33° 



NATURE 



[Feb. 7, li 



But a careful re-examination of the question shows that, 

 hkc the beds above described at Richmond, they certainly 

 belong to the Great Oolite, though they were deposited 

 under shallower water conditions than their equivalents at 

 the latter place, and were perhaps, in part at least, of 

 estuarine origin. 



The Trias is another formation which has not hitherto 

 been certainly detected under London. It is true that 

 some geologists think that the rocks reached in the 

 Kentish Town and Crossness borings belong to that for- 

 mation, but this identification is disputed by some very 

 eininent authorities. Although no fossils have been found 

 in the red and variegated strata of the Richmond boring, 

 yet their mineral characters are such as to leave scarcely 

 any room for doubt that they belong to some part of the 

 " Poikihtic" or New Red Sandstone system. They con- 

 sist of coarse and finegrained sandstones, often exhibiting 

 fal'-e-bedding, which alternate with red and variegated 

 clays or " marls." It will be of great interest to geologists 

 if it can be determined upon what member of the Palaeo- 

 zoic rocks these Triassic strata repose. 



The result of the deep boring at Richmond is to show 

 that while the water-bearing strata of the Lower Green- 

 sand do not extend so far northward as Richmond, other 

 unexpected deposits do exist beneath that town. During 

 portions of the Triassic and Jurassic periods the great 

 Palaeozoic ridge, stretching between the Mendips and the 

 Ardennes, was in part or wholly submerged, and thus we 

 find deposits of these ages along its flanks. The relation 

 of the Great Oolite under the central and southern metro- 

 politan district are strikingly similar to those of the Lower 

 Oolite in the Boulonnais. Taking into consideration the 

 proved thickness of the Upper and Mi idle Oolites in the 

 " Wealden boring " at Battle, we most ne prepared to find 

 the Palaeozoic axis, with its possible coal-beds, at a con- 

 siderably greater depth beneath the surf.ice in the southern 

 half of the London Basin than had hiiherto been an- 

 ticipated. 



Although no beds of Middle Oolite age have as yet 

 been found under the London Basin, ) et, that strata of 

 this period were originally deposited there, we have a very 

 interesting and curious proof. Among the beds of the 

 Lower Greensand of the North Downs, biiween Sevenoaks 

 and Farnham, we often find deposits consisting of such 

 coarse materials as almoat to merit tS- name of con- 

 glomerates. These consist in great part of waterworn 

 fragments of hard and sub-crystaUine rocks, evidently 

 derived from the great Palaeozoic ridge )\ ing to the north. 

 Mingled with these pebbles are great numbers of exces- 

 sively eroded but sometimes still recogni -.ible fossils evi- 

 dently washed out of beds of Lower s^nd Middle Oolite 

 age. The former, as we have just show> m, have now been 

 detected under London ; but such is n't the case with 

 the latter, which may not improbably a\e been wholly 

 removed by denudation before the depOMtion of the Cre- 

 taceous strata. 



In one of the articles referred to at tiie . ommencement 

 of this notice, it was pointed out that i.i.l only might coal 

 be found at workable depths under l.oidon, but that, 

 when discovered, this coal would pnibably be of the 

 anthracite variety. Now although no bcisof coal have 

 hitherto been found in place beneath the metropolis, 

 yet the Richmond boring has yielded striking and un- 



mistakable evidence as to the presence and nature of 

 the coal-seams under the London Basin. In several 

 of the deposits pebbles of coal-measure sandstone 

 with fragments of anthracite have been detected. From 

 this interesting fact it may be justly inferred that while 

 the beds in question were being deposited on the flanks 

 of the old Palaeozoic ridge, portions of that ridge con- 

 sisting of Carboniferous strata and containing seams of 

 anthracite rose above the level of the sea and yielded the 

 fragments mentioned. That the source of these fragments 

 was not very distant may be inferred from the brittleness 

 of anthracite, which certainly could not have travelled far. 

 Thus at last the prediction of geologists has been verified, 

 and coal has been found under London, though as yet 

 unfortunately not in situ. John W. Judd 



MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS 

 Mental Euolution in Animals. By G. J. Romanes, M.A., 



LL.D., F.R.S., &c. With a Posthumous Essay on 



Instinct, by Charles Darwin. (London : C. Kegan 



Paul & Co., 18S3.) 

 T N the present volume Mr. Romanes redeems a part 

 *■ of the promise which he gave us in his "Animal 

 Intelligence." He traces in its main outlines the deve- 

 lopment of mind in the lower animals. The other part of 

 the promise, to follow the course of mental development 

 in man, will be fulfilled in another work. We think it 

 well that the author has thus divided his task. Each 

 division is of sufficient magnitude to require a separate 

 volume ; and though as an evolutionist Mr. Romanes would 

 of course maintain the continuity and identity of the pro- 

 cess of mental evolution from its first obscure manifesta- 

 tions in the lower grades of animals up to its highest 

 present point of attainment in civilised man, he would 

 probably allow that the two stages of the process, the 

 sub-human and the human, are sufficiently ditferencedby 

 the difference in the degree of complexity of the factors 

 involved. To this it may be added that the detailed 

 study of each of these two stages of mental life requires a 

 body of knowledge of its own, a special modification of 

 psychological method, and a particular kind of psycho- 

 logical interest. 



In the present work the author has to face a much 

 more difficult task than that which he undertook in his 

 earlier volume. This no doubt had its difficulties. For 

 in what we call the "observation" of mind, whether in 

 our fellow-men or in the lower animals, a process of in- 

 ference is involved ; and when the action to be psycho- 

 logically interpreted is far removed from the ordinary 

 types of human action, this process is one of peculiar 

 dilticulty. But in the earher work inference or interpre- 

 tation played a subordinate part. Here, however, it 

 becomes the main problem. In order to connect the facts 

 ascertained and to present a systematic view of mental 

 life as a whole, we must have clear notions respecting 

 the nature of mind in general, as well as of its several 

 phases, which we mark off by the names of the faculties 

 perception, imagination, &c. It is not too much to say 

 that in carrying out the task of tracing the evolution of 

 mind in the lower region an inquirer needs to combine 

 the special aptitudes of a naturalist with those of a 

 psychologist. 



