218 Oolite Grains in the Upper Lias of Grantham. 



The bed is very fossiliferous and contains abundant ammonites 

 of the falcifer series, with numerous gastropods and small 

 lamellibranchs {Nncula hammeri). The grains are depressed 

 oval in form, varying in length up to 5 mms., but averaging 

 2-5 mms. The thickness rarely exceeds 1 mm. The grains 

 are scattered throughout the clay, nowhere forming more than 

 one-twentieth of the mass, but they may be readily separated 

 by washing. 



Sections of these grains show that they consist of con- 

 centric laminae of calcite surrounding a nucleus of varying 

 character. Little trace of radial structure is seen, but if 

 certain laminae are examined carefully with a high power they 

 are seen to be made up of radially arranged fibres of calcite : 

 this, according to Cohen,* is one of the forms of oolite most 

 common in British rocks. 



Traces of minute tubules are visible in many grains (fig. 2g) 

 and suggest that they are mainly of organic origin. The 

 tubules appear circular in section, with a diameter of about 

 .03 mms., and in many respects resemble those which have 

 been described by Wethered as Girvanella. The Grantham 

 oolite grains are somewhat unusual in their flattened form, 

 which seems to be independent of the shape of the nucleus. 



The bed we have described probably represents locally a 

 period of slow deposition, probably in shallow water. 



We see from the Report of the Geological Society of London recently 

 to hand, that Mr. C. Da vies Sherborn has got to GOT with editing his 

 card catalogue, and it is complete and fitted up to FIT. 



In the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, issued 

 on June 7th, Mr. H. Ling Roth, of the Bankfield Museum, Halifax, has 

 some ' Observations on the Growth and Habits of the Stick Insect, 

 Carausius morosus Br., intended as a contribution towards a knowledge 

 of variation in an organism which produces itself by the parthenogenetic 

 method.' 



The Executive Committee for the local arrangements in connection 

 with the 1916 meeting of the British Association at Newcastle have sub- 

 mitted a report to the General Committee. The report says the meeting 

 will take a high position among the annual conferences of the Association. 

 The statement of accounts shows that it has been possible to discharge the 

 relatively modest expenditure incurred by the meeting by a call on each 

 of the guarantors of one-fifth of the sum guaranteed by them. 



The Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, Vol. LX ., part 3, include the following memoirs : — 

 ' The Geographical Distribution of the Use of Pearls and Pearl-shells,' 

 and ' The Use of Shells for the Purposes of Currency,' both by J. Wilfred 

 Jackson. There is also the Society's report, with a summary of the 

 lectures, etc. This seems to be one of the few societies issuing publications 

 which indicate that the members are still Literary and Philosophical. 



* See A. Harker, ' Student's Petrology.' 4th Ed., 1908, p. 259. 



Naturalist, 



