452 REVIEWS—GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
these Reports, it must be observed, are not made public, at least in a 
complete shape, until after their formal presentation to the Legisla- 
ture, a proceeding which necessarily involves a very considerable delay. 
Owing to this circumstance, however, portions of the Annual Reports 
are frequently published, in advance, in scientific journals, in order to 
claim priority for the discoveries and researches of their authors ; 
and thus, our own Journal has been honoured, on more than one oc- 
casion, by communications of this kind from officers of the Survey. 
Although the Report for 1858 is filled with numerous details of 
much local importance, it offers, perhaps, less matter of general in- 
terest than some of those which have preceded it ; but, to be properly 
understood and appreciated, it must be considered in connexion with 
the earlier explorations and researches of the Survey, as well as with 
those which are now being carried on. In addition to an elaborate 
Report from the Director of the Survey, Sir W. E. Logan, it contains 
communications from Mr. Murray, Mr. Richardson, aud Mr. Hunt ; 
together with valuable lists, by Mr. D’Urban and Mr. Bell, of the 
animals and plants met with in special districts of the Lower Pro- 
vince. These, with other lists of the same kind previously published, 
although forming at present merely isolated contributions to our 
knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of the country, will be found ulti- 
mately of great use. We miss, in this Report, the usual communica- 
tion of Mr. Billings; but the subject matter of the Palzeontological - 
Report for the year in question, comprising a monogram on the Devo- 
nian Corals of Western Canada, has already appeared in the pages of 
the Canadian Journal, and will be published, we understand, with 
additional matter, in one of the forthcoming issues of the Survey. 
Sir William Logan’s Report contains the details of an extended 
exploration of the bands of crystalline limestone in the counties of 
Argenteuil and Ottawa, examined by him, in part, during the preced- 
ing year. These details are chiefly, and necessarily, of local in- 
terest, but they contribute much to a correct knowledge of both the 
geographical and geological features of that portion of the Province. 
In addition, for example, to the accurate delineation of about twenty 
miles of the River Rouge, beyond the area at present surveyed, the 
position and form, to quote from the Report, of thirty-two tributary 
lakes of various sizes were determined, some being upwards of six 
miles in length. But nothing can demonstrate more effectively the 
value of our Geological Survey, than the following observations— 
