Brief Notices. 135 



Victoria River large numbers of fragments of quartzite are found 

 just above high-water mark. These in time are changed from angular 

 fragments to rounded pebbles with a rough surface. This seems to 

 be caused by the continual wetting of the stones with sea-water, 

 followed by crystallization of the contained salts by the heat of the 

 tropical sun. It is not certain whether the action is a chemical or 

 a physical one, or whether it is a mixture of the two ; but the result 

 seems to be that the secondary quartz cement is removed, leaving the 

 priraarv quartz grains standing up to form a roughened surface. 



W. H. W. 



YI. — Brief Notices. 



1. — Detkital Andalusite in Cretaceous and Eocene Sands. By 

 G. M. Davies, B.Sc, F.G.S. Min. Mag., vol. xvii, No. 81, 

 pp. 218-220, 1915. 



IN this short paper Mr. G. M. Davies records the occurrence of 

 unaltered pleochroic andalusite in many Eocene sands of the 

 London district, in the Lower Greensand of Keigate, Limpsfield, and 

 Folkestone, and even in the Wealden beds of Spotover Hill near 

 Oxford. He mentions also that the mineral has been observed in the 

 St. Bees Sandstone, of Triassic age. These observations will serve to 

 reverse the opinion formerly held that, owing to its instability, 

 andalusite would not be found in strata older than the Pliocene. 



W. H. W. 



2. — Fauna of the Fernando of Los Angeles. By Clarence L. 

 Moody. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the 

 Department of Geology, vol. x, No. 4, pp. 39-62, pis. i-ii, 1916. 



THE fauna referred to in this memoir consists mainly of mollusca, 

 of which there are stated to be 147 species, only about ten species 

 being represented of other groups such as the Echinoidea, Brachiopoda, 

 Bryozoa, etc. The following new species are described and figured : 

 Gastropoda, Siphonalia gilberti, Chrysodomus dirus meridiei, var. nov., 

 Trophon raymondi, Columbella (Astyris) constantia, Turris (Drillia) 

 modestus, Borso?iia inculta, Mangilia muricidea, Cancellaria quadrata ; 

 Pelecypoda, Pecten (Propeamusium) levis, Macrocallista densa, Corbula 

 temiis. The author regards the fauna as presenting a boreal aspect, 

 and nearly similar to that characterizing the San Pedro Pliocene 

 beds of California, which has been described by Dr. Ralph Arnold, 

 and which belongs to the lower horizons of the San Diego formation. 



R. B. N. 



3. — Some American Fossil Insects. By T. D. A. Cockerell. Proc. 

 United States Nat. Mus., vol. li, pp. 89-106, pi. ii, No. 2146, 1916. 



rilHE specimens described in this paper range in time from the 

 JL Coal-measures to the Miocene, while the author's studies of 

 their structures have enabled him to recognize certain new genera as 

 well as new species which may be listed as follows — Diptera : Plecia 

 woodruff, from the Green River Eocene beds of Utah, Psilocephala 



