HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OS SIP. 



69 



GEOLOGY. 



The Gigantic Land-tortoises from the 

 Ossiferous Caverns of Malta. — This was the 

 subject of a paper lately read before the Geological 

 Society by Prof. Leith Adams. The author 

 described three extinct species of tortoises from the 

 Maltese rock-cavities, one of which was of gigantic 

 proportions, and equalled in size any of the living or 

 extinct land Chelonians from the Indian or Pacific 

 islands. The characteristic peculiarity in the two 

 larger species is a greater robustness of the long 

 bones as compared with the denizens of the Mascarene 

 and Galapagos islands with which he had been 

 eaabled to contrast them. The largest, on that 

 account, he had named T. robusta ; it rivalled the 

 gigantic Testiuio ephippiimi (Giinther) in size, showing 

 affinities to it in a few minor characters. A smaller 

 species, T. Sprattii, and a small Lutremys, not 

 distinguishable, as far as the few remains extend, 

 from the recent Z. etiropcca, besides many fragments 

 of shields of tortoises of various dimensions, had 

 been obtained. These Chelonians were found in 

 conjunction with the remains of the dwarf elephants 

 and other members of the remarkable fauna, col- 

 lected by Admiral Spratt and the author in the 

 ossiferous rock-cavities of Zebbug, Mnaidra, Benghisa, 

 &c. The paper contained a list of the animal remains 

 hitherto recorded from the Maltese fissure-caverns, 

 including three species of dwarf elephants, two 

 species of hippopotamus, two gigantic species of 

 myoxus, a gigantic swan, and other animal remains. 



" The Stone Age in New Jersey." — This is the 

 title of a lengthy paper in the last Smithsonian Report, 

 by Dr. C. C. Abbott, an old and welcome con- 

 tributor to our columns. It is numerously illustrated, 

 and the author makes out a clear history of the 

 ancient people who were driven forth or exterminated 

 by the original " Red Indians." From the evidence 

 here carefully' accumulated and logically worked 

 out. Dr. Abbott shows how, in New Jersey alone, 

 there is abundant proof of the high antiquity of the 

 human race. 



"The Royal School of Mines Magazine." — 

 Parts I and 2 of a new magazine, published by 

 Wyman & Sons, have made their appearance during 

 January and February. It is conducted by students 

 of the School of Mines, and present and past 

 students /urnish the well-written and various 

 literature which fills its pages. There are some 

 capital geological articles by Messrs. F. Drew, C. L. 

 Morgan, and others, and other contributions of a 

 high-class character. We congratulate the students 

 on having made a most creditable literary debut. 



The Geology of Walton-on-the-Naze and 

 Harwich. — The Geological Survey of Great Britain 

 have just issued a short memoir, by W. Whitaker, 

 F.G.S., on this district. It is a most interesting 



neighbourhood for its complicated geology, but Mr, 

 Whitaker has worked out the details with his usual 

 clearness. The details of well-sections and lists of 

 fossils are most valuable. 



How to Strengthen fragile Fossils.— 

 Some Tertiary fossils are remarkable for being not 

 only wonderfully perfect in the rock, but unfortu- 

 nately for being also terribly fragile out of it. By 

 soaking such tender specimens in a little dilute 

 silicate of potash and then warming them gently, 

 they are toughened almost instantaneously and can 

 be handled with impunity.^ — L.A.G. 



Pal^bospalax MAGNUS. — On the l6th of January, 

 1877, I found, at the Runton Freshwater deposit 

 along the Norfolk coast, a perfect lower jaw of the 

 above extinct species of mole, — A. Savin, Cronier. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Early-flowering Ivy. — Passing along a stretch 

 of brick wall thickly invested with ivy, on the 15th 

 of September, I was awakened to the fact, through 

 hearing a sonorous hum overhead, that the green 

 blossom, so pleasing to a host of insects, was yielding 

 its store of honey earlier than usual. This must be 

 ascribed to the intense heat of August, which had 

 hastened the development by two or three weeks. 

 This may be agreeable enough to many of the 

 Hymenoptera, which were put upon "short com- 

 mons " in consequence of the scarcity of wild-flowers 

 through the lack of rain. But, on the other hand, 

 there are various moths to which the ivy-bloom 

 furnishes food, and in a season like the present it 

 does not follow that their emergence from the pupa 

 state will be sooner, to correspond with the flowering 

 of the ivy ; for the growth of spring and summer 

 caterpillars is affected, not only by the temperature, 

 but by the condition of the food-plants. — J.R.S.C. 



Tea-leaves as a Manure.— The value of tea- 

 leaves as a manure for window plants is undeniable. 

 I first became aware of this from the circumstance of 

 a lady friend being unusually successful with several 

 species of lilitim grown in a window. On inquiry 

 she told me that they were mulched frequently with 

 tea-leaves. Acting on the hint, I have found the 

 same material excellent in the case of cyclamens. — 

 Rus in Urbe. 



Mica in the Arctic Regions. — Now that so 

 much interest is evinced in everything relating to the 

 Arctic regions, it may not be unteresting to recall to the 

 minds of yoMX geological readers an incidentof one of the 

 old Arctic expeditions, which has, within the last few 

 months, received corroboration from our enterprising 

 Yankee brethren. Those who recollect the quaint 

 records of Frobisher's courageous expeditions in 

 search of a passage to Cathay round north-west 

 America may remember that in his first voyage in 

 1576, one of the seamen happened to pick up a stone 

 as a memorial of his voyage, and that when his wife 

 " cremated" it as a useless trifle, " it glistered with a 

 bright marquesset of gold," whereupon the gold- 

 finers of London became much excited ; and the 

 thrifty Queen Elizabeth advanced part of the money 

 for a second expedition in 1577. On some of the 

 islands near Frobisher's Strait or Cumberland Land 



