DURING 1931 the writer had occasion to make several journeys across the western part of the coastal belt of British Somaliland, southward from Zeilah to Buramo, near the Abyssinian frontier.

Recent considerations of health having induced me to spend from five to six months on the continent, I beg to submit tothe readers of the Geological Magazine the result of my notesmade during my journey, which may perhaps prove not entirely uninteresting.

After he had published his account of the geology of the Solomon Islands, Dr. Guppy was good enough to present to the Museum of Practical Geology a series of typical specimens showing the chief varieties of calcareous and argillaceous deposits met with in the islands. This collection includes rocks, washings, picked organisms, with a few microscopic slides, and it constitutes a series very valuable for reference.

The only important fragment of a Pycnodont fish hitherto known from the English Cretaceous Formations, is the portion of head and trunk figured and briefly noticed by Dixon under the name of Gyrodus angustus, Ag. This specimen displays the splenial bones from the oral aspect; some of the vertebral hæmapophyses; and thick scales with a reticulated ornament, covering only the anterior half of the trunk. The ventral ridge-scales also exhibit very conspicuous serrations. The splenial bones are imperfect, but sufficient to show all the essential characters of their oral face; and these elements present the only unique feature in the specimen. It will be observed that, whereas in all Pycnodont splenials hitherto described the dentition reaches the outer border at least in part of its extent, the bone in Gyrodus angustus has a wide toothless outer margin and an attenuated knife-like edge. The two vacuities in this margin shown in Dixon's figure are partly due to accident, partly imaginary, and there is no doubt that the bone forms a continuous whole.

The southern Great Xing’an Range (SGXR), located in the eastern segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is one of the most economically important Cu–Mo–Fe–Sn–Pb–Zn–Ag metallogenic provinces in China. The newly discovered Panjiaduan Cu–Pb–Zn deposit (9.3 Mt; at 1.36% Cu, 2.90% Pb, 3.80% Zn and 38.12 g/t Ag), located in the SE segment of the SGXR, is primarily hosted in fracture zones in volcanic rocks and granodiorite of the Manitu Formation. Four paragenetic stages of metallic mineralization are identified: (I) quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite; (II) quartz-polymetallic sulphide; (III) quartz-galena-sphalerite-argentite; and (IV) quartz-calcite-minor sulphide. The hydrothermal quartz contains three types of primary fluid inclusion (FIs): vapour-rich two-phase liquid-vapour (LV-type), liquid-rich two-phase liquid-vapour (VL-type) and three-phase liquid-vapour-solid FIs (SL-type). Stages I and II contain all types with homogenization temperatures (Th) of 324–386 °C and 276–334 °C as well as salinities of 0.7–38.0 wt% and 0.9–34.7 wt%, respectively, whereas stage III is composed of VL- and LV-type FIs with Th of 210–269 °C and salinities of 0.5–7.2 wt%. Only VL-type FIs occur in stage IV, with Th of 139–185 °C and salinities of 1.6–4.2 wt%. The δ18OH2O and δD values vary from −15.7 to 2.6‰ and −132.7 to −110.2‰, respectively, indicating predominant meteoric water with an initial magmatic source. The He–Ar isotopic compositions of the pyrite inclusions from the Panjiaduan Cu–Pb–Zn veins suggest that fluids were derived from the crust.

Stromatolites found in Karagwe-Ankolean rocks on the Tanganyika-Uganda border occur in siliceous beds associated with cherty and ferruginous breccia without trace of calcareous material. Somewhat similar conditions prevail in beds of the Singo Series of Uganda from which Collenia-type structures have been recorded. Little stratigraphical value can be ascribed to the structures, but they are significant in pointing to the replacement character of some fine-grained siliceous beds which may explain the scarcity of limestone in the Pre-Cambrian sequence of Uganda.

It must inevitably happen sometimes that an author does not quite convey to his readers the whole of his own conception of a subject. It may be perhaps that certain objects in his mental picture are to him so obvious as to be unworthy of emphasis, and he is apt to forget that to his readers no part of the picture is, in the first instance, obvious. From the recent paper by Messrs. A. K. Wells and S. W. Wooldridge (“The Mechanism of Sedimentation Cycles”, Geol. Mag., Vol. LX, December, 1923, pp. 545–50), it is evident that I have failed to convey, to them at least, the whole of my conception of the Anglo-Franco-Belgian Basin. I apologize, therefore, to readers of my Introduction to Stratigraphy for any lack of clarity, and I should like to thank Mr. Wells and Mr. Wooldridge for bringing the matter into the light of day and allowing me an opportunity of stating very simply my ideas, all of them already published, on the geography of the Anglo-Franco-Belgian Basin in Eocene times. Perhaps had my critics, before rushing into print, read pages 278–9 of my book as well as page 267, the occasion would never have occurred.

