Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 159 



fresh-water limestone in the coal-measures at Burclie House near 

 Edinburgh. The organic remains, and their high state "of preserva- 

 tion, will secure to the limestone of that locality a marked attention, 

 particularly if the tooth of a Saurian animal be included in these 

 relics. In announcing this discovery, my friend Mr. Conybeare 

 has stated, that " the limestone was shown to differ from the com- 

 mon carboniferous limestone of marine origin, and to form a species 

 of deposit hitherto undescribed by geologists, being not of a ma- 

 rine but of a fluviatile or lacustrine character." 



Now, Sir, without wishing to detract in the slightest degree from 

 the merits of Dr. Hibbert's researches, I must state that the ex- 

 istence of a thick band of lacustrine limestone fairly included be- 

 tween seams of coal was pointed out by myself in March 1833, the 

 discovery having been made in the year 1831, and confirmed in 

 1832, during repeated investigations of the country round Shrews- 

 bury. In my communication* I distinctly asserted that " this 

 limestone is similar in mineral aspect to the lacustrine limestone of 

 Central France, and contains minute shells, referrible to fresh-water 

 genera." At the same time it was shown that the associated beds of 

 shale contained many of the published plants of the coal measures. 



This Salopian freshwater limestone is by no means confined to 

 a single spot, but is found in many situations, distant from each 

 other, where coal is worked, as at Pontesbury, UfBngton, Le Bot- 

 vvood, &c, and always in the same position, separating the upper 

 from the central seam of coal. 



I certainly attached some importance to what I conceived to be 

 a singular and an undescribed species of deposit ; and 1 enlarged 

 upon its importance in my memoir read before the Society, although 

 the abstract simply announced the fact. 



I remain, Sir, yours, &c. 



Roderick I. Murciiison. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



Curtis's British Entomology. Vol. x. 



Transactions of the Society of Arts, Manufactures and Com- 

 merce. Part II. vol. xlix. 



Parkes's Chemical Catechism. 13th Edition. 



The Philosophical Transactions, 1833, Part II. 



Hooker's Botanical Miscellany. 



Inquiries concerning the Medium of Light and the Form of its 

 Molecules. By the Rev. John G. Macvicar. 



A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains. By John 

 Gould, F.L.S. 



A Popular Introduction to Experimental Chemistry. By Francis 

 Watkins. 



Analecta Anglo Saxonica: a Selection, in Prose and Verse, from 

 Anglo-Saxon Authors of various Ages ; with a Glossary. By Ben- 

 jamin Thorpe, l'.S.A. 



• Sec Proceedings Geol. Society, No. 31. [hond. and EdJnb. Phil, Mug. 

 vol. iii. [). 225.— Edi i .] 



