44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the north end of Lake Nyassa, probably belong to 

 the same period as a similar series which charac- 

 terise Cape geology. The latter have been assigned 

 to the Trias, and it seems that in Triassic times a 

 great line of volcanic action stretched from the Cape 

 by Nyassa, Ugogo, and Kilimanjaro, to Abyssinia. 

 At the north-west of Nyassa we have evidence of 

 later volcanic activity, in the presence of a number 

 of isolated cones, situated in the plain through which 

 the river Jumbaka winds to the lake. Leaving 

 Nyassa and proceeding to Tanganyika we rise again 

 to the top of the plateau, cross over mountains 8000 

 feet high, and then descend to a general level of 

 from 4000 to 60CO feet, passing over clay-slates and 

 schists with intruded masses of granite. Nearing the 

 south of Lake Tanganyika we pass abruptly from 

 these ancient rocks to red and variegated sandstones 

 much hardened and broken. Along the western side 

 there is an almost sheer precipice lowering the al- 

 titude from 5000 to 3000 feet. This, and other 

 appearances, indicates the presence of a great fault, 

 of which the one previously noticed is probably an 

 easterly extension. Still proceeding along the lake, 

 and after crossing the Tchansa mountains, the sand- 

 stones in the country of Ugenha are more seen. 

 These sandstones, which have an extension over a ; 

 large area, were probably formed in an enormous 

 lake. A similar lacustrine series of rocks, occurring 

 in Cape Colony, have been assigned to a period not 

 later than the Trias, and the Tanganyika sandstones 

 probably belong to the same era. 



Liverpool Geological Society. — Part ii. of 

 vol. iv. of the Proceedings of the above Society has 

 been published, containing the following papers, in 

 addition to the Address of the President (Mr. William 

 Semmons), "On the Carboniferous Limestone near 

 Skipton, and in North Derbyshire," by Mr. Ricketts, 

 M.D., F.G.S. ; "The Glacial Beds of the Clyde and 

 Forth, by Mr. T. Mellarde Reade, C.E., F.G.S. ; 

 "Notes on Human Skeletons and Traces of Human 

 Workmanship found in a Cave at Llandudno," by Mr. 

 Eskrigge, F.G.S.; "Memorandum on the Remains 

 found in the same Cave," by Professor Dawkins, 

 F.R.S. 



Occurrence of the Opiiiderpeton in Scot- 

 land.— At a recent meeting of the Natural History 

 Society of Glasgow, Mr. John Young, F.G.S., 

 exhibited a curious comb-like organism from the 

 black -band ironstone shales of the Airdrie coal-field. 

 It was identical with the " Kammplattin," of Professor 

 Fritsch, recently figured and described in his Mono- 

 graph of the gas coal and limestone of the Bohemian 

 Permian formation, and referred by him to the genus 

 Ophiderpeton of Huxley. Should this identification 

 be verified by finding other portions of the skeleton, 

 this will be another addition to the fauna of the 

 Lanarkshire coal-fields. 



A SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 



A brave Dublin professor would e'en make a trial 



To trip up those " duffers," believers in Lyell ; 



The subject he chose — he knew how to time it — 



Was Bournemouth and its Eocene climate. 



For a Gardner — just the reverse of supine — 



In its rocks had discovered a Moreton Bay pine, 



Or, to speak more exactly, it was his belief. 



If not quite a tree, yet he'd spotted a leaj. 



The clever professor sees proof in these trees 



The climate was hotter full twenty degrees ; 



For this pine will not flourish nor even keep green 



Unless it has seventy degrees as a mean. 



" A thermometer, ' self-registering,' " I strictly opine 



Is this wonderful species, the Moreton Bay pine ! 



No redistribution of land or of sea 



Will ever account for this wonderful tree ! 



But Duncan ! he heard it !— it was not a knell — * 



No, as he expressed it, 'twas naught but a "sell ; " 



So, writing to Haughton, says " Sir, you may view 



Just under my window a clump of bamboo. 



Now this to the future geologist known. 



Will prove that we lived in the torrid zone ! " 



Says Haughton to Duncan, " Your reasoning is horrid; 



'Tis the s/eeies will say if the climate was torrid ; 



Your proof of my figures, sir, cannot be finer. 



For bamboos, let me tell you, are common in China." 



So raged the discussion, in dogmatic fever, 



When down comes a letter from Ingram of Belvoir 



To say, in this place, in proportions fine 



Is growing this truly remarkable pine. 



Thus the learned professor, as all now must see. 



Is pretty considerably " up his own tree ! " 



— A Conifer. 



The Constitution and History of Grits 

 AND Sandstones. — An important paper on this 

 subject has just been read before the Geological 

 Society, by Mr. J. A. Phillips, F.G.S. The author 

 described the microscopic and chemical structure of a 

 large series of grits, sandstones, and, in some cases, 

 quartzites, of various geological ages, noticing finally 

 several sands of more or less recent date. The 

 cementing material in the harder varieties is com- 

 monly, to a large extent, siliceous. The grains vary 

 considerably in form and in the nature of their enclo- 

 sures, cavities of various kinds and minute crystals 

 of schorl or rutile not being rare. The author drew 

 attention to the evidence of the deposition of 

 secondary quartz upon the original grains, so as to 

 continue its crystal structure, which sometimes 

 exhibits externally a crystal form. This is frequently 

 observable in sandstone of Carboniferous, Permian, 

 and Triassic age. Felspar grains are not unfrequently 



" Hear it not, Duncan ; for it is a knell 

 That summons thee to heaven or to VAX."— Macbeth. 



