382 Reviews — Prof. Gregory — Flou-iug Wells, Australia. . 



investigation. Eighteen tables of results at the end of this part 

 complete this volume, which should be of great value for practical 

 detailed work in the laboratory. 



X. — Flowing Wells of Central Australia. — In an article on 

 this subject {Geograph. Joiirn., July and August, 1911), Professor J. W. 

 Gregory further discusses the problem of the origin of the great under- 

 ground supply of water which occurs in large part of Queensland, the 

 north-western part of New South Wales, and the north- eastei'n corner 

 of South Australia, and comes to the surface under great pressure 

 when boreholes are put down. He argues that the flowing wells are 

 not artesian in the ordinary sense, but are due largely to plutoiiic 

 magmatic water deep-seated in origin, and brought to the surface by 

 rock -pressure and gas-pressure produced by the heat of the water. 

 Professor Gregory points out that there is no evidence of sufficient 

 surface areas of intake to account for the great body of underground 

 water from rainfall; moreover, the irregularities in the levels to which 

 the waters rise, tbeir periodic oscillation at non-lunar periods, the 

 varying distribution of the saline ingredients, and high temperatures 

 of some of the wells are pointed out in support of his view. When 

 we consider the fluctuations in level, in temperature, and the varying 

 amounts of saline ingredients in well-waters in Britain, the strongest 

 argument used by Professor Gregory appears to be the inadequate 

 areas for the percolation of rain-water. In any case the wanton 

 waste of water from the flowing wells, to which special attention is 

 directed, should be stopped. 



XI. — Glacial Phenomena of Spitzbekgen. — Mr. Lamplugh has 

 given an interesting account, to which brief reference was made in 

 the June Number (p. 275), of "The Shelly Moraine of the Sefstrom 

 Glacier and other Spitzbergen phenomena illustrative of Britisli 

 Glacial conditions" (Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc, vol. xvii, p. 216, with 

 13 photographic plates, 1911). While there is evidence of former 

 glaciation over practically the whole of Spitzbergen, the extensive 

 tracts now bare have been so eroded that most of the drifts have been 

 removed. The presence of vast numbers of shells, mostly unbroken, 

 in the terminal moraine of the Sefstrom glacier, after it had crossed 

 an arm of the sea, shows how readily marine material can be raised 

 from the sea-floor and transported by an advancing sheet of land-ice. 

 The influx of land-ice does not greatly interfere with the state of 

 adjacent land : plants and animals may continue to exist in proximity 

 to the ice-margins. The greatest amount of drift is deposited near 

 the limits reached by the ice. Within less than ten years a mass of 

 Boulder-clay, 100 feet or more in thickness, was piled up by the 

 Sefstrom glacier. Thickness of drift, therefore, does not necessarily 

 indicate length of time. 



XII. — A Pal^ozoicFern. — Dr.D. H.Scott has given a f ulldescription 

 with illustrations of Zygopteris Grayi of Williamson {Ami. Botany., 



