HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G O SSIP. 



117 



The Triassic Strata of the South-western 

 Counties. — At a recent meeting of the Geological 

 Society of London, a paper was read by Mr. W. A. E. 

 Ussher, F.G.S. The author maintained that the 

 general thinning-out of the Trias in the South-Devon 

 and West-Somerset area as it is traced northward, of 

 which he adduced evidence, proves that this area was 

 not connected with that of Gloucestershire and the 

 Midland counties until the later stages of the Keuper ; 

 and endeavoured to show by a comparison of sections 

 that the area east of Taunton and south of the Men- 

 dips was not submerged before the deposition of the 

 Lower Keuper Sandstone, and probably not until the 

 later stages of its formation, the Quantocks acting as 

 a barrier dividing the Bridgewater area from the 

 Watchet valley. He thought that a subsidence pro- 

 gressing from south to north led to earlier deposition 

 in South Devon, and to a consequent attenuation of 

 the lower beds towards Watchet and Porlock. Hence 

 the lowermost beds of the Trias of the south coast are 

 much thicker than their more northerly equivalents, 

 and probably were still thicker where the English 

 Channel now flows, some beds perhaps dating as far 

 back as Permian times. The presence of numerous 

 fragments of igneous rocks (quartz-porphyries) in the 

 basement-beds of the South Devon Trias, and the 

 absence of known corresponding rocks in the county, 

 led the author to infer that the cliffs and beds of the 

 early Triassic sea were composed of such rocks, any 

 undestroyed portions of which would probably occur 

 either under the Triassic beds near Dartmoor and 

 between Newton and Seaton, or in the area now 

 occupied by the English Channel. As continuity is 

 evident only in the upper division of the Trias, be- 

 tween the area of Devon and Somerset and that of 

 the Midland counties, and there is no conformity in 

 the former, the author maintained that the upper 

 marls, upper sandstones, and probably the conglome- 

 rate and pebble-bed subdivision of Devon and 

 Somerset, are equivalent in time to the Keuper series 

 of the Midland counties, and that deposition took 

 place in Devon and Somerset between Keuper and 

 Bunter times, bridging over the hiatus marked by 

 unconformity in the Midland counties. 



The Newly-discovered Dinosaurs. — Prof. 

 Marsh has named the new family of gigantic fossil 

 Saurians, recently discovered in the Oolitic rocks of 

 America, Atlanlo-sanridce. One species (A. immanis) 

 had a femur over eight feet long, and, taking a croco- 

 dile as a comparison, Prof. Marsh thinks that A. 

 immanis may have been more than one hundred feet 

 in length ! 



An American Fossil Ceratodus. — Prof. Marsh 

 has recently described the dental plate of a fossil fish 

 belonging to the curious existing Australian genus 

 Ceratodus, under the name of C. Giintheri. It was 

 found in the upper Oolitic deposits of Colorado, and 



is the first specimen of Ceratodus which has been 

 found in America. 



Fossil Insects. — At a recent meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of London, Mr. H. Goss 

 exhibited a collection of fossil insects from the Leaf- 

 ceds at Bournemouth. They had been obtained by 

 M. J. S. Gardner, F.G.S. Among them were 

 numerous Coleoptera and Hymcnoptera, including a 

 finely-preserved anterior wing of CEschua. 



Artificial Albite and Orthose. — In addition 

 to the artificial Corundum, Ruby, &c, which have 

 been made by Messrs. Fremy & Feil, M. Hautefeuille 

 now announces similar artificial reproductions of 

 Albite and Orthose, which have both been discovered 

 in the copper furnaces, both at Mansfeld and in the 

 Hartz. It is supposed they have been formed by 

 sublimation, with the aid of the calcium chloride 

 employed as flux. 



The Geology of Ireland. — A want long felt 

 by all students of Irish geology has been a good text- 

 book. We understand that before the meeting of 

 the British Association in Dublin in August next, a 

 "Manual of Irish Geology," by Mr. G. H. Kinahan, 

 will be published. With the exception perhaps of 

 Sir Richard Griffith, there is no one more competent 

 to write such a book than Mr. Kinahan. The work 

 will have a description of the sedimentary rocks, and 

 also of the igneous, or, as the author calls them, 

 " Eruptive " rocks, chronologically arranged, together 

 with short descriptions of the superficial deposits, 

 minerals, mines, soils, and prehistoric remains, in- 

 cluding the Crannoges, Kitchen-middens, &c. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Birds' Eggs. — " L. W. G." (p. 43) is mistaken in 

 stating that an Act of Parliament has been passed to 

 prohibit the taking of birds' eggs. The taking of the 

 birds only, during the close time, is prohibited by the 

 "Sea-birds' Preservation Act," 1869; the "Wild- 

 birds' Protection Act," 1872; and the "Wild-fowl 

 Preservation Act," 1876. Therefore, no person can 

 "break the laws of the land in this particular," except 

 in the case of eggs protected by the Game Laws. — 

 R. Egerton. 



The Marten {Maries foina). — Modern invasion ot 

 its haunts with axe and gun has rendered this a very 

 rare animal in Cornwall. The capture of a female is 

 thus noticed in the Western Morning News of March 

 15th : — " The marten cat, which is now almost an ex- 

 tinct quadruped in England, has occurred at or near 

 Delabole within the last ten days. It was caught in 

 a gin, and proved to be a female. It is the finest and 

 the most elegant of all the weasel tribe, and it more 

 frequently is observed in trees, along the branches of 

 which it may be seen creeping or jumping after its 

 prey, which consists of birds, squirrels, &c. Its 

 actions are most graceful and elegant, and it is to be 

 regretted that so beautiful a wild animal, which used 

 to be more or less seen in our woodlands, should be 

 extirpated and lost. There are two varieties, not now 

 supposed to be specifically distinct, viz., the common, 



