34° Notes and Comments. 



THE KIRMIXGTOX DEPOSIT. 



' As regard fossiliferous deposits occurring between beds of 

 boulder clay, only a few have stood the test of critical exam- 

 ination. One is the estuarine clay of Kirmington in Yorkshire 

 [ should be Lincolnshire], in which the stratification is undis- 

 turbed and the shells occur in the position of growth embedded 

 in the clay. It lies beneath the Hessle Clay which is part of 

 the newer drift and on top of the Purple and Basement Clays 

 which probably belong to the older drift. The deposit is 

 undoubtedly in situ, but the locality is not very far from the 

 margin of the newer drift and in consequence the amount 

 of withdrawl directly demonstrated is not great. The fauna 

 is not in any sense arctic, but beyond this does not afford data 

 for more definite conclusions as to the climate.' 



CORRELATION' OF DEPOSITS. 



' There can be little doubt that in time, with the advance 

 of the study of Archaeology and the facilities it affords for the 

 dating of various stages in the glacial succession, much will 

 be done in the way of correlating the epochs of advance and 

 retreat in the different districts. By this means and by careful 

 mapping of traceable ice-margins it may even be possible to 

 bring the marine interglacial deposits into line with the terres- 

 trial deposits and to form a proper estimate of the extent of 

 retreat during each oscillation. It would seem as if little Was. 

 to be expected from archaeological researches in America, at 

 least as regards correlation with Europe. How this difficulty 

 is to be got over we cannot at present surmise, but we need 

 have little doubt that, like others in the past, it will ultimately 

 be overcome by the ingenuity and industry of man.' 



PLAXT DISEASES IN MUSEUMS. 



We take the following from The Museums Journal for 

 October : — ' In a valuable presidential address to the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union ( The Naturalist, June, 1917) Mr. W. X. 

 Cheesman suggests that Museums should exhibit plants 

 affected by fungi. " Full use," says he, " should be made 

 of the British Museum booklets on Fungi and Mycetozoa 

 (is. and 3d. respectively) which are alone sufficient to enable 

 students to recognise very many species commonly found in all 

 districts." We are glad to note that renewed attention is 

 being paid by the authorities to the illustrations of animal 

 enemies of economic plants exhibited in the North Hall of the. 

 Natural History Museum. But why are not the plant enemies 

 included in this series ? They are quite as important. In 

 North America, the annual loss on the potato crop from the 

 attack of a single species of fungus is estimated at £7,000,000. 

 This is one of at least eight fungi that attacks potatoes in our 

 own islands. It might conceivably pay the nation to show 

 them in its national museum.' 



Naturalist, 



