178 Revieics — Geology of Oban and Dahnally. 



any reader, even if approaching it for tlie first time ; the language 

 employed is as simple as possible, and the meaning and derivation 

 of all technical terms are stated. The publishers have likewise 

 done their part well ; the printing and general appearance of the 

 book are all that could be desired. 



III. — The Gteology of the Country neae Oban and Dalmally 

 (Explanation of Sheet 45, Scotland). By H. Kynaston, B.A., and 

 J. B. Hill, R.i!^. ; with contributions by B. jST. Peach, LL.D., 

 P.R.S., J. S. Grant Wilson, H. B. Muff, B.A., and E. B. Bailey, 

 B.A., with Petrological IS'otes by J. J. H. Teall, D.Sc, F.R.S., 

 and J. S. Elett, M.A., D.Sc. pp. vi, 184, with 2 text-illustrations 

 and 7 plates. Ordnance Survey OjB3.ce, Southampton, 1908. 

 Price 2s. &d. 

 rPHIS memoir deals with a very interesting and picturesque Highland 

 X district, one which (to quote Mr. Kynaston) " shows a diversity 

 of rock type and structure, combined with a variety of scenic feature, 

 which is seldom seen in any other area of equal extent". Visitors to 

 Dalmally, Loch Awe, and the Pass of Brander, to Taynuilt, Connel 

 Eerry, and Oban, who are interested in the physical features and wish 

 to know something of the story of the rocks, will, however, find very 

 stifif reading in this memoir. The fundamental rocks, the Highland 

 metamorphic schists, limestones, and quartzites, with intruded epi- 

 diorites, occupy the eastern and north-western portions of the area; 

 rugged mountain masses of granite rise in Ben Cruachan to 3,689 feet, 

 and dominate the central and northern parts of the area ; while the 

 great series of volcanic rocks associated with the Old Eed Sandstone 

 and conglomerate of Oban and Dunstaffnage, a series consisting of 

 andesites, rhyolitic felsites, agglomerates, and tuffs, extend over most 

 of the western part of the area. Griacial deposits, raised beaches, 

 and a tiny tract of Carboniferous rocks complete the list of main 

 formations. Again quoting from Mr. Kynaston, " So varied an area 

 can hardly fail to constitute a wide field of geological interest and 

 inquiry, and to afford the materials of problems, metamorphic and 

 igneous, structural and physical, of which we will now proceed to give 

 some account in the following chapters." As a matter of fact, eight 

 of the fourteen chapters are almost wholly petrological, and they 

 make up about three-fourths of the volume. They contain matter of 

 more than local interest with regard to the subjects of folding and 

 progressive regional metamorphism, and of contact metamorphism ; 

 and in the accounts of the Kentallenite of Glen Orchy, and of the 

 Tertiary Camptonites and Monchiquites ; but they appeal essentially 

 to the specialist. 



An excellent view of the Pass of Brander with its screes is given 

 in the frontispiece, and it is interesting to learn that the gorge 

 corresponds with a line of fault, and that it is owing to the gradual 

 excavation of the pass that the waters of Loch Awe are now drained 

 through it instead of finding their way out, as they formerly did, at 

 the south-western end of the loch. 



We are told that the great granite masses of Ben Cruachan and 

 Blackmount " have been intruded into the metamorphic series at 



