HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



21 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



Discovery of a Conifer in Chalk. — I have 

 recently found in the chalk of our neighbourhood, 

 some interesting specimens of cones in a conifer, 

 allied to Taxus. R. Etheridge, F.R.S., of the 

 British Museum, thus writes:— " The chalk specimen 

 is a cone probably of a Taxus.'' — B, Fiff'ard, Hemcl- 

 Hempstead. 



The Geologists' Association. — The last num- 

 ber of the Proceedings of the above society contains 

 the following papers : — " On Palaeozoic Arcidae," by 

 J. Logan Lobley ; "Notes on Pterodactyles," by 

 E, T, Newton; "Observations on the Natural 

 History of Gypsum," by J. G. Goodchild ; and, 

 ■"The Clays of Bedfordshire," by A. C. G. Cameron. 

 It also contains short reports of the ordinary meetings. 



Preserving Gault Fossils. — I should advise 

 J. H. A. Verinder to apply to his fossils, as soon as 

 possible after they are drj', a thin coat of ' ' Picture 

 Mastic Varnish," using a soft camel's-hair brush. I 

 have now some fossils taken from the gault at Folke- 

 stone nearly twenty years ago, in a perfect state of 

 preservation, whereas those that did not undergo the 

 process, crumbled away in the course of a few 

 weeks. — W. E. Windtis. 



The Underground Geology of London. — At 

 a recent meeting of the Geological Society, Mr. W. 

 "VVhitaker, F.R.S., F.G.S., exhibited a series of 

 specimens from the ,deep boring at Streatham, and 

 made some remarks upon the results obtained, of which 

 -the following is an abstract : — After passing through 

 lo feet of gravel, &c., 153 of London clay, 88J of 

 Lower London Tertiaries, 623 of chalk (the least 

 thickness in any of the deep borings in and near 

 London), 28| of Upper Greensand, and 188J of 

 gault, at the depth of io8i| feet hard limestone, 

 .mostly with rather large oolitic grains, was met with. 

 This, with alternations of a finer character, sandy and 

 clayey, lasted for only 38^ feet, being much less than 

 the thickness of the Jurassic beds, either at Richmond 

 or at Meux's boring. The general character of the 

 bores showed a likeness to the Forest Marble, and 

 the occurrence of Ostrca acuminata agreed therewith. 

 At the depth of 11 20 feet the tools entered a set of 

 beds of much the same character as those that had 

 'been found beneath Jurassic beds at Richmond, and 

 beneath gault at Kentish Town and at Crossness. 

 The softer and more clayey components were not 

 brought up ; the harder consist of fine-grained 

 ■compact sandstones, greenish-grey, sometimes with 

 purplish mottlings or bandings, and here and there 

 wholly of a dull reddish tint. With these there 

 occur hard, clayey, and somewhat sandy beds, which 

 are not calcareous, whilst most of the sandstones are. 

 Thin veins of calcite are sometimes to be seen, and 

 at others small concretionary calcareous nodules; 



but no trace of a fossil has been found. The bedding 

 is shown, both by the bands of colour, and by the 

 tendency of the stone to fracture, to vary generally 

 from about 20° to 30°. In the absence of evidence it 

 is hard to say what these beds are, and the 

 possibilities of their age seem to range from Trias to 

 Devonian. It is to be hoped that this question may 

 be solved, as on it depends that of the possibility of 

 the presence of Coal-measures in the district ; and 

 Messrs. Docwra, the contractors of the works, have 

 with great liberality undertaken to continue the 

 boring-operations at their own expense for at least 

 another week. ' Details of the section will be given 

 in a forthcoming Geological Survey Memoir, in 

 which, moreover, the subject of the old rocks under 

 London will be treated somewhat fully. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The Sunflower. — Are Mr. Lett's observations to 

 be taken as conclusive, and the common belief which 

 Moore gave expression to in the well-known lines, 



" As the sunflower turns to her God when he sets. 

 The same look which she turned when he rose — " 



to be dismissed as a poet's fancy? Dr. M. C. Cooke 

 in his very interesting little book entitled " Freaks and 

 Marvels of Plant Life," referring to heliotropism, 

 observes as follows : ' ' Sir Joseph Hooker says, that 

 when traversing the prairies with Professor Asa Gray, 

 in 1877, he watched the position of the leaves of 

 many hundred plants from the window of a railway 

 car, and after some time persuaded himself that the 

 younger, more erect leaves especially, had their faces 

 parallel approximately to the meridian line. At the 

 same time he says that he convinced himself that the 

 flower heads of the varieties of the great Heliaiithoid 

 Composite, such as that which we call the sunflower, 

 that grew in hosts on the prairies did follow the sun's 

 motion in the heavens to a very appreciable degree, 

 their morning and evening positions being reversed."* 

 A neighbour of my own is a grower of sunflowers. 

 He is a very intelligent and observant man, whose 

 chief delight is the cultivation of his garden. He 

 assured me that he is convinced from careful observa- 

 tion that the sunflower turns towards the sun. I 

 suggested that we should take a turn in his garden, 

 as the sun was shining brightly at the time. Every 

 sunflower, except one, in his garden had the face of 

 its flowers turned towards the south whence the sun 

 was shining at the time. I only mention this as a 

 casual, and, if you please, veiy inadequate piece of 

 evidence and ask you to take it quantum valcat. The 

 subject is so replete with interest that I have felt 

 justified in sending you the above remarks, in the 

 hope that some of your readers, who have time at 

 command, will be induced to make careful obsei^va- 

 tions, and give us the benefit of them. — W. G. 

 IVheatcroft. 



A Good Hunting-Ground for Orchids in 

 Kent. — On very many occasions, both in late 

 spring and early summer, I have spent a consider- 

 able time on the hills and in the woods of Kent — 

 botanizing. In the course of these rambles, the locali- 



* J. D. Hooker, in " Gardener's Chronicle," January 15, 1881 . 



