Reviews — Geology of New South Wales. 135 



Permo-Carboniferous (p. 144) and in the Pleistocene (p. 218) of this 

 area, raises questions of more than local interest. The account of 

 available coal in the State is cheering in these days of rapid fuel- 

 consumption. It is estimated that at the present rate of production 

 the available supply will last for another 12,000 years (p. 139). The 

 origin of the artesian water (p. 171) ; the Cretaceous fossils preserved 

 in opal at White Cliffs (p. 183); the identification of the Tertiary 

 flora with the present day coastal ' brush ' flora of very limited range 

 and requiring a warmer, moister climate than that which most of the 

 State now enjoys (p. 203) ; the post-Tertiary movements which 

 brought about this change in the flora (pp. 212-15) ; the correlated 

 dwindling in size of the vertebrates from the Tertiary Period onwards 

 (p. 205) ; the limited area of the Pleistocene glaciation (p. 219); all 

 are examples of interesting points. 



The text appears to be singularly free from misprints, but ' spilite ' 

 and 'spillite' both occur on p. 61; and ' Queesland ' on p. 174 is 

 another slip; while the sentence on p. 181 beginning 'At some 

 localities ' lacks construction. ' Outcrop ' is frequently used as a verb, 

 and ' intrude ' as a transitive verb, neither of which usages, however 

 convenient, is commendable. 'Jasperoid' (p. 62) and ' granitoid ' 

 (p. 254) for 'jasper-like' and 'granite-like', 'subsidence area' 

 (p. 152) for 'area of subsidence ', and 'Lower' and 'Upper Marine 

 Sea ' for 'sea in Lower ' and ' sea in Upper Marine times ' (legends to 

 figs. 37 and 51) are blemishes ; while the equal of ' Trach'te bo'ld'r 

 horiz'n' on p. 129 will only be found in railway time-tables, grocery 

 lists, and printed matter of a similar standing. 



Turning to technicalities, we think the statements "The Polyzoa 

 were more abundant than they had ever been before" (p. 133) and 

 " The Gasteropoda . . . were larger than they had ever been before " 

 (p. 134) too sweeping, and strictly inaccurate for a scientific work ; 

 "the following genera . . . JSfeuroptera" (p. 135), and "Coralline 

 limestones " (p. 75, presumably for " limestones containing Corals " — 

 not Corallines, an old term for Polyzoa), are inaccuracies. ' Seed- 

 spores ' (p. 142) is an extraordinary word. It does not seem in 

 accordance with modern ideas to combine Polyzoa with Brachiopoda 

 in a single phylum Molluscoidea ; and the genus Ammonites (p. 184) 

 is rather out of date. However abundant Heliophyllum may be in 

 Australian Silurian strata, it is best known as a Devonian not 

 a "typical Silurian" Coral (p. 64). Such points might easily be 

 readjusted in a later edition, and have not much weight against the 

 excellencies of this volume. 



The illustrations add considerably to the value and interest of the 

 book, and deserve high praise, especially the geological views, of which 

 fig. 44 is a particularly beautiful example. Fig. 47 (of columnar 

 basalt) is very clear ; but, while a figure or two is always useful in a 

 geological photograph, the population of fig. 46 is such as to distract the 

 mind from the geological features illustrated. The sections are clearly 

 drawn, and of these fig. 52, showing trough-faults in the Upper Coal- 

 measures, is especially striking. In the figures of. fossils the 

 magnification should be given, and it would be useful if the source of 

 the figure, where not original, were noted. 



