546 Revieius — Bennettitean Cones, British Cretaceous. 



Zealand, while there is also a prospect of considerable development in 

 the scheelite deposits of Rhodesia. In the last few years there has 

 also been an increased demand for molybdenum and vanadium for 

 the manufacture of special steels. The price of molybdenum is now 

 very high, and important deposits are being worked in Canada and 

 New South Wales. 



Turning now to the highly important subject of iron ores, some 

 interesting facts are revealed. In the first place it is shown that 

 the British Empire yielded in 1915 only about one-tenth of the 

 world's output, but the most notable fact is that the United 

 Kingdom alone produced approximately seven-eighths of this, 

 namely 14,235,012 tons out of a total of 15,890,827 tons. Among 

 British colonies by far the most important source of iron-ore is 

 Newfoundland; the Wabana mines in that island are among the 

 largest in the world and the reserves are enormous. Shipping 

 facilities are also very good and prospects are most brilliant. 

 During the War years very special efforts have been made to keep 

 up the supply of British ore in order to save transport, and the 

 efforts of the Ministry of Munitions have been successful in this 

 respect. Important developments have taken place, particularly 

 among the Jurassic ores of the Midlands, and improved methods of 

 mining and transport have been introduced. Efforts have also been 

 made to develop home resources of manganese: in 1915 India 

 produced more than half the manganese ore of the world and 

 practically the whole of the output of the Empire, other British 

 countries accounting for only fi,000 tons. In chromium ore 

 Rhodesia takes the lead with nearly one-third of the world's output, 

 while Canada comes next. The chromite deposits of Unst, in the 

 Shetland Islands, have recently been worked to a considerable 

 extent. 



From the facts above detailed it will be seen that the British 

 Empire plays no mean part in the world of metals. In the case of 

 most of them it occupies a position of prominence, and in some 

 of pre-eminence. Furthermore, it is known that in many parts of 

 the Empire there are large undeveloped, or partially developed, 

 deposits forming a reserve for the future. It is to be hoped that m 

 the period of reconstruction and development which will in all 

 probability succeed the past disastrous years, those who control ^uch 

 matters will be inspired to adopt a wise and prudent policy, taking 

 into account conservation as much as development, and thus laying 

 the foundation of a long-continued period of prosperity and happiness- 

 for the inhabitants of the Empire. j^_ jj_ j{„ 



p£E"V"i:e"v^s_ 



I. — New Bennettitean Cones feom the Beitish Cketaceotts. By 

 M. C. Stopes. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond., ser. B, vol. ccviii, 

 pp. 389-440, 6 pis., 25 text-figs., 1918. 



PROBABLY no genus of Mesozoic plants has excited such interest 

 among botanists as Bennettites, or, as Professor Seward and 

 others prefer to call it, Cycadeoidea. This interest was greatly 



