566 Revieivs — Geological Survey of Canada. 



in the lowlands, none have occurred, so far as the author knows, 

 within the Alpine margin. Lake dwellings, and the ancient routes 

 and passes traversed in Roman and later times, some of the battles, 

 and the changes undergone in later years, are described ; and finally 

 the author relates liis personal experiences of fifty j'ears of change, 

 lamenting the injury done by the plunderers of plants, the hooligans, 

 and the advertisement fiend. 



Two short appendices contain (1) a few biographical memoranda 

 by the author and a list of his papers on Alpine subjects, and (2) 

 explanatory notes on the full-page illustrations. The index occupies 

 but four pages, and is far too meagre and inconsistent : thus, while 

 the names of Garwood, Ramsay, Sollas, and Penck are given, no 

 mention is made of Fraas, Von Hauer, Heer, Helm, Rothpletz, and 

 some others who are I'eferred to in the text. 



III. — Geological Survey of Canada. 

 rpHE Summary Report of the Geological Survey Branch of the 

 X Department of Mines for 1911 (Ottawa, 1912) contains many 

 matters of general interest. 



In the course of his special report the Director, Mr. R. W. Brock, 

 makes some comments on the difficulty of retaining capable scientists, 

 and the urgency for seciiring more rapid promotion and higher salaries 

 for the scientific staff. "The loss of an experienced officer is 

 irreparable ; for he has in his work secured a mass of detailed 

 information concerning the districts in which he has been engaged 

 that can never be embodied in a report, but that is of constant value 

 to the Department and the public in answering inquiries concerning 

 particular areas or special problems." Tlie same unfortunate state of 

 affairs prevails on the Geological Survey in Great Britain in reference 

 to the officers who hold the rank of Geologists. 



More than forty short reports by various officers are given on tlie 

 Staff Field work, and it is interesting to learn that Dr. C. W. Walcott, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and formerly Director of the 

 United States Geological Survey, has accepted the honorary position 

 of Collaborator in Geology with special reference to the Cambrian. 

 He contributes a report on the Cambrian of the Kicking Horse Valley, 

 British Columbia, giving sections and lists of fossils from the Burgess 

 Shale of the Stephen formation. (See Dr. Peach's address, Geol. 

 Mag., October, p. 457.) 



Mr. A. C. Lawson reports on the Archaean rocks of Rainy Lake, 

 Ontario, and announces the discovery of fossils in the limestones of 

 the Steeprock Series, which rest unconformably on the Keewatin. 

 These fossils (not at present described) are said to be "the oldest 

 well-detined organic remains now known to science ". 



Other reports deal with the Lower Palaeozoic and Devonian rocks, 

 with the igneous rocks of Beloeil and Rougeraont Mountains in 

 Quebec, with raised beaches and changes of level, and with sundry 

 economic accumulations, including clays, oil, gas, gypsum, coal, 

 graphite, mica, apatite, tungsten-ore (scheelite), silver, cobalt, and 

 copper ores, and the occurrence of minute diamonds and rubies. 



