158 NATURAL SCIENCE. a,,^„. 



the use, by the Romans, Saxons, and early Normans of calcareous tufa or travertine. 

 There are records of tufa having been quarried in Kent, but the amount yielded is 

 not likely to have been great. It is probable that the Komans, and also the Normans, 

 imported the rock ; but both Sa.xons and early Normans seem to have quarried a 

 good deal of the material from Roman buildings. Tufa was used in the piers and 

 attached shafts of the crypt of Rochester Cathedral. The successive use of other 

 stones, such as the Caen stone, Purbeck and Sussex Marbles, Chalk, Upper Green- 

 sand, and Kentish Rag, are noted with especial reference to their employment m 

 different parts of Rochester Cathedral. One other rock is mentioned, and that is a 

 beautiful stalagmitic rock, of which shafts still remain in the ruined chapter-house of 

 Rochester. It is pointed out that the chapter-house was built by Ernulf, Bishop from 

 1 1 18 to 1 124, and that the same stone was used at Canterbury, where Ernulf was 

 previously Prior, and also at Peterborough, where he was Abbot. This stone was 

 probably imported ; but it is not known from whence. 



The Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society has just issued its Proceedings 

 for 1891, being the first part of Vol. XII., comprising 130 pages, with two plates of 

 fossils and two meteorological tables. There are seven papers specially relating to 

 the county, namely ; (i.) On the present state of our knowledge of the Yorkshire 

 Calamita?, by Thomas Hick ; (ii.) The mode of deposition and properties of the 

 Carboniferous strata of Leeds and its immediate suburbs, by B. Holgate ; (iii.) Evi- 

 dence of Glacial action near Leeds, by James E. Bedford ; (iv.) On a Permian 

 Conglomerate Bed at Markington, by Rev. J. Stanley Tute ; (v.) Exploration of 

 the Elbolton Cave, by Rev. E. Jones ; and two meteorological papers, one (vi.) by 

 R. Reynolds, the other (vii.) by J. McLandesborough and A. E. Preston. Among 

 other papers Mr. C. E. De Ranee contributes a long and statistical account of the 

 water-bearing strata and underground waters of Lincolnshire. There are also four 

 general pahrontological contributions, namely : (i.) The Hybodont and Cestraciont 

 Sharks of the Cretaceous Period, by A. Smith Woodward, with two plates ; (ii.) 

 Notes on some new or but little known Eocene Polyzoa, by G. R. Vine ; (iii.) Bri- 

 tish Pala:ozoic Ctenostomatous Polyzoa, by G. R. Vine, with two plates; and (iv.) 

 On the affinity of Dadoxylon to Coi'daites, by James Spencer. A good bibliography 

 of geological papers relating to Yorkshire during 1S89-90 is added by the Editor, 

 Mr. James W. Davis. 



The subject of the Kentish coalfield was again brought before the Manchester 

 Geological Society by Professor Boyd Dawkins on January 29, and specimens of 

 the coal obtained from the Dover boring were exhibited. 762 feet of Coal-measures 

 have now been pierced, with an aggregate thickness of more than 17 feet of coal in 

 nine separate seams, mostly workable. Seam No. i (2 ft. 6 in.) occurs at a depth 

 of 1,140 ft. ; and seam No. 9 (i ft. 8 in.) was met with at a depth of 1,875 ^^■ 

 Arrangements for the sinking of a shaft are now in progress. With regard to the 

 rumoured discovery of coal in Northamptonshire, we have the authority of Mr. 

 Beeby Thompson for saying that true Coal-measures have not been reached by any 

 boring at present made in the county. 



The Report and Proceedings\of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 

 Session iS90-9i,just issued, does not contain any original contributions to Natural 

 Science, except a brief record of a local geological section exposing a basalt dyke. 

 The Committee for recording the l\iuna of Ulster report good progress in their 

 work. 



The second part of the Journal 0/ the Institute of Jamaica, issued in February, 

 contains much news of local interest, but few contributions to the general advance- 

 ment of Natural Science. In the reports of meetings, Mr. John Stuart comments 

 favourably on the work of the temporary Biological Station established by the Johns 



