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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1866. 



nearly dead. I was not long in extricating her 

 from her perilous situation, and a little warmth soon 

 revived her; and on restoring her to her loving 

 subjects they immediately began to lick her, and she 

 soon retired out of sight. I never saw the queen- 

 bee at the feeding-pan before. — P. P. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Shale Heap. — What is a shale heap ? And 

 what possible interest does it present worthy the 

 attention of the readers of Science-Gossip ? To 

 the first question I answer : A large heap of refuse 

 will be found at all collieries ; but the shale heap is 

 only found at those collieries working the low main 

 led of coal, and is formed principally of the black, 

 slaty stone — hence its name — which immediately 

 overlies the above-mentioned bed of coal, varying 

 in thickness at different collieries in this district. 

 It will be found at Dudley and the Cramlingtons to 

 run about two inches in thickness, although I have 

 fell in with pieces at Newsham Colliery more than 

 four times that thickness. To the second question : 

 The shale heap is interesting to the naturalist and 

 the collector of fossils for microscopic objects. 

 Vegetable fossils will occasionally be met with, but 

 it consists chiefly of fish remains, such as jaws, 

 spines, teeth, scales, and loose bones. Por a very 

 obvious reason, jaws and spines are not so readily 

 met with as teeth and loose bones. Some very fine 

 specimens, however, of jaws have been found, vary- 

 ing considerably in the number of teeth attached to 

 them; but when ground and mounted, and examined 

 through the microscope, present a most beautiful 

 and interesting object. In no instance have I found, 

 in my few years' experience as a fossil seeker, among 

 this shale the slightest trace of the impression of a 

 fish; while in the thiu dark blue layer of stone, 

 which crops out at the crag near Cullercoats, they 

 appear to be common ; the impression found there 

 is planted on the stone in a most excellent manner. 

 But no jaws, teeth, or scales, to the best of my 

 knowledge, are found there. On two occasions, 

 lately, parties of gentlemen from Newcastle and 

 South Shields paid a visit to the shale heaps at 

 Dudley and the Cramlingtons, with leather bags 

 suspended from shoulder, hammer and chisel in 

 hand, splitting and breaking, and splitting again 

 until a bone, tooth, or jaw was found, which was 

 immediately lagged, with as much interest as a 

 disciple of Izaak Walton would creal a member of 

 the finny tribe just drawn from its native element, 

 to the no little amusement of the youngsters, and 

 to the utter amazement of several of the seniors of 

 the colliery village, as to what the gentlemen could 

 want or find among the black stones on the pit 

 heaps, although there are others courteous and 

 willing to assist them whenever they come. — John 

 Sim, miner, If est Cramlwgton Colliery. 



Objects in Tumuli. — Various small objects, 

 entire and perforated, have been met with iu 

 tumuli. They are made of different materials, and 

 were chiefly used as ornaments. They might, how- 

 ever, have been sometimes employed for purposes 

 of exchange, as beads are still used in the slave 

 trade in Western Africa. Among Roman remains, 

 as at Richborough, beads and buttons, in various 

 coloured glass, have been picked up in some 

 quantity. The ancient Britons were accustomed to 

 select objects already perforated, as the Dentalium, 

 a cylindrical marine shell, which they strung to- 

 gether to form necklaces— a neck ornament of this 

 kind, with a bronze dagger and clay beads, having 

 been discovered not long since, in a tumulus at 

 Winterbourne Stoke, near Salisbury. In company 

 with Bentalia, joints of the stem of a Peniacrinite, 

 a fossil Echinoderm of the Hampshire chalk, were 

 found in a tumulus near Salisbury ; and a Diadema, 

 a fossil Echinus from the chalk, was also found in a 

 barrow in the same neighbourhood. It is now iu 

 the possession of the Rev. E. Duke, and, as it is 

 perforated, was doubtless worn by its former pos- 

 sessor to decorate the person. Beads of jet and 

 amber are sometimes fouud in tumuli. The Orbi- 

 tolina glohularis, a smsllforandniferous chalk fossil, 

 often naturally perforated, occurs in drift deposits. 

 They have been mistaken for fossil beads, and were 

 supposed to furnish some proof of man's existence at 

 the remote period of the drift, as the perforations 

 were thought to have been artificially made. The 

 holes, however, when they occur, for there are 

 imperforate as well as partially bored Orhitolince, 

 show the natural structure of the organism, and, it 

 is suggested in the catalogue of the Salisbury 

 Museum, may have occurred from the orbitolina 

 having grown around the stem of some marine 

 plant. I am not aware that these small objects 

 were used as ornaments by the Celtic people, 

 although, from their being commonly met with, it 

 is not unlikely that such was the case. The Celts, 

 like other uncivilized races, doubtless availed them- 

 selves of any pretty natural objects for personal 

 adornment which came in their way, whether the 

 objects were perforated or not.— J. S., St. Mary 

 Bourne, Hants. 



BOTANY. 



An Australian Buku— A kind of burr, not 

 before observed, is likely to become a pest to the 

 wool-growers in Australia. Dr. Mueller gives the 

 following account of it:—" The plant submitted for 

 my inspection is scientifically called Acaena Sangui- 

 sorbce, and is a native of Australia, where it ranges 

 from the southern borders of Queensland to St. 

 Vincent's Gulf. We have no English name as yet 

 established for the plant. The generic word, 



