36 Review* — Palwontulogy of New York. 



covered here and there by thin cappings of unfossiliferous grits, 

 sandstones, and conglomerates, which are said, on what appears to 

 he somewhat slender grounds, to 1)6 of Cambrian age Eruptive 

 masses of diorite and schistose felspar-amphibolites have been forced 

 through breaks in the Archaean rocks, and, at a somewhat later date, 

 banded diabases were also intruded. The gold deposits generally 

 occur in the stretches of country occupied by these old "green- 

 stones," and were perhaps formed before the volcanoes became 

 extinct. As Mr. Goczel puts it: ''Doubtlessly [sic\ the formation of 

 lodes commenced with the first break in the lythosphere, but the 

 formation of the bulk of primary gold deposits in this region is due 

 to a hydrothermal gold emanation, most probably connected with 

 and caused by volcanic subsidences during the late periods of 

 the Palaeozoic era." In futui-e reports returns of the amount of 

 machinery of all kinds on the goldfields will be made, so as to 

 show the rate of progress. It would be useful if the output of the 

 individual mines and districts were also tabulated. 



The coalfields, on which the gold-mines will depend for their 

 life, are dealt with by the Government Geologist, Mr. H. P. 

 Woodward. He finds the coal in the Collie field, which seems to 

 be of true Carboniferous age, to be a compact, splinty, bituminous 

 coal of the non-caking class, containing 51 per cent, of fixed carbon, 

 32 per cent, of gas, 11*5 per cent, of water, and 4-3 per cent, of ash. 

 The best sample of Collie coal was about equal for heating purposes 

 to the average coals of New South Wales and Victoria. Mr. Wood- 

 ward also examined the south-western portion of the colony with 

 a view to the discovery of fresh coalfields, but he found no 

 indications of any valuable deposits there. He gives, however, an 

 interesting sketch of the geological history of the south coast, 

 explaining the formation of the thin beds .of sandy-brown coal, 

 which have given rise to some hopes that workable coal would be 

 found in that part of the colony. 



II. — Palaeontology of New York, Vol. VIII, Part II : an Intro- 

 duction to the Study of the Genera of the Paleozoic 

 Brachiopoda. By James Hall, assisted by John M. Clarke, 

 Albany. New York, 1894, 4to, pp. 394, plates xxi-lxxxiv 

 (Charles Van Benthuj'sen and Sons). 



THIS, we regret to learn, forms the concluding volume of the 

 " Palaeontology of New York," a fine series forming part of "The 

 Natural History of New York," inaugurated by Governor W.H. Seward 

 during his administration 1839-42. In 1843 Prof. James Hall 

 was placed in charge of the palaeontology, and he has numbered 

 many now well-known geologists and palaeontologists among his 

 assistants in the State Geological Survey during his half century of 

 Directorship. In a preface dated Albany, December 1894, he gives 

 an interesting account of the history and vicissitudes of this great 

 work. Mr. J. M. Clarke joined in 1886, and aided in the prepara- 

 tion of volumes vii and viii, which latter was published in two 

 parts as an "Introduction to the Study of the Genera of Palaeozoic 



