REVIEWS 657 



The Sarre fields can only contribute some 22 per cent of the needed coal, 

 so that with the restoration of Lorraine Annexee, France holds much 

 smaller coal reserves than either Germany or Great Britain. 



In the Westphahan field of Germany the coal is close to tidewater 

 and is connected by rail and by waterways with the iron and steel 

 centers of Lorraine and Belgium. The district produces about half of 

 the total German output of pig iron, and in 19 13 some 45 millions of 

 tons of Lorraine ore were smelted there. About 180 coal mines are 

 operated. The Sarre coals lie near the Lorraine field — some thirty 

 kilometers east — but are far inferior in coking qualities to those of 

 Westphalia. There are from 27 to 32 workable seams, aggregating 

 about 40 meters in thickness. The total reserve, estimated to a depth 

 of 2000 meters, is about 16 million tons. The coal cokes but poorly, 

 yielding on the average 50 per cent coke; in blast furnace practice, 

 therefore, it is customary to make the charge of equal quantities of Sarre 

 and Westphahan fuel. The Sarre coal is really best used for steam, gas, 

 and domestic purposes. 



There are no large coal reserves in Belgium, excepting possibly in 

 the Campine Basin. The Campine coals, after development has pro- 

 ceeded a little further, may, with the Sarre, supply enough coal for all 

 the Lorraine ores; but in an open market, they could not compete suc- 

 cessfully with the higher grade Westphahan coal. 



Luxemburg bears reserves of iron that should last about thirty-five 

 years. It Supports large furnaces; there were in 1913, forty-six blast 

 furnaces and six steel plants. Of the six large corporations that control 

 most of the stock, four are German, one Belgian, and one mixed capital. 



The entire compilation is to be commended, first for its purpose 

 — the application of economic facts to international problems — and 

 second for its accuracy and completeness. Two good maps illustrate 

 the geographic relations of the coal and iron districts in question; many 

 graphs, tables, and diagrams make the salient points doubly clear. 



C. H. B., Jr. 



The Earlier Mesozoic Floras of New Zealand. By E. A. Newell 

 Arber, M.A., Sc.D., F.G.S., F.L.S. Wellington: New Zealand 

 Geological Survey, Palaeontological Bulletin No. 6, 191 7. 

 Pp. 72, pis. 14. 



This memoir is concerned with an account of the earher Mesozoic 

 floras of New Zealand, with which very httle work has hitherto been 

 attempted. A majority of the species described are new. One result 



