Geology^ Meteorology. 539 



litive, we think, identified the plant as the Vauch^rm dich6- 

 toma. Some of the specimens measured between 120 ft. and 

 30 ft. M. Vaucher, 1 dare say, would not have shunned 

 such an immersion as we got, to have seen such fine plants. 

 — Peter Mackenzie ^ Gardener to Robert Lowis, Esq., of Wester 

 Plea7i, Stirlingshire. Nov. 7. 1833. 



The Soils which form the Bed of the Shannon^ a little above 

 Killaloe Bridge ; aNotice qfthem^ and the Fact of Bones being 

 found in them : connexible with the notice that " several 

 skeletons of elks have been found in the neighbourhood of 

 Killaloe," published in VI. 462. — In sinking for a dock on 

 the Shannon, a little above Killaloe bridge, the workmen have, 

 from time to time, dug up bones ; I cannot now say, for cer- 

 tain, of what animal. They lie in a stratum of white marl, con- 

 taining shells, which is from 2 ft. to 3 ft. thick, and above it 

 is a layer of bog of the same thickness, and over that several 

 feet of alluvial soil. Under the white marl is a stratum of 

 grey marl, of the texture of pipe clay, of a violet grey colour, 

 not containing any shells, but mixed with small pebbles, of 

 what depth is not yet known. The bones are probably those 

 of the fossil elk (Cervus meg^ceros) : among them there is a 

 small jawbone containing grinder teeth, besides several de- 

 tached teeth, of a much larger size. — T. K. Toomavara, 

 Ireland, Oct. 4. 1833. 



Meteorology. — The Temperature of the Atmosphere and 

 Earth, in Britain, relatively to Elevation above the Sea Level. 

 (p. 443 — 448.) — In ascending Skiddaw, on August 27. 1832, 

 I observed the range of the thermometer. At the bridge 

 over the Greta, which flows at the foot of Skiddaw, at 8 o'clock 

 in the morning, the mercury stood at 58°. At the well on the 

 side of the mountain, where refreshment is usually taken by 

 lakers in their ascent, I found that it had fallen to 47°? while 

 the temperature of the water in the well was 50°. When the 

 thermometer was hung upon the flag-pole upon the summit 

 of the mountain, it stood at 40°. This was at noon. The 

 day was most beautifully clear and fine. Otley says, in his 

 Guide to the Lakes, that Skiddaw is 3022 ft. above the level of 

 the sea : he also observes that the average temperature at its 

 summit is 12° lower than that in the valley. — Edward Wilson, 

 Jun. Chapel Allerton, May 5. 1834. [See p. 445.] 



Adages on the 2d of February. (IV. 264. 469., and VI. 570.) 

 — The popular opinion, in this part of the country, is ex- 

 pressed in the following couplet, which is almost a translation 

 of the Latin couplet quoted (in IV. 469.) by Mr. Bree : — 



" If Candlemas day be clear and fair, 

 Half the winter 's to come and mair." 



— A Subscriber. Vale of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Nov. 20. 1833. 



