218 Notices of MeiiiuirH — Varluti^ Short Notices. 



. Mr. Jukes-Browne gives a particular account of the Selborniau 

 Sands (Upper Greensand) and Chalk, with an excellent photographic 

 view of the quarry at Snowdon Hill, Chard, famed for its rich fossil- 

 bed at the base of the Chalk. 



7. In an article on " The Cotteswold Hills" (Proc. Cottesw. Club, 

 xiv, 205, 1903) Mr. S. S. Bucknian discusses the area of the 

 Cotteswolds, the spelling of the name, and other matters of topo- 

 graphical interest — entering fully into tlie literature of the subject. 

 A map on the scale of an inch to 4 miles accompanies the article, 

 and on it he has marked the limits he is led to assign to the 

 Cotteswold Hills and the names of the bordering vales. To aid 

 in his decision he has sought the best advice from residents and 

 others. The greatest difficulty in fixing a boundary was in the 

 region east of Burford, a tract sometimes spoken of as the Oxford 

 or Oxfordshire Downs. With regard to this term Lord Moreton 

 writes that it is not a geographical expression, but " simply means 

 the sheep of Oxfordshire of a down oliaracter." The Cotteswold 

 Hills as now marked out extend froui Ebrington Hill on the north 

 to Lansdown by Bath on the south. The western limit is naturally 

 bounded by the escarpment of the Oolites. The eastern limit is taken 

 to include Badminton (but not Malmesbury), Tetbury, Cirencester, 

 Fairford (l)ut not Witney), Leafield, and tlie western side of the 

 Vale of Moreton. Names of places where the Cotteswold Club has 

 held field-meetings are marked on the map, showing plainly that the 

 Club has trespassed far and wide into bordering tracts. A full list 

 of the field-meetings, drawn up by Mr. L. Kichardson, is appended. 

 — H. B. W. 



8. Labelling of Objects in the Geological Department, 

 British Museum of Natural History. — Much attention has been 

 paid of late years to the question of explanatory labels for the 

 exhibition cases, and among those who have given special thought 

 to this important subject is Dr. F. A. Bather, M.A., F.G.S., the 

 Assistant Keeper of Geology. The subjoined is a specimen of 

 a recently printed label prepared by him for the Echinoderm case, 

 which serves to show how much information may be imparted to 

 the student of geology and to the public at large by this means. 



'^IIoio Sea-Urchins are turned into Flint. 



Silica, the substance of which flints are made, is scattered 

 through the Chalk formation in very minute particles, which are 

 dissolved to some extent by water, especially if it be slightly 

 alkaline. Consequently, as rain-water sinks into the Chalk it dissolves 

 the silica and carries it with it through the Chalk. When the 

 sea-urchins died and were buried in the chalky ooze, the inside- 

 of their shell or test was sometimes filled with the ooze, but 

 sometimes it remained empty. In the latter case, when the Chalk 

 became hardened and raised out of the sea, a cavity was left, into 

 which flowed the dissolved silica. It may have been deposited 

 on the walls of this cavity (i.e. the inside of the urchin's test) as 



