HARDWICKE'S SC lEN CE- GO S SI P. 



139 



observed. He questioned tlie accuracy of the view- 

 that glacial couditious prevailed at the same time 

 over the whole of even one hemisphere. Mr. 

 Whitaker said the rounded configuration of rocks 

 in Norway he regarded as clearly of glacial origin, 

 but as the effect rather of a great extension of 

 glaciers than of a true polar ice-cap. In Britain the 

 glacial drift towards its southern limit is almost 

 wholly marine, and certainly not due to the action 

 of land-ice, so that it is distinctly opposed to the 

 notion of the southern extension of the ice-cap. He 

 could not believe in the existence of such a cap ex- 

 tending as far as the equator. Mr. Topley remarked 

 that there is no drift in the south of Europe, and 

 that a line running nearly in the latitude of Dover 

 would mark the southern Limit of the drift. 



What is Basa.it ? — Our geological authorities 

 say that basalt is a volcanic production. By a late 

 •analysis (see Geological Magazine for March last), 

 it is found that the Massberg Basalt contains 

 olivine and apatite. The latter is a phosphate 

 of lime, or an earthy material of bones (Kane's 

 "Chemistry") ; the former is a product of salicincj 

 which is formed of the bark and leaves of trees. As 

 a product of decomposition, this basalt yields osteo- 

 lite ; this is a product of phosphorus, which exists 

 in aU animals and a few vegetables. On looking at 

 several analyses of glass, lava, and slag, I find 

 neither of the substances present. As all these may 

 be derived ^from basalt, I should be glad to know if 

 the absence of those materials, osteolite, apatite 

 and olivine, is due to their absence from the material 

 giving the slag, lava, and glass, or whether, as they 

 are animal and vegetable matter, they are lost to 

 the product of basalt by the action of fire ? If these 

 items are convertible into other things by fire, how 

 is it they were not so converted, if basalt originated 

 from igneous action ?—H. P. Malet. 



The Sub-Wealden Boring. — Mr. Henry Wil- 

 lett, F.G.S., has published another letter in refer- 

 ence to the above exploration. He says: — "We 

 have now run through about 400 ft. of Kimmeridge 

 clay. Nearly every inch contains numerous fossil 

 shells in various stages of growth, each of which 

 has been born, has grown, and died. Our little 

 2-inch column has contained several thousands. 

 There is no reason to doubt that this bed of clay ex- 

 tends uninterruptedly beneath Brighton, Chichester, 

 Southampton, Sussex, Hampshire, and Dorset- 

 shire, to Kimmeridge on the west, and beneath 

 Hastings and the English Channel to tbe Boulon- 

 nais district in France, and that throughout the 

 whole of this vast area, the same conditions of birth, 

 life, and death have existed." 



Post-Glacial Animals in Derbyshiee.— At 

 the last monthly meeting of the Manchester Geo- 

 logical Society, Mr. John Plant, F.G.S., exhibited a 



large collection of remains of Bospriams and reindeer 

 recently obtained from Castleton, Derbyshire. The 

 largest bones were portions of the skull, with the 

 horn-cones attached, femora, and vertebrae, all in- 

 crusted with stalagmite. 



NOTES AND aUERIES. 



Cloud of Buttekflies. — On March 13th I 

 heai-d from a fisherman of Worthing a curious fact, 

 which, though it happened some few years ago, 

 seems sufficiently interesting to record. Being 

 about four miles off the coast, opposite Lancing, 

 the W'ind (N.), which had been blowing fresli otf 

 shore all the day, suddenly dropped, and he and his 

 "mate" found themselves in a dead calm. Sud- 

 denly, however, it came on to blow moderately 

 from the S. or S.W., and brought with it a perfect 

 cloud of butterffies, chiefly, 1 should imagine trom 

 his description, "Brassica" and its allies, though 

 he speaks of other coloured butterflies as well, and 

 also of moths and many other insects. So dense 

 was the cloud that the mainsail was literally 

 "smothered" with the insects resting after their 

 flight. The main body, it appears, passed on to the 

 shore, where they astonished the natives of Lancing 

 and also of Brighton by their numbers. My in- 

 formant's own theory is that the north wind of the 

 morning had blown them from our shores out to 

 sea, aud that the south wdnd returned them to 

 shore. But this does not satisfy me. If the north 

 wind had been (which it appears it was not) a very 

 violent one, I could understand a few individuals 

 being carried out, but not a cloud of insects. 

 Whence then came they ? Were they emigrating? 

 And does the fact assist the " blown-over " theory ? 

 — Windsor E. Hamhrough. 



P.S. — A specimen of P. napi appeared on our 

 Parade here soon aficr Christmas-day. 



MiRCO-FUNGi. — In reply to a desire expressed in 

 SciENCE-Gossip for last month, I send the following 

 extract i'rom the " Handbook of British Fungi," by 

 M. C. Cooke: — " Puccinia truncata, 'Iris Brand' 

 Uredo-spores. — Spots yellow, sori small, pale red- 

 brown, oblong and linear, scattered or aggregate, 

 bullate ; spores globose, or broadly elliptic, pale 

 brown. TJromyces iridis, Lev., Cooke M. F., p. 37G. 

 Cooke L. jT., no. 23. Cooke exs. no. 77. Uredo 

 iridis, Eng. FL, v. p. 376. Berk exs., no. 59. 

 Brand- spores. — Spots obliterated; sori oblong, 

 brown surrounded by the scarious epidermis ; 

 spores obovate - oblong, even, attenuated below, 

 upper cell abruptly truncate. — B. aud Br. Ann. N. 

 H., no. 754. Cooke M. F., p. 196. On Iris fceti- 

 dissima, autumn." I have found the brand-spores 

 mixed witli the uredo-spores in the same pustule. — 

 S. A. Baretti. 



Ancient Trees.— In the August and September 

 numbers of Science-Gossip, allusion is made to 

 the Bull Oak in Wedguock Park. If your corre- 

 spondents are not already aware of it, they will be 

 grieved to hear that that very grand old tree came 

 to a sad, I may say an untimely end, a winter or 

 two ago. I have been told by a gentleman who was 

 resident in that neighbourhood, that it was set on 

 fire by some boys, and completely destroyed; but 

 whether this was done by accident, or for mere 

 mischief's sake, I could not learn. 1 saw tlie tree 

 about seven years ago, aud was much surprised to 



