368 Eevieivs — Peach and Home — Scotch Volcanic Mocks, etc. 



III. — The Old Eed Sandstone Volcanic Rocks of Scotland. By 

 B. N. Peach and J. Hoene. [Trans. Eoy. Soc. Edinburgh, 

 Vol. XXXII. Part 11. pp. 359-388.] 



THE authors observe that the most interesting feature connected 

 with the Old Eed Sandstone formation in Shetland is the 

 evidence of prolonged volcanic activity in those northern isles. The 

 records of this activity are mainly confined to the west and north- 

 west portions of the Mainland and the islands adjoining the western 

 seaboard. They may be grouped into two divisions. — first, the 

 contemporaneous igneous rocks, comprising the lavas and tufi's 

 which were erupted and spread over the sea-floor during the accu- 

 mulation of the sedimentai-y deposits; second, the intrusive igneous 

 rocks, which were injected at a later date, probably towards the 

 close of the Old Eed Sandstone period in Shetland. In the penin- 

 sular tract of Northmavine, west of Hillswick, there is an important 

 development of ancient lavas and tuffs, which attain a thickness of 

 not less than 500 feet. The absence of any intercalations of sand- 

 stones, flagstones or shales, save near the fault at Brei Wick and 

 Eooeness Voe, indicates that the subaqueous eruptions must have 

 been well-nigh continuous for a time in that portion of the basin. 



On the eastern seaboard the following order of succession in the 

 strata was established : 



5. Flaggy series of Bressay and Noss, consisting of alternations of 

 sandstones, flags, and shales. At the base of Noss Head there is 

 a zone of dark calcareous shale with limestone nodules, which has 

 a striking resemblance to the well-known fish-bed of the Moray 

 Firth basin. 



4. Lerwick series, consisting of massive false-bedded sandstones, 

 which throughout are markedly conglomeratic. 



3. Eovey Head conglomerates. 



2. Bi'enista series, consisting of well-bedded red flags. 



1. Basement breccia. 



Observations on the microscopic characters of the rocks show 

 that the porphyrite and diabase lavas of Shetland are akin to the 

 great volcanic series of Lower Old Eed Sandstone age in Central 

 Scotland. 



Two beautifully executed chromolithographic plates of rock- 

 sections, and a geologically coloured map of the Shetland Islands 

 accompany this memoir, which is also illustrated by fourteen wood- 

 cuts in the text. 



IV. — Walks in Epping Forest. Edited by Percy Lindlet. 

 [The Geology of the Forest-District, by Horace B. Woodward, 

 F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of England.] London : 

 1885, long 8vo. with 36 illustrations and a folding-map. Sold 

 at 123-125, Fleet Street, E.G., and at all Booksellers. 



HAVE you ever been to Epping Forest ? If you have not, it is 

 certainly worthy of a visit. Just imagine ! that in 1885 there 

 actually exists, within half an hour of the Bank of England, an 



