290 V.G. Illing—The Search for Oil. 



obtained by Dr. C. D. "Walcott from the Middle Cambrian of Burgess 

 Pass, British Columbia. From this locality also, a ton and a half 

 of material was sent to the Museum as the result of last field- 

 season's work. The quarry that yielded the best of the famous 

 Middle Cambrian fossils is now practically exhausted. Details given 

 of other results of the Museum's official " Explorations" show quite 

 clearly the advantages that would accrue if corresponding features 

 were organized in the big institutions of this country. 



# * * * * * 



So much unpublished information was accumulated by the Geological 

 Survey of Western Australia, that the preparation of reports 

 occupied a proportionately greater amount of the Staff's time than 

 actual field-work (Annual Progress Report of the Geological Survey 

 of Western Australia for 1917). This circumstance, combined with 

 the fact that the activities of the Survey are becoming more and 

 more of an economic nature, tend to show that some augmentation, 

 in personnel at least, could be made with advantage. In addition to 

 duties in the field and in the office, the Survey is couducting 

 experiments on clays, potash minerals, etc., from which results of 

 value to industry are expected. The Laboratory Report shows that 

 highly satisfactory results are being attained ; and in the year under 

 review 1671 samples were registered, an increase of 20 per cent 

 over the previous year. Among the results . of the field-work 

 recorded in the above-mentioned report, we read that wolfram, 

 occurring as" floaters", has been Eound at a locality about 3 miles 

 north of Grass Valley Township, on the Great Eastern Railway, 

 east of North am. The rocks in this neighbourhood are granitic, 

 with a network of dolerite dykes ; the surface is covered by 

 a varying thickness of debris, which has prevented detailed mapping 

 up to the present. It is thought that when the true matrix is 

 discof ered it will be a pegmatite. 



***** 



The election of Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward to the Presidency of 

 the Linnean Society of London will be of great interest to geologists. 

 Dr. Woodward filled the office of President of the Geological Society 

 from 1914 to 1916, and has served a term as Vice-President of the 

 Zoological Society. 



OZRIG-IIETAIL, ARTICLES. 



I. — The Search for Subterranean " Oil-pools" in the British 



Isles. 



By V. C. Illing, M.A., F.G.S. 

 (PLATE VII.) 



IT is curious how readily the public misconceives even the most 

 simple of scientific problems. A plausible theory, no matter 

 how fallacious, will gain an immediate currency which it is difficult 

 to undermine until it has run its course. Such theories do harm 

 to the public, to industry, and to science, and they should be 



