548 Reviews — The Ossiferous Caves near Torquay. 



Quensteclticeras damoni, Nikitin, and a third is made holotype of 

 Fertutnniceras spatiatum, ii.sp. 



Of the species herein dealt with, Sildoceras hifrons is probably the 

 best, as it is also the longest, known. Mr. Buckman thinks it liighlv 

 probable that the specimen represented in his plate cxivA is the 

 original of Martin Lister's figure (1678, Hist. Anim, Angl.), which, 

 through Bruguiere's reference to it, became the holotype. The 

 specimen is now in the collection of Mr. V. E. Robson, F.Gr.S., who 

 "purchased it in London". London is a big place, so that this 

 statement does not throw much light on the previous history of the 

 specimen. Indeed, our friend Mr. S. Holmes, Intelligence Depart- 

 ment, regards it as a transparent blind. 



III. — The Ossiferous Caves near Torquay. 



TN the Journal of the Torquay Natural History Society for 1918 

 Mr. Harford J. Lowe has given an interesting account of the 

 comparatively little-known Tor Bryan Caves, near Torquay, together 

 with a short biography of Mr. J. L. Widger, who spent some twenty 

 years of his life in excavating them. Unfortunately his enthusiasm 

 appears to have been greater than his knowledge of what is required 

 in making such an excavation, and consequently much valuable 

 information has been lost. Mr. Lowe discusses the probable history 

 of the caves and their relation to Kents Cavern and Brixham Cave. 

 He considers that the human occupation of these caves was much 

 later than that of Kents Cavern. The greater part of the Widger 

 Collection is now in the British Museum. 



r. A. B. 



IV. — Report on certain Minerals used in the Arts and 

 Industries. III. Magnesite. By P. A. Wagner. South 

 African Journal of Industries, Pretoria, 1918. 



IIS" this bulletin Dr. Wagner gives a general account of the 

 properties and uses of magnesite and describes the occurrences of 

 the mineral in South Africa. Since the supplies from Austria- 

 Hungary and Greece were cut off by the War a considerable 

 magnesite industry has developed in Canada and California, largely 

 for use as a lining in basic open-hearth steel furnaces in the form of 

 bricks. It is also much employed in the manufacture of cement 

 for various purposes, such as floors and ceilings. For all these uses 

 it must be fairly pure, and the supplies of really good quality 

 material are somewhat limited. TJp to the present magnesite 

 mining in South Africa has been confined to the Barberton district, 

 where it is found in considerable quantity in the basic and 

 ultrabasic igneous rocks of the Jamestown series. There are also 

 important deposits in the valley of the Olifants River, in the 

 Lydenburg and Pietersburg districts, as veins in highly decomposed 

 pyroxenite belonging to the Bushveld complex. The material 

 produced is now for the most part used by the Union Steel 

 Corporation for linings of electric furnaces at Vereeniging. Other- 

 wise the local demand is small and the establishment of an export 

 trade does not at present seem probable. 



R. H. R. 



