64 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



reservoir immediately above the town, and near to the 

 Bathgate and Linlithgow road. After yielding a 

 comparatively large quantity of silver it ultimately 

 ceased to give a supply great enough to be remunera- 

 tive, and operations at length were suspended. In 

 1 87 1 further explorations were made, and several 

 deeper pits with numerous ramifications opened, but 

 beyond obtaining a small and unsatisfactory amount 

 of lead, silver, and platinum ore, the venture was 

 unsuccessful, and i the place was finally abandoned. 

 Evidence was, however, adduced during the search, 

 which proved conclusively that the same vicinity had 

 been worked for silver so far back as the 15 th and 

 i6th centuries. The specimens now to be obtained 

 comprise barytes (heavy-spar) calc-spar, pearl-spar, 

 and dolomite, while a closer examination among the 

 seams of friable limestone will be rewarded by the 

 discovery here and there of small pieces of lead ore, 

 zinc ore, and pyrites. The fossils, as we have already 

 mentioned, are very numerous, and almost every stone 

 wall in the immediate neighbourhood bears witness 

 to this statement. But while the specimens are so 



Fig. 51. — Tooth of Rhizodus Hibberti. 



very general it cannot be said that the species are 

 proportionably varied. Productus giganteiis, Cyatho- 

 crinus planus, and Platycrimis lavis are unusually 

 common, the first mentioned being present in such 

 quantities as to cause the rock to be well qualified for 

 the name " Productus " limestone. In fact, it seems 

 more abundant here than in any other series of 

 quarries under our notice, but it is unfortunately 

 very difficult to extract. Other fossils obtainable 

 include Spirifera striata, (comparatively rare in 

 Scotland), Productus sctnireticulatus, and the Polyzoa 

 Fenestella vtemhraiiacca. 



Before taking leave of the carboniferous limestone 

 of the Forth district, it is necessary for us to consider 

 briefly a sub-deposit exposed at Burdiehouse, New- 

 bigging, and other places, to which the terms 



" Encrinital," " Productus," and " Mountain " would 

 be altogether inappropriate, but which must certainly 

 be included under the term " Carboniferous." This 

 deposit, commonly known as the Burdiehouse Lime- 

 stone, was first brought prominently before geologists 

 by the late Dr. Hibbert in 1835. It has a dull, 

 earthy, light blue appearance, is exceedingly hard and 

 brittle, breaks with a conchoidal fracture, and the beds 

 vary in thickness from 20 to 30 feet. Where found, 

 it usually occurs alternating with oil-producing shales, 

 directly above the calciferous sandstones, and to a 

 limited extent contains fossils common to both rocks, 

 notably Sphenopteris affuiis and S. bifida. From the 

 nature of the embedded remains it has been con- 

 sidered to be of fresh-water or estuarine origin. 

 Remains of microscopic Crustacea closely resembling 

 in general structure those at present existing in fresh- 

 water lakes abounding in decaying vegetable matter, 

 occur in myriads.- Teeth of ganoid fish, Rhizodus 

 Hibberti, and of Callopristodon pcctiiiatis, and 

 Nematoptychius sp. are occasionally found, the first- 

 named being usually very perfect. 



Though this formation is particularly enticing to 

 the palEeontologist, it may not be altogether out of 

 place to warn the student against building up a too 

 exaggerated idea of what he may be able to obtain 

 from the rock during a chance visit of two or three 

 hours' duration. It is quite possible that he may 

 succeed in becoming the possessor of a good-sized 

 specimen of tooth of Rhizodus or other fish, but it is 

 equally probable that he may have to remain satisfied 

 with less enticing relics, made up, perhaps, of some of 

 the more common fern remains. If, however, the place 

 visited be Burdiehouse itself, he will be able to find 

 something to reflect upon during his journey back to 

 Edinburgh (five miles) by knowing that the quarry and 

 its contents have been studied by the eminent geolo- 

 gists, Sir Roderick Murchison, Hugh Miller, Agassiz, 

 and Drs. Fleming and Buckland. 



{To be continued.) 



FAMINE IN THE LAND. 



WE may gather from the accounts and papers 

 and " Imperial Gazetteer " that the following 

 were years of famine in India :— 1396 to 1407, 1460, 

 1520, 1629-31, 1650, 1686, 1746, 175s, 1759, and 60, 

 1770, 1773. 1783, 1790-92, 1803, 1807 and 13, 

 1824,1833, 1838, 1845, 1847,1854, i86oand6i, 1866, 

 1869, 1873 and 74, 1876-1878. In the Delhi market 

 the price of wheat, according to Mr. Stanley Jevons, 

 was highest in 1763, 1773, 1783, 1792, 1803, 1809 and 

 12, 1820 and 26, 1834 ; between which dates and 

 the sun-spot series there is a more or less exact coinci- 

 dence, some local displacement being marked by the 

 years 1792 and 1872. Famines in India, then, may 

 be expected at the epochs of most and fewest sun- 

 spots, and corn in particular, where grown, may be 



