Obituary — Hon. Walter Mantell', and Miscellaneous. 95 



The Hon. Walter B. D. Mantell, F.G.S. — We regret to record 

 the loss of this excellent naturalist and geologist, who died at 

 Wellington, New Zealand, September 7th, 1895, in his 75th year. 

 He was the eldest son of the well-known geologist, Dr. G. A. 

 Mantell, F.E.S., and settled in New Zealand in 1840, where he was 

 for years a member of the Colonial Government. We hope to give 

 a fuller notice of his work later on. 



MISCELLAUBOTJ3. 



Search for Coal in East Anglia. — The Eastern Counties 

 Coal Boring Association has abandoned the hope of finding 

 coal at Stutton on the Stour, where the bore has been carried 

 down 1,525 feet. The consulting geologists and the mining 

 engineer expert are agreed that the rocks reached are evidently 

 older than the Coal-measures. The next trial bore is likely to be 

 made either some ten miles to the north, about Bramford, in Suffolk, 

 or the same distance to the south, near Bentley or Weeley, in Essex. 

 At present the latter site seems to be most in favour. — St. James 

 Gazette, November 28th, 1895. 



Geology of the San Francisco Peninsula. — Observations 

 made by Mr. A. C. Lawson on the geology of the San Francisco 

 Peninsula show the presence of seven groups of rocks or " terranes." 

 (1) Crystalline limestone, of unknown age; (2) Granite, referred 

 to as the Montara granite, which is intrusive in the crystalline 

 rock, is pei'haps of post-Jurassic age, and is spoken of as " a 

 great batholite, which has invaded the crust from below"; (3) 

 The Franciscan series, probably of Cretaceous age, in which 

 there are not only grits, conglomerates, shales, great beds of 

 sandstone, and some volcanic rocks, but also foraminiferal lime- 

 stones, and peculiarly-bedded Radiolarian cherts ; (4) Sandstone of 

 Eocene age ; (5) Monterey series (Miocene) ; (6) Merced series 

 (Pliocene) ; and (7) Terrace formations (Pleistocene and later). 

 The Kadiolarian cherts of the Franciscan series are hard, flinty, 

 siliceous rocks, of varied colour, and they occur in thin sheets 

 (two to four inches thick) with partings of shale ; but they are 

 not of great extent. The beds are, in places, several hundred feet 

 thick, and they are interbedded with sandstones. In many cases 

 the cherts are true jaspers, and sometimes they pass into a quartz- 

 rock resembling vein-quartz. The Radiolaria appear as minute dots 

 quite distinct from the matrix. The suggestion that these cherts 

 are deep-sea deposits is negatived by their interbedding with sand- 

 stones. Nor can they be considered as mainly organic. The silica 

 of the cherts seems to have been originally an amorphous chemical 

 precipitate, deposited at local centres on the sea-bottom, in which 

 Eadiolarian remains were sporadically entombed. The most pro- 

 bable origin of the bulk of the silica is considered by Mr. Lawson 

 to have been sub-marine siliceous springs of solfataric character. 

 (American Geologist, June, 1895.) 



