i66 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



That geologists are well acquainted with the fact, 

 that materials may be "pushed up from below [i.e. 

 from the sea-bottom\ by some lateral or other 

 pressure," is shown by a note in Dr. A. Geikie's Text 

 Book, 2nd edition, p. S97, in which we read, " Mere 

 fragments of marine shells in a glacial deposit need 

 not prove submergence under the sea ; for they may 

 have been pushed up from the sea-floor by moving 

 ice, as in the case of the shelly till of the west of 

 Scotland, Caithness, Holderness, and Cromer." 

 Professor II. Carvill Lewis, speaking of what he 

 terms the Irish Sea Glacier, says, "South of 

 Manchester it contains flints and shell-fragments, 

 brought by the glacier from the sea-bottom over 

 which it passed." British Association Report, 1887, 

 p. 692. To suppose, however, that most deposits 

 called glacial are merely scrapings from the sea- 

 bottom is to ignore the abundant evidence afforded 

 by those boulders, the origin of which can be traced. 

 Dr. Keegan continues, "there is little or no evidence 

 of local glaciers, or indeed of ice chiselling of any 

 kind." On this point I can speak from personal 

 knowledge, as I formed one of a party of the British 

 Association which visited the island in September 

 1887. At Scarlet Point, to south of Castletown, a 

 •considerable, slightly sloping surface of carboniferous 

 limestone has been exposed by removal of the surface- 

 soil, in a large quarry close to the shore. On the 

 limestone are unmistakable glacial striae, the direction 

 of which two observations gave as E. 35° N. and 

 E. 37J N. (corrected 21 for magnetic declination). 

 I have a piece of the striated limestone. At Port 

 St. Mary, on the outer side of the shore end of the 

 new concrete pier, even more distinct glacial striae 

 were observed, on the carboniferous limestone, which 

 slopes towards the sea. The average direction of 

 the striae is E. 33 N. This is within 2° to 4*° of 

 being the same as that observed at Scarlet Point. 

 In both cases several square yards of rock were 

 covered with striae. From the beds immediately 

 overlying the limestone at Port St. Mary and from 

 within 3 or 4 feet horizontally and vertically of the 

 striae, I have obtained a rounded and well-scratched 

 boulder, 4! inches long, and weighing 1 lb. 13 oz. 

 These facts are, I think, sufficient to show that the 

 Isle of Man has suffered some glaciation. The 

 beautifully rounded and undulating outlines of the 

 hills suggest the same thing, although Mr. H. B. 

 Woodward says (Geol. of England and Wales, 2nd 

 edition, p. 79), "In consequence of its want of 

 durability, the mountains of this [Skiddaw] slate, as 

 John Phillips remarked, have smoother contours, 

 more uniform slopes, and a more verdant surface 

 than those of the Borrowdale Series." Not all the 

 clay-slate of the Isle of Man, at any rate, appears to 

 be wanting in durability, judging by the excellent 

 state of preservation of the Runic crosses at Kirk 

 Braddan, which are supposed to date from between 

 a.d. 1 170 and 1230. The ice at Scarlet Point and 



Port St. Mary no doubt travelled from a north- 

 easterly, in a south-westerly direction, as Cumming, in 

 his geologically useful, though old, work called 

 "The Isle of Man" (Van Voorst, 1848) mentions 

 some transported blocks or boulders, the parent rock 

 of which was known, as having travelled in that 

 direction. — Bernard Hobson, B.Sc. { Vict.) Man- 

 chester, May loth. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



British Aciiatin.e. — In Catlow's "Popular 

 Conchology," page 17S, it is stated with regard to 

 the Achatina;: — "Two small species, Achatina 

 acicula and Achatina octona, are found in England, 

 among the roots of trees, etc." Does any reader know 

 anything of Achatina octona ? — Francis B. Long, 

 Burnley. 



Night-Flowering Convolvulus. — I have before 

 me " A Tour round my Garden," translated from the 

 French of Alphonse Karr by the Rev. J. G. Wood, 

 1S56. On page 65 I read "The Convolvulus does 

 not expand its flowers till the night is pretty far 

 advanced," and again, page 143, " Convolvulus, whole 

 flowers close and fade as soon as they are touched by 

 the sun." What species of Convolvulus blossoms by 

 night, as is here stated ? — Julie Hodgson. 



Remarkable Frost Phenomenon. — About the 

 1 2th January there occurred here a frost phenomenon, 

 a brief notice of which may be interesting to the 

 readers of Science-Gossip. During the week 

 commencing on the 8th, the weather was remarkably 

 mild and spring-like — so mild indeed that my wife 

 and I went down to the coast and spent some 

 delightful days in geological exploration — gathering, 

 amongst other good finds, an ammonite new to the 

 Yorkshire Lias. Towards the end of the week the 

 sun became obscured by a dense fog, though the 

 weather still continued mild. I found on returning 

 home that the fog had been prevalent there also. 

 Some days later, passing over the high ground which 

 separates this parish from the neighbouring parish of 

 Bilsdale, I observed branches of trees broken off on 

 all sides, some of them quite six inches in diameter at 

 the point of breakage. In some cases the tops of 

 spruce firs were broken off, and some smaller trees 

 were broken short off in the stem. Finding a' man 

 mending the road I obtained from him the cause of 

 all this destruction, which had certainly puzzled me, 

 as there had been hardly a breath of wind of late. I 

 found that during the time of the fog the trees on the 

 lower grounds had been dripping with moisture. On 

 the higher ground the temperature had fallen below 

 freezing-point,- and the moisture had continuously 

 frozen on the branches. Near the summit the amount 

 of moisture had been augmented by a breeze drifting 

 it out of Bilsdale. Pointing to quite a small branch, 

 which had fallen with many others upon the road, so 

 as to make it impassable for carriages, the man told 

 me that, when the ice was upon it, he had only just 

 been able to lift it over the wall. — John Harwell, 

 Ingleby Greenhow Vicarage, Northallerton. 



Varnishing Photo Gelatine Dry Plates. — I 

 should be glad to know if white hard spirit varnish 

 would be suitable for varnishing photographic 

 geb.ti.ne dry plates. I have a large quantity of the 



