THE NATURALIST 
POR 1915: 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
A LARGE SHAP BOULDER. 
The accompanying illustration is taken from a handy guide 
to the Ancient Saxon Parish of Whorlton in Cleveland, by the 
Rev. J. C. Fowler. It represents an unusually large erratic of 
Shap Granite, which is in the beck above the village of 
Swainby. The boulder is sub-angular, and measures 23 feet 
in circumference at the water level, and 17 feet ‘over the 
back.’ There are some brief geological notes of local interest 
Shap Granite Boulder near Swainby, Yorkshire. 
in the guide, in which, presumably by a slip, the ammonite is 
described as a fish. 
STRUCTURE OF COAL. 
We learn from Nature that Dr. W. E. Garforth has recently 
presented to the University of Leeds a large case which con- 
tains specimens showing the structure of numerous seams of 
coal from Yorkshire, Lancashire, etc. The lower part of the 
case contains coal-balls from the Halifax Hard Bed of York- 
shire, and the Bullion Mine in Lancashire. The coal balls 
are simply masses of vegetable material which were impreg- 
nated with Calcium carbonate while the tissues were still in 
a fresh condition, and so preserved during the subsequent changes. 
which the surrounding vegetable matter underwent in the pro- 
cess of its conversion into coal. Many of the microscopic 
sections of these coal-balls measure as much as 8 inches by 
6 inches, and shew the structure of the plants beautifully. 
1913 Jan. 1. 
