SCIENTIFIC NEWS. ff 



At the same meeting, Dr. Ogilby of Dublin read the con- Mineralogy of 

 tinuation of his description of East Lothian, under the ti- East Lothian * 

 tie of Observations on Veins of the newest Floetz-trap of 

 East Lothian. After some preliminary observations on the 

 general geognostic relations of the rocks of East Lothian, 

 and of the precipitation of feldspar in its different states of 

 fineness, from earthy to glassy feldspar, he proceeded to de- 

 scribe the different veins he had an opportunity of examin- 

 ing in this tract of country. These veins he considered as 

 of three different periods of formation; viz. 1. Veins de- 

 rived from partial formations subsequent to the floetz-trap, 

 which however are not of frequent occurrence ; 2. Veins 

 of the different rocks of the formation penetrating the older 

 beds : and, 3. Those of contemporaneous origin. He nyext 

 enumerated and described, after the manner of Werner^ the 

 following veins,—- greenstone, jasper, quartz, heavy-spar, and 

 calc-spar; and concluded with several interesting general 

 remarks. 



At this meeting, also, Mr. P. Neill read some observations Great ce*. 

 on the great sea snake of the Northern ocean. He enu- 8n *ke. * 

 merated and read extracts from the different authors, who 

 have mentioned it,— Ramus, Egede, and Pontoppidan. He 

 remarked, that it was placed, by the latter author, between 

 the mermaid and the kraken, in a chapter which treats on sea 

 monsters; and that, standing in such suspicious company, 

 it had been rejected by naturalists in general as a fabulous 

 creature. He stated however, that, within these few weeks, Onelatelr 

 a vast marine animal, shaped like a snake, and not described driven ashore 

 in the works of systematic naturalists, had been cast ashore * r nejr ' 

 in Orkney. This curious animal, it appears, was stranded in 

 Rothesholm Bay, in the island of Stronsa. Malcolm Laing, 

 Esq., M.P., being in Orkney at the time, communicated 

 the circumstance to his brother Gilbert Laing, Esq., advo- 

 cate, Edinburgh, on whose property the animal had been 

 stranded, Through this authentic channel Mr. Neill re- 

 ceived his information. The creature was dead when it 

 came ashore, and the tail seemed to have been injured and 

 broken by dashing against the rocks. The body measured 

 fifty-five feet in length, and the circumference of the 

 thickest part was equal to the girth of an Orkney poney. 



The 



