328 
The American Geologist. 
May, 1896 
the earlier Pliocene, of which parts may still be traced meandering upon 
remaining blocks of the old plateau. Still older drainage systems, of 
which the streams took quite different courses, undoubtedly lie buried 
beneath the volcanic accumulations which are referred to the Miocene 
or middle Tertiary. 
The drift deposits are very extensively developed, and their investiga¬ 
tion opens many questions of great interest relative to changes of alti¬ 
tude of the land and methods of origin of the various formations. 
Beneath the drift, the bed-rocks are of Miocene age (upper and lower 
volcanic groups), Oligocene (the Cold water group), Cretaceous (the 
Queen Charlotte Islands formation), Triassic and Jurassic (the Nicola 
formation), Carboniferous (the Cache Creek series), and Cambrian (the 
Adams Lake and Nisconlith series), besides metamorphic and plutonic 
rocks. 
Auriferous placer deposits of much importance are found in the valleys.. 
During all the series of changes in the drainage of the region, the gold 
particles washed by the streams from the Cretaceous and Tertiary con¬ 
glomerates and gravels have become gradually more concentrated in 
the gravels of the modern and present rivers, and these are the only 
placer beds which thus far have been worked. w. u. 
Complete Geography. By Alex Everett Frye. (Pages 184, with 
an atlas of 24 page plates of maps.) Supplement: The New England 
Stales. By William Morris Davis. (Pages 31, including larger maps, 
of these states.) Boston, Ginn and Co., 1895. A most noteworthy 
feature of this new and excellent text book for schools is its profusion 
of instructive engravings from photographs, many of which are from 
the Gardner collection in Harvard University. Nearly all of these pic¬ 
tures are here used for the first time in a school geography. The group¬ 
ing and relative areas of mountains, plateaus, and plains, on each 
continent, is displayed by so-called “ relief maps,” based on photographs 
of models. The geologic processes of elevation and subsidence produc¬ 
ing continents, mountains, and ocean basins, and the agencies of erosion 
by which the lands have been sculptured to their present forms, are 
clearly although briefly characterized; and much attention is also 
given to climatic conditions and the causes of their diversity. These 
parts of the work were based on manuscripts of Prof. Davis ; and in 
his description of New England, pupils are further taught not only in 
geography, but also in geomorphology and meteorology. The maps 
comprise one series in the text for illustration of the principles of 
the science, and for study with the lessons on successive regions ; and 
at the end of the work, a second series, on a larger scale and with more 
details, is inserted for reference. w. u. 
Summary Report of the Geological Survey Department [of Canada ] 
for the year 1895. By George M. Dawson, Director. (Pages 154; Ot¬ 
tawa, 1896. Price, 10 cents.) The expenditure for this survey during 
1895 was $117,581.72, of which $18,400 were for printing and lithography. 
Twenty-six majis were issued, including fourteen sheets of the geologi- 
