188 Geological Collections, 



any purpose, great abundance of these singular fossils would more than 

 repay those interested in such novel discoveries. 



" Secondly, the presence of gypsum in the sandstones and the shales, 

 containing beautiful crystals of selenite, has, in deposits so low down, 

 hitherto, I believe, escaped notice. 



" My attempt, therefore, to ascertain the true position of the red rock of 

 Berwickshire, leads me to think that there cannot remain much doubt, that 

 the mountain limestone series extends from the point where the first lime- 

 stone appears on the coast of Northumberland, to the transition range of 

 the south of Scotland, and that beds of coal have been worked near Ross, 

 lying immediately upon the greywacke, and are now found a few miles 

 south of Dunbar, in a similar position : how far north this mountain lime- 

 stone group may extend, will, possibly, at a future period, be the subject of 

 another paper." 



Edge Cod Seams of Mid~Lothian In the same part of the Newcastle 



Transactions, Mr Dunn, coal viewer, has given an interesting sketch of these 

 seams, as they occur in the Niddrie and Gilmerton collieries. A fine view 

 of these edge seams may be seen on the shore, within water-mark, where 

 they cross out between Portobello and Joppa, about three miles from Edin- 

 burgh. They dip southeast, and their horizontal direction is about south 

 to west. At Niddrie, the thickness of the whole formation, down to the 

 limestone, is 724 fathoms, including 94 feet 8 inches of coal of various 

 qualities, all splint or cubical coal in beds varying from two to six feet in 

 thickness. The connection of these inclined, or edge beds, with the hori- 

 zontal beds of Sheriff-hall and Edmonstone, has not been distinctly traced ; 

 but the opinion of Mr Dunn is, that the latter overlie the former. " Before 

 concluding this paper," he observes, " I wish to mention, as a corroborating 

 fact of the edge coal underlying the flat coals of Sheriff-hall, that a part of 

 the Marquess of Lothian's ground contains a parrott coal, similar to that in 

 the edge suite, and dissimilar to any thing in Sheriff-hall; also that the 

 limestone is found cropping out beyond the southeastern ascertained coal. 

 I am not sufficiently acquainted with the coal-field south of the Esk, to 

 attempt a classification ; but I have little doubt it may be proved to corre- 

 spond with the coal and limestone on the northern outcrop." 



Close Resemblance of Tertiary Deposits from the same Seas. — Mons. 

 Marcel de Serres, after describing several new species of fossil shells, found 

 in the upper marine sandy marls of the eastern Pyrenees, (the Trochus 

 Farinesi, Terebra subulata, Crepidida sandaliformis,) concludes his paper 

 as follows : — " Thus, as we have long ago remarked, and which M. Elie 

 de Beaumont has confirmed, the tertiary basins which depend upon the 

 same seas, present a striking similarity, not only in the relative formations 

 which have been deposited, but also in the nature and kind of the organized 

 bodies which accompany and characterize them. This resemblance is appa- 

 rent, even in the most minute details, while it is far from being evident in 

 tertiary basins which depend upon different seas, because this kind of deposits 

 has varied with circumstances peculiar to the places where they have been 

 formed." — Journal de Geologie, II. No. 5. 



Charring of Wood at very low Temperatures. — The following fact, in a letter 

 to Mr Phillips, in the Annals of Philosophy, (No. VIII. p. 383,) is very 

 interesting to geologists. In some of the foreign manufactories of charcoal and 

 pyroligneous acid, the charring is effected with great advantage at very low 

 temperatures ; but all of them much higher than that of steam, as mentioned 



in this extract Mr Charles May, chemist, of Ampthill, has sent me some 



specimens of wood, converted into nearly perfect charcoal, at a very low but 



