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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[April 1, 1S6G. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Lower Lias of Somerset.— In a paper read 

 before the Geological Society (Dec. Gth), the Rev. 

 P. B. Brodie described a section recently exposed at 

 Milton Lane, one mile and a half north of Wells, 

 which exhibited the lima beds passing into and 

 overlying the white lias and Avicula-contorta zoue. 

 The author described the section (which was con- 

 structed by Mr. J. Barker and himself) in detail, 

 and showed that the limas series attained here a 

 thickness of 10 feet 4 inches, and the rhsetic beds, 

 including the grey marls, of 18 feet 6 inches ; he 

 was not able to discover any trace of Ammonites 

 planorbis, nor of any of the peculiar limestones in- 

 dicating the " Insect " and " Saurian " zones. He 

 found one fragment of bone-bed lying loose at the 

 end of the lane, and containing characteristic fish- 

 remains ; but though he searched carefully, he could 

 tot find in situ the bed from which it had been 

 detached. — Vide The Reader, December. 



Drift. — Bounded pebbles are not a necessary in- 

 dication of the former presence of the sea. The 

 degree of roundness or angularity will depend upon 

 the nature of the stones, the distance they have 

 rolled, and the length of time the area they occupy 

 remains at a stationary level. In the Midland 

 Counties, drift composed of rounded pebbles, and 

 drift composed of angular flints, graduate into each 

 other on the same horizon. There, also, drift, in- 

 terstratified with beds of sand containing sea-shells, 

 may be seen on the same horizon with, and graduating 

 into, drift, in which no sea-shells have yet been dis- 

 covered. — I). Mackintosh, in Geol. Mag. 



Objects in Tumuli.— I believe Mr. Tate is in- 

 correct in his correction of the name {Orhitolina 

 globularis) and zoological position given by me, in 

 your January number, to the so-called fossil beads. 

 These little fossils were at one time considered as 

 sponges, but they are now placed with the Forami- 

 uifera. In the " Annals of Natural History " for 

 1SG0 there is a complete nomenclature of the Fora- 

 minifera by Messrs. W. K. Parker and T. Bupert 

 Jones, the July number containing the following 

 synonymy of the Orhitolina, with references to the 

 works of the several authors from which the syno- 

 nyms are taken, but which need not be mentioned 

 here : — " Millepora ? globularis, Phillips and Wood- 

 ward, Tragos globularis, Beuss, Coscinopora globu- 

 laris, D'Orb and Morris, is our Orhitolina globu- 

 laris." From this it would appear that Coscinopora 

 and Orhitolina are now cousidered as identical. 

 That Messrs. Parker and Jones are here writing of 

 the true fossil beads is apparent from the next 

 paragraph. "In some of the figured specimens of 

 0. globularis the not unusual hole in the base is 

 indicated. Occasionally individuals are perforated 

 by a more or less irregular tubular cavity. The 

 roundness of the specimens, and their holes and 



tubular cavities, appear to have suggested to the 

 old ' flint folk' of the Valley of the Somme that they 

 might be used for beads ; for such perforated Orhi- 

 tolina; are frequent in the gravel that yields the flint 

 axes." In the " Geologist" (April 22nd, 1SG0) Mr. 

 T. B. Jones published a letter on the same subject, 

 in which he says: "These little fossils have had 

 several names given to them, and they have usually 

 been regarded as sponges ; but in 1S60 my friend 

 Mr. W. K. Parker and myself were led to study 

 them iu the course of our researches on Foramini- 

 fera on account of one curious little form after 

 another coming under our notice from different sea- 

 sands and fossil deposits, all of which were related 

 to Williamson's Patellina on one hand and to 

 D'Orbigny's Orhitolina on the other." He then 

 continues, after stating that they had more fully 

 worked out the subject with Dr. Carpenter, "but 

 we still are fully convinced that, however spongioid 

 it may appear, the Orhitolina globularis is a forami- 

 nifer and a variety of 0. concava, Lamarck." Orbi- 

 tolinse are common in the upper chalk about here ; 

 they are also found in chalk flints, whence they 

 naturally appear in the drift gravel. Perforated 

 specimens are by no means uncommon. I have met 

 with them in various stages of perforation from a 

 small pit to a complete hole; and the Salisbury 

 Museum contains neatly perforated specimens. — 

 J. S., St. Mary Bourne, Hants. 



The Uses of Petroleum. — Besides its utility for 

 light, petroleum has several other uses. In Ger- 

 many it is employed by the tanners ; in England 

 and America it has been experimented upon as fuel 

 for steam engines • it is employed also for keeping* 

 the clay or paste plastic in the fabrication of hard 

 china ; for dissolving chloride of sulphur in the vul- 

 canization of india-rubber ; for cleaning copper or 

 iron, when added to rotten-stone or to blacklead ; 

 for driving away several insects ; for the cure of 

 itch, &c. &c. — Bemardin, Melle, near Ghent. 



Fauna of the Eocene Period. — Mammifera, 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, and mollusks form the 

 terrestrial fauna of the eocene period. In the waters 

 of the lakes, their surfaces deeply furrowed by the 

 passage of large pelicans, lived mollusks of varied 

 forms, and turtles floated about. Snipes made their 

 retreat among the reeds which grew on the shore ; 

 sea-gulls skimmed the surface of the waters, or ran 

 upon the sands ; owls hid themselves in the cavern- 

 ous trunks of old trees ; gigantic buzzards hovered 

 in the air, watching for jlicir prey • while heavy 

 crocodiles slowly dragged their unwieldy bodies 

 : through the high marshy grasses. All these terres- 

 j trial animals have been discovered in England or 

 in France, alongside the overthrown trunks of palm- 

 trees. The mammifera which lived under the lati- 

 tudes of Paris and London are only found now 

 in the warm countries of the globe. — The World 

 Before the Flood. 



