NOTES. 



Shark at Doter. — On the 16th of October, 1889, a very fine 

 example of the Porbeagle, or Beaumaris Shark, was exhibited on a barrow 

 in the streets of Dover. It was stated to have been captured a day 

 or two previously, off Folkestone, by the crew of a fishing boat, and 

 was secured with some difficulty, after doing great damage to the nets. 

 It measured 9- ft. 3-in. extreme length, and was said to weigh nearly 

 4^ cwts. As the iisual length of an adult fish is about 10 feet, this 

 specimen would probably be nearly full grown. 



A Great Success. — Coal has been found near Dover, if not 

 enough in quantity or quality to prove remunerative, yet amply 

 sufficient to warrant further outlay of capital, and a convenient peg 

 uuch wanted) upon which to hang any amount of newspaper articles, 

 Ideological lectures, and surmises. This great success has, from the 

 first, been surrounded with mystery, and the utmost care has been 

 taken to prevent the public from knowing any of the results of 

 the boring. At the last meeting of the Company, the Chairman's 

 speech reduced the seam from a reputed thickness of eight feet to 

 forty-two inches, and he further suggested that a deeper boring 

 might result in the discovery of petroleum ; which every one knows 

 possesses a commercial value, and the finding of which would quickly 

 send the Channel Tunnel shares to a premium, a consummation not very 

 likely to be reached by the original undertaking. But was this not rather 

 a bac down fiom the coal discovery report ? Mineral oils and true coal 

 are not usually en rapport, although in Scotland, where the strata are 

 much broken up, they are, we believe, found in the same district. 

 Possibly we shall know more soon. In the meantime we offer our 

 readers, for what they are worth, the following geological gleanings of 

 the work in progress. At 408 feet from the surface, down to 477 feet, 

 the G-ault was being pierced; another liundred feet found the drill in 

 the Hastings beds of the Weald ; Purbeck limestone at 638, and 

 Kimmeiidge clay at 785. The first and second beds of shale having been 

 passed in the carboniferous at 1200 feet, the so-called coal was found 

 about 40 feet lower, and our informant saw a specimen, which hud every 

 appearance of being a coaly lignite, of doubtful value otherwise than as 

 the Chainnan of the Company has prognosticated. 



Albino Rook. — Whilst rook-shooting at Walter's Hall, Monkton, 

 Mr. George CoUett killed a bird which he thought was a pigeon, but which, 

 in reality, turned out to be a " white" rook. The plumage of the bird 

 is perfectly white ; it has a yellow beak, pale primrose legs, and eyes of 



