202 Notes and Comments. 



reference to these human remains. From this we gather that- 

 Prof. Boyd Dawkins, who has a reputation both as a geologist 

 and anthropologist, said that ' on the previous Saturday 

 he had made a careful examination of the section in which 

 the skeleton was found, and he was of opinion that the inter- 

 ment was not found beneath the boulder clay as such. The 

 clay was not in situ, but there had been a vertical movement 

 in that section. There was absolutely no geological evidence 

 in that place of pre-glacial man. In the case of the Ipswich 

 skeleton there was every reason to suppose it was a modern 

 interment.' 



ANKERITE IN COAL. 



In No. 75 of the Mineralogical Magazine, Mr. T. Crook has 

 a paper on the frequent occurrence of Ankerite in coal. Doubt- 

 less many of our readers will have noticed the white layers 

 which occur frequently as in-fillings of joint cracks in coal. 

 These are miniature mineral-veins. Though averaging less 

 than a millemetre in thickness in ordinary specimens, these 

 veins are in many cases very numerous, and their presence 

 constitutes an important feature in the composition of the coal. 

 As a rule the dominant mineral is ankerite, which may be 

 normal in composition {i.e., correspond to the formula 2 CaCOg. 

 Fe(Mn)CO;;. MgCO.-j.) or may contain a small excess of calcium 

 carbonate, apparently in the form of an isomorphous growth. 

 Calcite also occurs, and is sometimes the dominant mineral. 

 The other associated minerals are iron-pyrites, barytes, zinc- 

 blende, and galena. Examples of coal containing ankerite 

 are recorded from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, 

 and other coalfields. 



INSECT REMAINS IN COAL. 



At a recent meeting of the Geological Society of London 

 Mr. H. Bolton read a paper on some Insect Remains from the 

 Midland and South-Eastern Coalfields. The writer described 

 a series of three insect-wings obtained by Dr. L. Moysey, from 

 the Shipley Clay-pit near Ilkeston (Derbyshire), and a blattoid 

 wing, and three fragments from the borings of the Kent Coal 

 Concessions Company, Ltd., in East Kent. The first series 

 of insect-wings occurred in greyish-brown ironstone nodules, 

 which lie in bands in a yellow clay about thirty or forty feet 

 below the Top Hard Coal. They are not referable to any 

 known families. Three new . famihes are formed to contain 

 them, one of which is nearly related to the Dictyoneuridas 

 with some suggestion of the family Heholidae. A second new 

 family is allied to the Heliolidse, and the third new family to 

 the Homoiopteridae, or, as the writer believes, near to the 

 Lithomantidae. 



Naturalist, 



