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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The new one is to be found on the under-side of the 

 leaf of PetasUes vulgaris, known in this district as 

 Butter-burr, and in some parts of the country is 

 called wild rhubarb. The other new fuugus 

 referred to in Science-Gossip last month, and 

 which I found at Chelford, Cheshire, 1 don't expect 

 to meet with until mid- winter. I may add that I 

 found Uromyces ficaruv and ^cidium ranuncula- 

 cearum on the 25 th March ; these dates being un- 

 usually early. — Thomas Bnttain. 



GEOLOGY. 



New Fossil Butterfly. — The American Natu- 

 ralist for March states that Mr. S. H. Scudder has 

 discovered a new genus of fossil butterfly from Aix, 

 which was deposited in the Marseilles Museum. 

 The name giveu to it "is Sati/rites lieynessii. The 

 specimen consists mainly of the two fore wings, 

 the venatioa of which is very distinct. This but- 

 terfly is of the foi'ui and has the general appear- 

 ance of Portlandia, although it is more nearly 

 related to the East-Indian genus Debis. Butterflies 

 allied to Indian species have been found fossilized 

 in the miocene beds of Croatia. 



FRA.NCE DURING THE JuRASSIC PERIOD. — M. 



Saporta has come to the conclusion, from a careful 

 examination of the fossil plants of the Oolitic or 

 Jurassic epoch in France, included cquisetums, 

 ferns, conifers, and cycads, that that country en- 

 joyed a mean temperature of 25° Centigrade — 

 nearly the same as that now prevailing in tropical 

 countries. 



Fossil Fish in Palestine,— Under the above 

 heading, a correspondent (G. F. Warner) in last 

 month's Science-Gossip, quotes a passage from an 

 early history of the Crusades, descriptive of a stone 

 from the neighbourhood of ancient Sidon, which in- 

 closed a' fossil fish ; and he wishes to knovir whether 

 there is modern evidence as to sucii remains being 

 still found in Palestine. It will interest him, and 

 possibly some of your readers, to know that the 

 evidence is abundant and conclusive that many 

 genera and species of fossil fishes abound in the 

 rocks of the Lebanon. They have been figured 

 and described by many authors, but chiefly by 

 De Blainville, Agassiz, Kotschy, Keckel, Pictet, 

 Humbert, Egerton, and others. The fossils are 

 found in a limestone, which is easily split in the 

 direction of its bedding, and it is referred to the 

 Lower Cretaceous period. In nearly every layer 

 a scale, or a bone, or a fish, in a more or less 

 perfect state of preservation, may be found. The 

 colour of the stone is yellowish ; tliat of the organic 

 remains (which include some sm.all Crustacea as 

 well as fish) is a rich reddish-brown. Examples are 

 far from uncommon in which the profile of the fish, 

 with the l)ones and the fln-rays in their normal 



position, are most perfectly conserved ; and occa- 

 sionally groups of many individuals occur. Among 

 the species arc representatives of three "of the four 

 orders of fishes as founded by Agassiz ; viz., Placoid, 

 Ctenoid, and Cycloid; and probably among the un- 

 described species, of which there are several, a 

 Ganoid may be discovered. More than fifty well- 

 authenticated species have been described ; those 

 belonging to the Cycloid order are the most 

 numerous, there being no less than nine species of 

 Clupea or Herring. Specimens have for many years 

 been preserved in public museums and in some 

 private collections, both at home and abroad. The 

 British Museum possesses a fair collection of tliese 

 remains, among which is exhibited a specimen pre- 

 sented long ago to that institution by the eccentric 

 Lady Hester Stanhope, who resided for many years 

 in the Lebanon ; and also some fine examples, some 

 being new forms, from a large series collected by 

 the B,ev. H. B. Tristram during his scientific explo- 

 rations in Syria and Palestine. If your correspon- 

 dent desires further information respecting this 

 subject, I would refer him to Pictet and Humbert's 

 " Nouvelles Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles du 

 Mont Liban," 1866, where he will find a summary 

 of all that has been written relating to it.— 7/''. D. 



American Mastodon. — An interesting dis- 

 covery has recently been made in the vicinity of 

 Jauiestown, New York. The remains of a skeleton 

 of Mastodon giganteus was found imbedded in a 

 post-tertiary deposit of peat and marl. The tusks 

 were estimated to be twelve feet in length before 

 they were much disturbed or broken. What is 

 singular is, that, in proximity to the visceral cavity, 

 a mass of undigested food, eight or nine bushels in 

 quantity," was met with. The food consisted of 

 shoots and .twigs of pines and firs. The height of 

 the skeleton is judged to have been fifteen feet, 

 and its length seventeen or eighteen feet. It had 

 six teeth, the largest of which weighed five pounds 

 and a half. 



New Fossil Fish. — Sir Philip Egerton has 

 just described a new genus of fossil fish from the 

 lias of Lyme Regis,' to which i. he has given (he 

 name Prognathodus. Dr. Giinther is of opinion 

 that in its dentition it establishes an additional 

 piece of evidence in favour of the connection between 

 the Ganoid and Chimseroid forms. 



A New Fossil Bird.— Prof. Marsh has de- 

 scribed the skeleton of a large fossil bird, stand 

 ing at least five feet high, which he met with in the 

 Upper Cretaceous deposits of Western Kansas. 

 Although a true bird, it differs widely from any 

 known recent or even extinct form. The name he 

 proposes to give to it is Hesperornis regalis. In 

 many respects, this unique fossil he considers to be 

 most comprehensive in its relationships. 



