140 



HARDWICKE'S SC 1 E N C E- G OS S I P. 



A few days ago, I saw, in Brockley Combe, Somer- 

 setshire, about two miles from Nailsea, some hundred 

 plants of this neat and uncommon plant. I gatliered 

 some fronds, specimens of which I send. One plant 

 had the fronds re-divided at the apex. I believe 

 that this is the first time this fern has been met 

 with south of Yorkshire, and Somersetshire to be 

 the fourth English county in which it has been seen. 

 Cystopteris fragilis, I found on an old wall close at 

 hand, and on another wall at Cleeve Eoot, a few 

 miles distant. — Nathaniel Evan Bavies, Lewesfell, 

 Clevedon. 



GEOLOGY. 



Antkjtjity op Max in America. — An esteemed 

 American correspondent of Science-Gossip, Dr. 

 Charles C. Abbott, has recently discovered in the 

 river drift at Trenton, New Jersey, in gravel at a 

 great depth, and beneath undisturbed layers of fine 

 sand, three chipped implements, of unquestionably 

 human manufacture, lying close to each other. One 

 has a knife-like form, 9 in. long, made of a reddish- 

 brown stone, compact, laminated, and susceptible 

 of a high polish. The other two bear a consider- 

 able resemblance to common European forms : one 

 is of opaque yellowish quartz, 5? in. long, andU in. 

 in greatest width, the other is a flake of sandstone 

 rock, 6i in. long, 34 in. wide. From the occurrence of 

 such specimens so near each other. Dr. Abbott thinks 

 that we must admit that the antiquity of American 

 man is greater than the advent of the so-called 

 " Indian period." 



Discovery or Elephant Bones in a Staeford- 

 SHiRE Cave. — At a recent meeting of the Man- 

 chester Geological Societ.y, a paper was read by 

 Mr. John Aitken, F.G.S., on an ossiferous cavern 

 recently discovered in the carboniferous limestone 

 in Staffordshire. Mr, Aitken said the cavern in 

 question was to be seen in a rock at Waterhouses, 

 on the bank of the river Hamps, in Staffordshire^ 

 and was exposed in a quarry of limestone at Bank 

 End, belonging to Mr. Charles Braddock. It was 

 discovered about eight years ago, when a quantity of 

 rock having been let down in conducting the opera- 

 tions of the quarry, the presence of a number of 

 bones was revealed among the foreign material, 

 which, upon examination, Mere found to have been 

 derived from a blocked-up subterranean channel which 

 had been excavated. The bones appeared to be 

 part of the remains of an elephant, several teeth, 

 and portions of the tusk of the animal being 

 amongst them. Most of them had been squandered, 

 but Mr. Brockbauk, of Manchester, was fortunate 

 enough to secure a considerable number. Mr. Aitken 

 visited the spot a short time ago, but was too laie to 

 obtain more than a few fragments of the tusk. 

 Since the date of the first discovery not much 



progress had^een made in that part of the quarry 

 until very recently, when a body of rock was again 

 displaced, bringing down with it the included 

 accumulationt of the rock cavity, and exhibiting a 

 section of the cavern five or six feet in advance of 

 the former exposure. On this occasion another lot 

 of bones were brought to light, quite a wheel- 

 barrowful being collected, comprising the pelvis, 

 vertebra, leg and toe bones, ribs, and a jaw, in which 

 were inclosed a number of teeth, together with 

 about twelve or fourteen detached teeth, and nume- 

 rous other bones. The leg bones and several others 

 were large and massive, the former having a 

 diameter equal to that of a man's wrist. The teeth 

 appeared to have belonged to a young ruminant 

 animal, much smaller than the size of the other bones 

 would indicate. 



The Origin of Permian Breccias. — At a 

 recent meeting of the Geological Society of London, 

 Professor Hull described certain breccias occurring 

 in the vicinity of Armagh, which he referred, both 

 on stratiographical and physical grounds, to the 

 Lower Permian saries, considering them to be 

 identical with the "broekram" of Cumberland and 

 the breccias of Worcestershire and Shropshire. The 

 lower beds rest on the denuded surface of the 

 Lower Carboniferous Limestone, and consist of 

 a breccia of limestone pebbles in a reddish sandy 

 paste, sometimes becoming a bedded calcareous 

 sandstone with pebbles. These beds, which are 

 10-12 feet thick, are overlain by soft rudely strati- 

 fied conglomerate and boulder-beds, of subangular 

 and rounded blocks of grit, felspathic sandstone, 

 vein quartz, and limestone. In some 'places the 

 breccia graduates up into the overlying boulder-beds, 

 but sometimes its surface is eroded. These beds 

 are overlain by boulder-clay of the Drift period. 

 Within the city of Armagh well-boriugs, &c., have 

 revealed the existence of New Red Sandstone above 

 the breccia and bouider-beds. In Professor Hull's 

 opinion the only agent which could have brought 

 the blocks of Silurian and Old Red Sandstone age 

 found in the boulder-beds from their place of origin 

 is floating ice. Professor Hull further referred to 

 the extensive denudation which the carboniferous 

 beds have undergone in Armagh, and also alluded 

 to the occurrence of beds of Permian age near 

 Benburb, between Armagh and Dungannon. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Kingfisher's Nest.— On the 23rd of April, 

 1873, 1 had the pleasure of finding a kiugGslier's 

 nest containing seven eggs. Of course, according 

 to the Small Birds' Protection Act, 1 did not disturb 

 it. It was constructed of fish-bones, scales, fleas, 

 lice, &c. As it was m Cheshire, where the king- 

 fishers' nests are not common, i thought I would 

 note the occurrence. — F. A. 



