124 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



the land was depressed, at tLe time of tlie formation of the lateritic 

 deposits, would appear to have heen very great. Laterite, con- 

 taining implements, occurs at a measured height of 370 ft. above 

 mean sea-level; and the author has found in the Ahcoor hills 

 several implements at a height of what could not have heen less 

 than 500 or 600 feet above the level of the sea. 



Other implements have been discovered lying on the surface 

 of the country, but at such great elevations (1400 feet) as to 

 preclude the idea that they came from beds of marine origin. 

 Mr. Foote considers that these were once enveloped ui freshwater 

 deposits, which have been removed by denudation. The (piartzite 

 pebbles, from which the implement makers drew their supplies to 

 chip the various tools, came from the Jurassic conglomerates, which 

 form the adjacent hills. These hills were probably islands standing 

 up in the midst of the laterite sea, and were the homes of the 

 manufactm'ers of the weapons and tools. The absence of any 

 organic remains in the laterite precludes, however, the possibility 

 of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion as to its age. 



Dr. Holl, in a paper " On the Older Eocks of South Devon 

 and East Cornwall," describes in great detail the extension and 

 stratigraphical relationship of the different beds which he to the 

 south of the Carbonaceous rocks of Central Devon, and the adja- 

 cent parts of Cornwall. Neither the highest nor the lowest part 

 of the Devonian system as seen in North Devon occurs on the 

 south side of the Culm Measures, between which and the under- 

 lying Devonian there is a complete unconformity. The author 

 divides the rocks of the district into three groups : Lower, Middie, 

 and Upper South Devon groups. Of these the lower group 

 extends from Dartmoor, by Kingston Down, to the Brown Willey 

 granite, and may possibly be correlated with the base of the 

 Ilfi-acombe group of North Devon. The discontinuous calcareous 

 range of the Looe Eiver, St. Germans, Brickfortleigh, Ashburton, 

 and Bickerton, with the overlying slates, which st'parate it from 

 the Plymouth and Torbay range, constitute the middle group. The 

 upper group comprises the argillaceous slates, micaceous schists, 

 and grits of Blagdon Cross and Kingsbridge promontory, and 

 probably corresponds to the upper and Morthoe portions of the 

 llfracombe series of North Devon. 



8. METEOROLOGY. 



The importance of the science of IMeteorology is daily becoming 

 more and more recognized ; and its value to oiu'selves csjjecially, as 

 a maritime natiou, is so great that we purpose henceforward to 



