HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



117 



wonderful that the heat was not greater in the centre 

 bores. A curious thing is mentioned. The explo- 

 sions in the southern boring were heard in the northern 

 through 400 metres of rock. The details are very 

 interesting. The pamphlet is of fifty pages ; it is an 

 ■extract from " BoUetino del R. Comitate Giologico, 

 for 1880, Nos. 9, 10 ;" Roma, Tip. Barbera.— 

 //. P. M. 



The Upper Greensands and Chloritic Marl. 

 OF THE Isle of Wight. — Mr. C. Parkinson, F.G.S., 

 has just read a paper on this subject before the 

 Geological Society of London. The author described 

 the Upper Greensand as exposed at St. Lawrence 

 and along the Undercliff. At the base of the St. 

 Lawrence cliff there are hard bands of blue chert from 

 which astaciform Crustacea have been obtained ; and 

 quite recently, in a large boulder of the same material 

 lying on the beach, there were found the remains of 

 a Chelonian, referred by Professor Owen to the family 

 Paludinosa, and named by him Plastremys lata. The 

 presence of these freshwater organisms was thought 

 to imply a connection with the Wealden continent. 

 The chert-bed, two feet thick, was regarded by the 

 author as marking the boundary between the Gault 

 and the Greensand. Above it the author described 

 56 feet of compact red and yellow sands, of which 

 the first 20 feet are unfossiliferous, the upper 32 feet 

 show traces of organic remains ; between them there 

 is a fossiliferous zone 4 feet in thickness, containing 

 Ammonites injlatus, A. auritus, and species of 

 Panopsea, Cucullrea, Area, Trigonia, and immediately 

 below this a separate band containing an undetermined 

 species of Ammonite. Tliese sands are followed by 

 38 feet of alternate beds of hard chert and coarse 

 greensands, having at the bottom 6 feet of inferior 

 building-stone, surmounted by 5 feet of freestone. 

 The latter contains Ammonites rostratus, and the 

 cherts various fossils, chiefly bivalves. Clathraria 

 Lyelli also occurs at this level. Above the greensands 

 come 6 feet of chloritic marl : — the upper 3J feet 

 fossiliferous, with a base of hard phosphatic nodules 

 containing crushed specimens of Pecten asper ; the 

 lower 2\ feet compact, with darker grains and few 

 fossils. 



A remarkable Extinct Reptile. — Professor 

 Ovv^n, in describing the skeleton of an extinct reptile 

 called Platypodosaurus, remarks that " of all examples 

 of pelvic structure in extinct reptiles this departs 

 farthest from any modification known in existing 

 types, and makes the nearest approach to the 

 mammalia pelvis." 



POLEMONIUM C.ERULEUM. — I should be much 

 obliged if any one who has found specimens of this 

 plant, Jacob's ladder, south of Derbyshire, would 

 kindly mention the localities in which it has been 

 found.— C W, Holgate. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Excrescences on Trees.— About Enfield and 

 Edmonton (Middlesex) I have noticed several trees 

 with a very remarkable protuberance at the bifurca- 

 tion of the trunk. The trees appear as though they 

 liad swelled out tremendously, and then small slroots 

 had sprouted all over the excrescence thus formed, 

 but from what I can make out (not having seen them 

 in summer), these twigs are some parasite. I have 

 noticed trees with the swelling in several stages of 

 growth, from those just forming to one which could 

 be seen an immense way off and struck one as pecu- 

 liar immediately. The trees grow on a thin stratum 

 of soil over gravel, and are situated in the middle of 

 different parks. — A. Bennington, York. 



Lepidopterous Names. — I shall feel greatly 

 obliged if some one will kindly inform me of the 

 authors of the following list of Lepidopterous names : 

 I. Ant/ioc/iaris cardamines ; 2. Lencophasia sinapis ; 

 3. Pieris brassica: ; 4. Picris cratcvgi ; 5. Pieris tiapi ; 

 6. Satyr ns Semele ; "]. Satyrus Megtera ; 8. Vanessa 

 cardni ; 9. Vanessa Atalanta ; 10. Polyo?nmatits 

 Cory don ; II. Polyommatns Adonis ; 12. Polyommatiis 

 agestis. It will save room if the figures, with the 

 authors' names against them, are only inserted. — J. P. 



Sussex Clay. — I find in Murchison's Geological 

 Maps of England and Wales, that the strip of country 

 lying to the south of the chalk escarpment of the 

 South Downs is marked as Eocene. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Littlehampton there is a clay, worked for 

 making bricks. Also on the coast, about a mile north 

 I of the town, there are low clay cliffs rising to about 

 I six or seven feet in height. In this clay stones (chiefly 

 ' flints, both angular and rounded) are very numerous, 

 and scattered through the mass in a very irregular 

 manner, and at all angles. There can also be seen 

 on the coast, pockets of chalk, two feet in diameter, 

 in the clay. To a stranger coming from the north, 

 where boulder clay is so common a feature, he can- 

 not but be struck with the similarity which sections 

 of this Sussex clay present to the glacial clay of the 

 northern counties, fl have no access here to the 

 maps of the Geological Survey, or to books that 

 might aid me in the matter ; I therefore appeal to you, 

 Mr. Editor, or your numerous readers, for information. 

 Is this surface-clay Eocene, or is it some superficial 

 deposit of a much more recent date ? I liave hesi- 

 tated to call it glacial, as I have understood there are 

 no glacial beds to be seen south of London. I shall 

 be glad to receive clearer views than I at present 

 possess on the local geology. I might add that the 

 clay is of no great thickness in the places referred to, 

 being not more than from six to nine feet thick, and 

 is undulated by irregular heaps of gravel and white 

 sand.— /K// 



" Floods : their causes, mitigation and 

 CURE." — The author, who signs himself " Aquarius," 

 has forwarded us a pamphlet bearing the above title. 

 The immediate subject is the efficient drainage of the 

 Lower Yare, Waveney, and Bure valleys, the entire 

 prevention of floods in these parts, and the improve- 

 ment of Yarmouth Harbour, by the deepening of the 

 water at the bar. The means by which this is to be 

 effected is the placing of lock-gates at some point 

 between Yarmouth Bridge and Breydon Water, in 

 order to have a control over the tides. Those who 

 are interested in the subject can obtain a copy from 

 Fletcher and Son, Norwich : price 3^'. 



