rosenbusch in establishing rock- 
species has spread to the Central Valley of Scotland, 
since a rock, already described as a theralite, becomes 
thus qualified (p. 135):—‘In these characters it 
approaches much more closely the bekinkinites of 
Madagascar, which are a highly melanocratic type of 
ijolite.”” We regret to read that several other ultra- 
basic rocks of the area ‘‘ have a composition which 
places them near to the bekinkinites,’? so that the 
way lies open for at least one new name, indicating, 
as must so often happen, nearness rather than 
identity. May we quarrel also with the word “ macro- 
porphyritic,’? which does not quite represent the 
author’s meaning? It is interesting to find Abich’s 
term “‘ trachydolerite ’—a very bad one from the 
point of view of rock-structure—revived for rocks that 
might surely be styled trachytic andesites. Harker’s 
““mugearites,’’ those interesting fine-grained types 
with orthoclase, oligoclase, augite, and often olivine, 
are recognised in the Carboniferous rocks near 
Glasgow. The discussion and diagram of the com- 
position of the quartz-dolerites (p. 146) are of especial 
interest. 
The chapters on the origin of local topographic 
features, including details of recession and river- 
capture on the escarpment of the Campsie Fells, bear 
further witness to the thoroughness of the Geological 
Survey work. These pages could be read with appre- 
ciation by persons who have never seen the district, 
and they will tempt many from the smoke of the great 
city into the gaps in the highland border that open 
up another world. 
The Scottish branch also issues a memoir, by 
E. H. Cunningham Craig, W. B. Wright, and 
E. B. Bailey, on the ‘Geology of Colonsay and 
Oronsay, with Part of the Ross of Mull’ (1011, price 
2s. 3d.) The one-inch geological map issued in con- 
nection with it (Sheet 35, price 2s. 6d.) is mainly 
concerned with the Atlantic Ocean, and Oronsay lies 
beyond it on the south. Plate i. of the memoir, how- 
ever, completes the island group. Most of the sedi- 
mentary rocks are believed to be representatives of 
NO. 2218, VOL. 89] 
| Madrid (yearly mean 1'5° 
the Torridon Sandstone. There is a considerable 
range of igneous rocks, and W. B. Wright and E. B. 
Bailey describe and illustrate an attractive example 
of the interaction of an ultrabasic hornblende-rock 
with included blocks of quartzite (p. 29). The 
quartzite, during solution, has led to a local concen- 
tration of allalies. Many of the blocks, ‘‘ surrounded 
by a magma which is overwhelmingly hornblendic, 
are actually replaced by alkali felspars and quartz.”’ 
Tectonic features are described in detail, and we wish 
that James Hutton could again come to life to see 
how, in this and other instances, physical geology 
holds its own in Scotland. The glaciation of Colon- 
say took place from the east, and a map (p. 61) shows 
the course of boulders over the island from the main- 
land beyond Loch Awe. A pre-glacial rock-shelf, due 
to marine erosion, with accompanying cliffs, is trace- 
able as high as 135 ft. above high-water mark (p. 62). 
E. H. Cunningham Craig in part ii. describes part of 
the Ross of Mull, and supports Judd’s view that the 
great mass of granite is of later Paleozoic age. Both 
in this memoir and in that on the Glasgow district 
the petrographic details owe much to the advice and 
notes of J. S. Flett. 
A third Scottish memoir, by ten authors, deals with 
Knapdale, Jura, and North Kintyre (1911, price 3s.). 
The immense part played by quartzite in Jura is well 
brought out on the accompanying map, Sheet 28. 
The term ‘vitreous quartzite” (p. 99) seems a little 
misleading, like the ‘‘ glassy felspar’’ of older writers. 
This series in Jura may be 15,000 ft. in thickness 
(p. 106). A pleasant feature of the memoir is the 
introduction by J. B. Hill, where the geological struc- 
ture and the raised beaches are concisely brought into 
relation with the human interests of the district. 
GaAs eee 
DISCUSSIONS OF CLIMATOLOGY. 
A DISCUSSION by Dr. A. B. Rosenstein of the 
conditions of temperature in central and southern 
Spain is published in vol. xxxiv. (part iii., 1911) of 
Aus dem Archiv der deutschen Seewarte, based on 
observations of the last twenty years of the last 
century, and including a longer series for Lisbon, 
San Fernando, Coimbra, and Madrid. The last four 
stations represent essentially different climatological 
types, as previously pointed out by Hellmann. The 
author deals with the observations in considerable 
detail (twenty-seven tables), but we can only very 
briefly refer here to one or two of the results. The 
amplitude of the daily range, being chiefly dependent 
upon the season, is smallest in winter (December) at 
the above-mentioned stations (at San Fernando in 
April), and greatest in summer (August); in the latter 
season the mean daily range at Madrid is 13°8° C., 
twice that at Lisbon and San Fernando. With refer- 
ence to the yearly range, one of the tables shows the 
deviations of the monthly from the yearly means, the 
sum of the greatest plus or minus monthly departures 
being given as the expression of the mean yearly 
oscillation. The stations are divided into three 
groups: (1) coastal, where the aggregate mean yearly 
oscillation is between 11°5° and 15°3° C.; (2) more 
inland, oscillation between 159° and 182°; and (3) 
central tableland and plateaux, oscillation between 
189° and 201°. This useful paper closes with tables 
showing the interdiurnal variability of temperature at 
C.) and San Fernando 
ro°). 
A discussion of ‘‘ The rainfall of Jamaica from about 
1870 to end of 1909,’’ with monthly and annual maps, 
has been published recently by Mr. Maxwell Hall, 
Government meteorologist. It includes means from 
a large number of stations, so’ far as observations 
were available, and general averages for each of the 
