Obituary—Edgar Albert Smith, I.8.0. 431 
potash-felspar, phosphate of lime, alum-shales, graphite, molybdenite, 
chromite, talc, and diatomite. In connexion with this list the most 
pressing need is the discovery of some process to render easily 
available the vast stores of potash existing in the felspars of the 
igneous rocks, in order to make this country independent of the 
German supply of potash salts. Of most of the minerals on this list 
the British output is now exceedingly small, owing to free importation 
of foreign material. 
4, Tue Vorcanic Rocxs or Sourn-EasterRN QuEENSLAND. (Proc. 
Roy. Soc. Queensland, 1916, pp. 105-204.)—In this paper Mr. H. C. 
Richards gives a very interesting account of the volcanic rocks of the 
south-eastern corner of Queensland, which he shows to be probably of 
Tertiary age. The rocks are divided into three series, lower, middle, 
and upper, which are in the main basaltic, rhyolitic, and andesitic 
respectively. The general composition is clearly sub-alkaline; only 
in the middle division is there a small proportion of alkaline lavas, 
pantellerites, comendites, and trachytes, rich in egirine, arfvedsonite, 
and riebeckite. These appear to be due to differentiation in the 
parent magma rather than to assimilation of calcareous material, 
as advocated by Jensen. The most strongly marked chemical 
characteristic in all groups is a deficiency of alumina, with a 
compensating excess of iron oxides. The eruptions were chiefly of 
the fissure type, though some of the acid eruptions have given rise 
to tuffs and agglomerates. Contrary to the generally received 
opinion the Tertiary eruptives of this area constitute a well-marked 
_ sub-alkaline province, with only local alkaline episodes. The earth- 
movements connected with the eruptions are all of the plateau- 
‘building type, and there has been no folding since Paleozoic times. 
OBITUARY. 
EDGAR ALBERT SMITH, I.S.O., 
Lare ConcHotoeist oF THE British Museum. 
BorRN NOVEMBER 29, 1847. DIED JULY 22, 1916. 
Onze of the ablest conchologists of the day has recently passed away 
in the person of Edgar Albert Smith, who was for more than 
forty years on the staff of the British Museum. He died at his Acton 
residence on July 22, in his 69th year. His father was the late 
Mr. Frederick Smith, a well-known entomologist, and Assistant 
Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum, Bloomsbury. 
Mr. Smith entered the British Museum in 1867, becoming i in due 
course an Assistant Keeper of the Zoological Department, and finally 
retiring, under the age clause, in 1913. His earlier work at the 
Museum comprised the arrangement of the famous Hugh Cuming 
collection of Mollusca, besides which he supervised for some time the 
whole of the marine invertebrate collections, with the exception of the 
Crustacea. He was chiefly responsible, however, for the arrangement 
of the Shell-gallery, which involved considerable care and attention, 
especially during that period when the natural history collections 
