Notes and Comments. 7 
STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERY.* 
Major Cyril Earle has spent much time and much money 
in gathering together a remarkably fine collection of picked 
pieces of Staffordshire Pottery. There are 750 examples, 
many marked with the maker’s name. Major Earle has been 
careful to gather together typical pieces, several of which, 
judging from the prices they realize nowadays, are as much 
sought after as the wares of the Derby, Worcester, or better- 
known factories. Major Earle’s collection is in the Hull 
Museum, and this work contains a detailed description of each 
piece; all are figured, many being in colours. He has fine 
examples of Slipware, Saltglaze, Whieldon, Toby Jugs, figures, 
and an enormous number of the quaint representations of 
animals, some of which, however, might not perhaps appeal 
to a critical zoologist ! 
EVOLUTION OF THE POTYER’S ART. 
Mr. T. Sheppard, in whose charge the collection is, con- 
tributes a chapter on ‘ The Evolution of the Potter’s Art,’ 
which is illustrated by about a hundred examples of ancient 
pottery from the Driffield and Hull collections. Mr. Sheppard 
evidently believes that there is no art so ancient as the Potter’s 
Art. We have heard that even Adam was made of clay and 
Eve made a mug of him! At any rate, illustrations are given 
of mugs quite as old as Adam’s time, and the improvements 
from primitive pottery to the best productions of the Chelsea, 
Derby, etc., factories, are graphically shown. The book is 
printed on hand-made paper, the plates on fine art paper, 
and the binding and printing are of the best. Speaking with 
some knowledge of the subject, we can say that it is the finest 
book that has ever been produced in Hull. We doubt if the 
price at which it is sold will produce a profit, but that is no 
concern of ours ! 
FOSSILIFEROUS LIMESTONE FROM THE NORTH SEA. 
At a recent meeting of the London Geological Society, 
Mr. R. B. Newton described a piece of Limestone trawled from 
the floor of the North Sea, some 100 miles N.E. $ N. of Buchan 
Ness, and was forwarded to the British Museum (Natural 
History) by Mr. R. D. Thomson, of Aberdeen. It presents no 
appearance of glaciation, so that its occurrence in situ is thought 
to be probable. There is no record of a similar limestone 
from either England or Scotland. It is of highly siliceous charac- 
ter and full of marine shells, of which the Pelecypoda are the 
more prominent ; there are, also, occasional fragments of wood 
in contact with the limestone which, from a preliminary exami- 

* The Earle Collection of Early Staffordshire Pottery,’ by Major Cyril 
Earle, T.D. With an introduction by F. Faulkner, and a supplementary 
chapter by T. Sheppard, F.G.S. London: A. Brown & Sons, Ltd., 4to, 
243 pages, 25s. net. 
1916 Jan. 1. 
