GEOLOGY. 251 



and ceased towards the end of the Middle or beginning of the 

 Upper Neocomian. The passage of the Upper Oolite into the 

 Wcalden and that of the Wealden into the Upper Neocomian 

 were gradual. Fresh-water deposits were formed continuously, 

 but not contemporaneously, over the whole area of the Wealden, 

 so that in the north-west we find only the lower beds represented 

 and in the south-east only the upper ones, while in the central por- 

 tion we find the whole series complete. In the little marine 

 band of Punfield, only 21 inches high, we have the representa- 

 tive of a portion of the middle iSTeocomian, a formation found else- 

 where in England only in the middle of the Speeton clay and in 

 Lincolnshire. The fauna of the marine band of Punfield has 

 very striking affinities with that of the coal-bearing strata of east- 

 ern Spain (which are more than 1,600 feet thick), and especially 

 with the middle portion of that series. The North German 

 AVealden, which is quite unconnected with that of England, is not 

 strictly contemporaneous with the latter, for while it appears to 

 have commenced at about the same period, its duration was 

 considerably less, it having terminated the close of the Lower 

 Neocomian. British Association, Liverpool Meeting. 



British Fossil Corals. Professor P. M. Duncan, in a Report 

 on British Fossil Corals, says that the distinction between the 

 palasozoic and the later coral fauna) is not proved to be as exact 

 as has been supposed, and that the aporose and perforate corals 

 exist in the paleozoic rocks as well as the rugose and tabulate 

 forms, which latter have closely allied living analogues. 



Kent's Cavern. The Kent's Cavern Exploration Committee of 

 the British Association reported at the Liverpool meeting that 

 they had, during the past year, explored the only remaining un- 

 explored portions of the eastern division of the cave. The south 

 Sally Port (so-called) has a south-east direction into the hill and 

 away from the hill-side ; it occupies a space of 80 by 40 feet. It 

 was filled, first, with a red cave-earth from 12 to 20 inches thick; 

 second, with a stalagrnitic floor from 1 to 24 inches thick; third, 

 with a cave earth of unknown depth, but exceeding 5 feet. The 

 excavations yielded a large number of bones (including those of 

 several birds and a few fishes), portions of antlers and teeth, 

 more or less perfect, in some cases attached to the jawbone; 

 there were also found wings and elitra of beetles. The teeth found 

 belonged to the horse, hyena, rhinoceros, bear, sheep, badger, fox, 

 rabbit, elephant, deer, lion, ox, hare, and pig. A number of flint 

 implements were also discovered. The north Sally Port is some- 

 what larger, covering an area of 84 by 86 feet, and opens in the 

 eastern slope of the hill. The disposition of the floor-layers and 

 of the animal remains is similar to that in the south Sally Port. 



Gold in Scotland. Dr. Bryce has found that the matrix of the 

 gold in the Scottish gold fields is a granite which, being crushed, 

 gives evidence of the presence of gold, although the amount is too 

 small to make its extraction profitable. 



Platinum in Lapland. In a letter dated Stockholm, Mav 11, 

 1870, Professor Nordenskiold announces the finding of platinum 

 among the gold collected the last summer in considerable quanti- 



