168 REVIEWS. 



respective authors. Although the library to which this book refers is 

 not a public one, yet, as is stated in the preface, and as we can our- 

 bear testimony, " every facility is given to persons who wish to 

 consult it for scientific purposes." W. J. H. 



Guide to the Geology of London and the Neighbourhood. By W. 



Wiiitaker, B.A., F.G.S. (Geological Survey Memoir.) 3rd Ed., 



9-1 pp., frontispiece. Price Is. Stanford. 

 Tnc fact of a Geological Survey Memoir reaching a third edition is fair 

 ground on which to congratulate the author. It is to be attributed to 

 the clear style in which this little book is written, and to the modera- 

 tion of the price. 



In this new edition the deep well-borings are given with great care 

 (well-sinkers are often wrong as to the chalk, gault, &c.) Mr. Whitaker 

 confirms the view we have taken as to the possibly Triassic origin of the 

 red marls from the bottom of the Crossness Well (Midland Naturalist, 

 Vol. III., p. 189. 1 He writes, " Again at Crossness, we have beds which 

 seem to me to be Triassic, although very high authorities have classed 

 them as Old Bed Sandstone : . . having the series unmistakably present 

 in the Devonian type at Cheshunt and at Meux's Brewery (Oxford Street, 

 London,) it would be strange indeed were it to occur in its wholly 

 distinct Old Bed type at Kentish town, between these two places, and 

 at Crossness, not very many miles from the latter of them. I believe 

 that no such thing is known to occur anywhere ; the two types of what 

 is generally taken to be one great geological system being limited to 

 separate districts, and not occurring together." 



We earnestly recommend every country geologist to possess himself 

 of a copy of this valuable little book. W. J. H. 



foiTcsponbtntc. 



Leafing ok Oak and Ash. — In a lane leading from Perry Barr to 



Great Barr there are sev< ral trees of these species, (more than twelve in 



rated by the road-side near together, in an open situation. On 



May 22nd the oaks had been in Leaf for a week, while only the tips of 



aches of the ash trees showed here and there a trace of green. 



W. B. Gboyb. 



in Mosses. — During the excursion of the Birmingham 

 Natural History and Microscopical Society to Church Stretton, I 

 found on a patch of Hypnum palustre in fruit, one specimen where 

 two setoo or fruit-stalks were united for their whole length so closely 

 that it was only by observing the two capsules at the summit that 

 they could be distinguished from a single seta. This occurrence, 

 which i , probably, what is called fasciation in Phanerogams, 



appears to be rare in the Mosses. \V. B. Grove, -June Gth. 



■ i. -In May last I was pleased to find Ancylus fluviatilis, 



var. gibbosa, in a spring Dear Smethwick. I do not think it has been 



Linthisdi Eore. At Whitsuntide 1 spent a few very 



ihell-oollecting in Yorkshire, with my friend Mr. 



William Nelson. Among other beautiful shells we found the very rare 



nnaa peregra, var. albida, near Askeru, and ClatuUia 



rugota, var. albida, near Stapolton Park. -J. Madison. Birmingham. 



