HARDWICKE'S SCJ EJVCE-G OSS/T. 



"7 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Flint or Stone Implements. — A considerable 

 number of flint and stone implements has from time 

 to time been found on the top of a ridge of fell-land 

 lying between the East and West Allen, about two- 

 and-a-half miles south-west of Allendale town. 

 Although the number now known to be preserved is 

 large, yet the probability is that it does not represent 

 a tithe of those which are lost. Until a few years 

 ago, the country people living in the district were in 

 the habit of picking up these flint implements and 

 taking them home to strike a light for their pipe. 

 The greatest portion of the implements are composed 

 of flint of various colours, white, red, black, Sec, and 

 consist principally of arrow heads of various forms, 

 leaf shaped, stemmed, double and single barbed, and 

 a very few triangular. Some of the double barbed 

 are formed with great exactness ; sharply pointed 

 with serrated edges and chipped to a fineness almost 

 microscopic. The serration is of great precision, 

 showing a wonderful uniformity in size, and occur in 

 about equal numbers on both edges. Scrapers, 

 hatchets, saws, flukes, cores and chippings — the latter 

 three being numerous — have also been found. A few 

 implements of greenstone have also been found. The 

 ground where all these articles have been found 

 is covered with a thin deposit of peat of about a foot 

 or iS inches in thickness, and it is below this where 

 they have been picked up. Similar implements have 

 also been found on some of the adjacent Fells ; for 

 instance, Kilhope Fell, near Bent-Head, Wellhope 

 Fell, Weardale, Langley Mill Fell, Plenmiller Fell, 

 &c. — Dipt 011 Burn. 



The Position of Pterichthys. — In the March 

 number of the "American Naturalist," Professor E. D. 

 Cope gives the results of an examination of numerous 

 specimens of P. Canadensis. He points out three 

 important peculiarities, the presence of a single 

 opening in the middle line above, which is compar- 

 able with the "nasal pouch "of the lampreys ; the 

 absence of orbits, which condition is comparable with 

 that of the lancelet ; and the absence of a lower jaw, 

 in which it agrees with both these types. Professor 

 Cope finds resemblances between Pterichthys and 

 the tunicate Chelyosoma, and thinks that the former 

 genus may have descended from such a type as would 

 be represented by the larva of Chelyosoma, if that be 

 caudate and notochordal as are other Tunicata, and 

 especially if the larva? possess lateral limb-like 

 processes as in the Appendicularia. The tail has 

 been retained in the European form of Pterichthys, 

 but no trace was found of it in P. Canadensis. In 

 view of the single cephalic opening being the mouth, 

 the author considers that this family should be 

 removed from the Craniata to the Urochorda. 

 Among these, it differs from the Tunicata in having 



the anus in the normal position, and he proposes to 

 form a second order of the class to receive it, calling 

 the order Antiarcha. Suspecting that /'. Canadensis 

 should belong to a genus distinct from P. Milleri, he 

 would give it, for the present, Eichwald's name 

 Bothriolepis. 



The Granite and Schistose Rocks of 

 Northern Donegal. — Dr. Callaway, F.G.S., in a 

 paper read before the Geological Society of London, 

 considers the Donegal granitic rocks to be a true 

 igneous granite, posterior in age to the associated 

 schists. No gradation into other rocks was found ; 

 where the granite was in contact with limestone the 

 latter contained garnets. The granite was distinctly 

 foliated, the direction of pressure being perpendi- 

 cular to the planes of foliation. The author then 

 described the schistose rocks of the region, those of 

 the Lough Foyle series, of most of which the semi- 

 crystalline condition was characteristic, being well 

 seen at Londonderry and on Lough Foyle. This 

 series he referred to the Pebidian system. The 

 schistose rocks of the Kilmacrenan series, with 

 intruave granite, were described as crystalline and 

 older than the Lough Foyle group. During the 

 discussion which ensued, Mr. Teall and others ex- 

 pressed doubts as to the sufficiency of lithological 

 composition alone for the correlation of rocks. 



The Relation of Ulodendron to Lepidoden- 

 dron, Sigillaria, &c. — At a recent meeting of the 

 Geological Society of London, a paper by Mr. R. 

 Kidston, F.G.S., was read, in which the author 

 expressed the opinion, that the genus Ulodendron of 

 Lindley and Hutton included several species and 

 even different genera ; the three species which have 

 furnished the specimens, usually described as 

 Ulodendron, being Lepidodendron Veltheimianum, 

 Sternb., Sigillaria discophora, Konig, sp., and 

 .S". Taylori, Carruthers, sp. Fie was of opinion that 

 the ulodendroid scars marked the point of attachment 

 of caducous sessile cones. Mr. Carruthers, in the 

 discussion which followed, considered the organs 

 borne by these scars to be aerial roots, while Professor 

 Boyd Dawkins and Professor Seeley agreed with 

 the author that they probably bore seed or fruit 

 organs. 



A Recent Tertiary Survival? — At the same 

 meeting, a paper by Dr. H. Woodward was read, on 

 " Steller's Sea-cow " {Rhytina gigas = R. Slelleri) a 

 toothless Herbivore which lived along the shore in 

 shallow water. In 1741 it was confined to Behring's 

 Island and Copper Island, but it was believed to 

 have been wholly extirpated by 1780. Dr. Wood- 

 ward regarded Rhytina as a last surviving species of 

 the old Tertiary group of Sirenians, and its position 

 as marking an "outlier" of the group now swept 

 away. 