During a preliminary traverse of the Lower Cretaceous outcrop in the Midlands last June, I visited Faringdon for the first time, and examined the famous sections in the ‘Sponge-gravels.’ My chief aim was to obtain some evidence by which the relative position of these beds in the Lower Cretaceous series might be determined. The greater part of the fauna was so anomalous and peculiar that it afforded little or no assistance towards this purpose, and the only common fossil which gave definite promise of service was the fragmentary Belemnites, which I found in unexpected abundance. It is true that I had previously noticed a few specimens among the Faringdon fossils in the Natural History Museum (from the Caleb Evans’ Collection) and in other public collections, and had seen references to Belemnites in descriptions of the ‘Spongegravels’; but I went with the impression that its occurrence was rare and exceptional, whereas I found that it could be collected plentifully from every pit, though always in a more or less worn and fragmentary condition, and generally encrusted with small oysters, serpulæ and polyzoa, and perforated by marine borers. The scant attention which the fossil has hitherto received is probably due to the prevalent opinion that it is derivative from the Jurassics, but this opinion is almost certainly erroneous, as I shall now try to show.

In the large number of specimens which I obtained only one species appears to be represented, and this species cannot, I think, be matched among Jurassic Belemnites.

About a mile and a half to the east of Llandudno, forming the eastern boundary of Orme's Bay, a range of Mountain-limestone runs from the Little Orme's Head on the coast nearly to Conway, enclosing between it and the Great Orme's Head, to the west, a flat tract of ground, which appears to consist for the most part of Boulder-clay overlain by a more recent alluvium.

The genera Phillipsastræa and Smithia have long been a source of trouble to palæontologists, and since the establishment of the latter genus in 1851, it has been very doubtful in which of the two genera certain species of Corals should be placed. The more extended our acquaintance with the species belonging to both genera became, the more probable it seemed that the distinctions between them were in reality unimportant and insufficient to justify a division into two different genera. It was in fact proposed by Kunth as early as 1870 that both genera should be united under the earlier name Phillipsastræa. It has been stated that Phillipsastræa possesses a columella, while Smithia has none; upon the truth of this statement the retention of the two genera depends. Kunth has denied the existence of such a difference. Nevertheless both genera are still retained. From a careful study of the specimens in the British Museum (Natural History) and in the Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge, I have come to the conclusion that Kunth's opinion is well founded; and in the following remarks I shall further attempt to show that certain species which are still sometimes described as having a true columella do not really possess one.

The valuable paper by Professor Harkness on the Middle Drift deposits of Great Britain does not include a notice of their occurrence in Cheshire. About six years ago, a paper of mine on this subject was published in the Reports of the Geological Society of Manchester. I revert to it again, inasmuch as the only locality little dwelt on by Professor Harkness bears out so thoroughly the chief peculiarity about the beds in question.

It was my good fortune in 1884 to receive two interesting collections of fossil plants from New Zealand, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Professor (now Sir Julius) von Haast, of Christchurch, and Professor T. J. Parker, of Dunedin. In these collections seventeen localities of fossil plants are represented which belong to three formations: the Tertiary, the Cretaceous, and the Triassic formations.

In commencing a new volume the Editors desire to convey their thanks for the generous support they have received during the past year from contributors and subscribers. They still, however, find themselves faced with financial difficulties of a serious nature, arising from the continued increase in the cost of production, For the first half of 1920 a small profit was made, but this was almost wiped oyt by a considerable further rise in the cost of printing in the middle of the year. An important item in expenses is the cost of plates, and they are regretfully compelled to inform their contributors that it will under persent conditions be impossible to produce plates at the expense of the magazine. They feel sure, however, that their friends will not hesitate to incur the expense involved in meeting the cost of the illustrations, which are so voluntarily in the past, and the editors trust that even under the present conditions, that bear so heavily on people of moderate means, they will be able to continue to provide them.

Those who have carefully studied the crystalline schists cannot fail to have noticed that a community of structure—a sort of family likeness—prevails throughout any one group of rocks, while those which occur apparently at different horizons exhibit dissimilar structures. Thus the marbles associated with any group of crystalline schists are coarse or fine in grain, according to the structure of the latter. But to this rule exceptions appear, at first sight, not infrequent. For instance, in the Alps, we find not uncommonly, in that group of schists which seems to occupy the highest position, marbles which present an abnormally compact aspect. On closer examination they prove indeed to be crystalline in structure, but the crystals seem so small, the general structure so compact, that until we find them graduating into typical mica or other schists, we can hardly feel satisfied we are not being duped by infolded limestones of Mesozoic or Palæozoic age.

Kames, åsar, and minor topographical features.—Kames and åsar are usually found associated. Indeed, the one class of elevations shades into the other so gradually that it is sometimes impossible to draw the line between them. Though the kames may occur singly, they are often in ranges of several, perhaps extending for miles. Each is usually elliptical in outline, and its longer axis corresponds in direction with the range. The åsar are frequently intercepted by channels of erosion, by which they are divided into ranges of oblong hills, the direction of which is very nearly the same as that of the kames proper. In Dubuque county, Iowa, where these features have been most thoroughly studied, this direction is about S. 75° E. Within 40 miles south-west from there the direction changes to abut S. 45° E., and in the next 50 miles the direction becomes a trifle west of south; and this is the general direction over the greater part of the region examined.